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The analogy I like to assign to the ideal affiliate/sponsor relationship is that of a franchise type setup. I look at our affiliates as people representing our brand, delivering our product to end users, using the resource our product, brand, name, etc provide to generate money for themelves and in turn generate money for us. That's why we're shrinking our affiliate program to work only with a select group of affiliates, and also why we see revshare as the only way to go.
We spend a great deal on content, production, design, etc. We've spent a great deal of time, energy and money building our brand and name. It's affiliates with a vested interest and appreciation for longterm relationships, honest advertising, upfront marketing, and truthfulness that we want to work with. Not "Send, Collect And Forget" affiliates.
I don't think anyone is done any favors when the relationship is simply just send, collect and forget.
When the affiliate is the first point of contact for a consumer, those consumers often don't distinguish between the affiliate and the sponsor. (Affiliates here: How often do you get a customer service email about one of your sponsor sites? Where someone emails YOU saying their password doesn't work or something? That customer doesn't know the difference between the affiliate and the sponsor. They view you as one in the same). Beyond that, though, even for customers that do distinguish between affiliates and sponsors, they may view the affiliate as responsible for the money they're spending. It's you that introduced them to the sponsor site. You that sent them there. You that made money off of them. How much they trust you has a direct impact on how much you make off of them, and how often. And all is directly impacted by where you send them.
I know that we have affiliates who make a pretty good living off of their rebills with us alone. And so any new sales on top of that are like a bonus. They are sending us quality surfers that much more inclined to not only signup but retain once they arrive at our site. And we're providing a site conducive to signing up and retaining that qualified surfer. Ourselves and our affiliates will be benefiting from that individual surfer (and benefiting a great deal more from all of those individual surfers collectively) for quite a long time to come.
And rather than that affiliate having to huff and puff and struggle for constant sources of new traffic, they're making a sweet bit of dough off of people that clicked through their site months and months ago.
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Interesting thread, I totally get what your saying. Its kind of an investment. I admit i dont buy memberships of sites im pushing often enough. I guess its tough for me as im still learning alot so how do i know if a site will retain from the inside of the site? Because i like it doesnt mean my surfers will and i dont feel experienced enough to make these judgements yet.
Reading Corbins post i can see why his affiliates would want the partnership option, but then dont all programs say that there are webmasters making a good living on their program alone. Its like they all say they have great ratios when actually alot of dont even have reasonable ones (not saying Corbins like that, buts its what they say). Maybe ill give you a try, i know people like your site Corbin.
Im maybe a 3rd of the way towards quiting that bloody awful call centre job, i think i need rebills to really get there.
As ever, some great advice you lot give :bunnypancake:
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A new page a day
keeps a real job away.
Corbin FIsher BD makes a good point too. Promoting websites shouldn't be done using the Ron Popeil Chicken Rotisserie cooking method [ Set it.... and forget it... ] Marketing is an active process, not a passive one.
-Steve
(New Page Profile: Erik Rhodes)
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I find revshare works better with new sites/programmes for some reason. Dont ask me why.
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Revshare is my favorite option as well. Some days are just slow for new sales, and revshare saves the day!
Steve gave you some great advice in this thread. Check out the site and decide for yourself. And yes, before I knew how to ask for passwords, I paid for access to check out sites. Now, if a site is total crap, I"ll probably stay away from it. If it's good, and constantly updated, I'll always opt for revshare over PSU.
That said, I have a couple of solid programs where I've tried both and compared. Interestingly enough, by the end of the year, value per purchase was very similar, whether paid PSU or along 2-3 months.
Those Im LIVE $125 PSU promos by the way... always make me suspcious. I don't see how they can give you that without shaving.
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if the webmaster drops dead, ccbill will probably pay us for at least another month *LOL*
Now there's the most spot on comment of the week!
