Interesting topic.

If a program owner is relying on affiliates for traffic, then he doesn't need to know all of the intricacies of traffic, but should have the basics down, just as an affiliate ought to have the basics of site operation, billing, etc. down.

I suspect that there are very few, if any, people in the business who are so well rounded that they really know all sides of the business equally well, but I do think it's important for larger program owners to have staff or contractors who can assist with aspects of the business so that the knowledge is at least available even if all of it isn't in-house.

For example, my former business partner Ryan was a graphic designer and did all of our banners, ads, site design, etc. Neither AJ nor I have those skills, so we contract out that part of the business, but I know enough to go in and make minor mods to the Photoshop files and HTML when needed.

Most of the midsized and even a couple of the larger programs I know have the same sort of concentration of knowledge; one large program is brilliant technically but not as strong with marketing, while another has amazing traffic thanks to the proprietor's knowledge, but the content isn't as strong as it can be.

The nice thing about this industry is that if everyone views it in the right way, there are really very few "competitors." Everyone can benefit from everyone else, so there is probably a lot more sharing of knowledge than in any other industry.