Originally Posted by
tombarr
There are a few other thoughts that come to mind in this topic for me..
- The referring traffic whales of today may not be the whales of tomorrow.
- The fledgling affiiate today may be the whale of tomorrow and shunned today he may become your worst referral tomorrow. And when he becomes a "qualifying" site to be "invited" to join a program, he may very well show you the upright end of his index finger.
- Whales have a notorious habit of migrating...and so do traffic whales.. to whomever gives them the best deal... links to your program are not based upon loyalty and can be shifted at the stroke of a text editor to other programs.
- As SE ranking in some and maybe many SE's is a result of links pointing to you using the "hilltop" theory of SE ranking, having less affiliates pointing to you can be dangerous in that regard
- AS smaller affiliates are trying to figure out what works for them and are less likely to move their banners, fhg's, free sites around once they are created you have a lot of embedded pointers and potential traffic webs in the big fishnet of marketing that can snare a purchase
- Other affiliates see banners on other sites and follow links to see what sites are worthy of being linked to.
- SEO is a constantly transient and elusive target. Some affiliates do it well. Some Sponsors create great content.. The two belong together.
But some sponsors can't do SEO with the efficiency that some afffiliate can, and trying to take on SEO is a daunting if not constantly elusive task so a good mix of affiliates and SEO in hand with good branding and quality product is the overall answer.
However, all that being said, there are thoughts on the other side of the equation as well.
- Sponsor programs have 1-upped each other to the point of being rediculous using every effort and giving away the store just to try to attract whale affiliates! $125 payouts on $2.95 trials? Crazy. How do they make that? By hammering the surfer in sometimes never ending popup strings or upsells.
- Sponsor programs have shown they will screw the surfer in favor of the affiliate by giving them every thing they have asked and more, and by creating an atmosphere where it takes some spectacularly huge payout to even get anyone interested in their program.
- Many Sponsor programs have forgotten that creating the quality product is more important to the overall long term health of their program than seeking the traffic surges attributed to fickle large affiliates at the expense of customer statisfaction and product quality.
- The PAY LARGE, Screw the surfer on quality and jerk them around when you get them mentality method of getting traffic is a lazy way to get traffic.
I think a good mix of affiliates, based upon their reviewed marketing methods, SEO, and development of a quality product with good branding campaigns is the overall best answer. So when a site applies to be an affiliate, review their proposed marketing method. Approve them whether they are performers now or not based upon how they plan to market your site. I would also think that a program as large and well known as Corbin Fisher and others could afford to have affiliate managers on a few levels..one or more to handle the big players, and one or more to handle smaller affiliates, educate, review, and help them develop. I think this approach seems to be a better fit for everyone where the risk of becoming isolationists, go it alone or with only selected affiliates, seems to be more abrasive, potentially offending, and not entirely productive in generating good will or traffic for the next inevitable generational shift in the type of marketing that works. The sponsors who get the mix right, are the sponsors that will be around in 5 years.
We just had an example of an affiliate making demands which i thought were a bit unreasonable. It was a review site. They refused to list our site even using our already installed affiliate system until we used something like NATS or MPA3 for the real time stats because they don't like CCBill stats.
Sure it's their traffic. Sure they can do it how they want.. but it's an example of an affiliate site making demands of the program instead of promoting the product that is there and already selling well.
Bookmarks