|
Home::Affiliate Programs
The Past, Present, and Future of Affiliate Marketing
Author : Marissa Ranello
The Good Old Days
Remember the good old days? You'd purchase a domain name, set up your site (with a few swear words here and there), and place some banner ads (while crossing your fingers for the best banner ad click-through results). This all worked great--for a while; until people managed to avoid our banner ads like the plague. Life got more complex. What were us internet marketers to do? We had to become more savvy. Fortunately for us, the affiliate model was introduced.
Ah, the affiliate marketing model. It never hurts to get a little help from your friends, right? Affiliate marketing networks offer a wide range of advantages to businesses. In short: it's a booming business with dollar signs all around it. Sure, affiliate marketing can be a profitable business, but it can also be very aggravating, time consuming, and antisocial. So hereÂ’s the big question: Why the heck do we keep putting ourselves through all of this pain? The answer, although seemingly complex, is quite simple: easy money.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The average person thinks of affiliate marketing as a “get rich quick” scheme for geeks and nerds. Actually, it’s the farthest thing from the truth. Nowadays, you’re just as likely to find a High School dropout behind an affiliate marketing operation; as you are to find a computer science major.
Despite the revenue advantages, many successful affiliate managers are weary of transparent affiliates. After all, there's a lot of trickery out there. You have to be on the lookout for the ‘Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.’ That’s right folk, if you're the good guy, beware of the bad and the ugly affiliates. They're out there right now placing infectious adware on an unsuspecting consumer’s computer.
As a marketer, it's your responsibility to investigate your affiliates use of adware. Don't turn your head and look the other way. It's OUR consumers that may receive unwanted and/or destructive ads. Can you blame them for becoming angry at the marketer who (perhaps inadvertently) funds adware infections? Of course not. Destructive ads shouldnÂ’t even be considered a marketing strategy. ItÂ’s completely unethical.
The New Guy
In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is a great starting point. If you experience success--run with the ball. Explore additional performance compensation structures. But before you even consider jumping into the game, you should ask yourself the following questions (to avoid business pitfalls):
1). Will affiliate marketing assist you in reaching all of your business targets?
2). Will affiliate marketing have advantages over other types of online marketing?
3). Do you have the time and commitment to run a developing affiliate operation (which will require time to flourish and succeed?
4). How flexible is your budget for affiliate marketing?
Here's some background information for the 'new guy': Time and commitment are essential to your success. While running a network of affiliates doesn't require a college degree, it does require your attention for details. Perhaps this is why merchants find outsourced providers offer a very appealing solution. In addition, the new guy should realize:
• Not everyone will make five figures a month with affiliate marketing. There's a lot of marketers out there. You're the new guy, remember? Find some successful companies that use affiliate marketing. Research them. What did they do to become such a success? Can you duplicate that plan?
• You're not going to make any money eating potato chips in front of the television. If it were that easy--I'd be doing that instead of writing this article on affiliate marketing. Be prepared to devote a lot of time to your business and your affiliate relations.
• Don't take blind referrals from anyone! You'll discover the best affiliate opportunities through your own research.
The Future
In just the last few years, affiliate marketing has become a very powerful force on ecommerce. Every day thousands, if not millions, of merchants rely on affiliate marketing to drive their businesses. But is affiliate marketing all just a big hype? What ever happened to customer service? What strange times we live in; as the value of business is no longer placed on the customer--but on the relationship with whoever facilitated the connection.
This just goes to prove that affiliate marketing is only as good as the people who run it. Remember, there are ways to get your affiliate program noticed; just make sure that you get it noticed for the right reasons. If you value internet based businesses and you'd like more job leads, educational information, and tools to aid your internet entrepreunership, than visit: http://www.ebyro.com (a Vertical Portal for Internet Entrepreneurs).
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Marissa Ranello is an independent marketing consultant with clients in the United States and Canada. As an employee of eByro, a Vertical Portal for Internet Entrepreneurs, Marissa devotes her time to internet business, performance-based marketing, and affilate programs. Visit: www.ebyro.com
Spam emails More free articles Related articles
|
More related feeds |
Are Networks Doing Enough To Police Dodgy Affiliates? A Merchant’s ...
How important is Affiliate Marketing to your business at the moment. What future do you see for Blushing Buyer in the affiliate marketing sphere? It is a big step, but for us affiliate marketing is only a very small part of our ...DMA08 Las Vegas Internet Marketing Roundup
Affiliate marketing; Consumer generated content; Blog marketing; Email marketing; Pay-per-click advertising; Online public relations (TopRank); Search engine optimization; Social networking; Web analytics ... New,never released before SEO tool ! Limited offer!
We here at professional-submitter.com first would like to thank you all who have used our softwares in the past, present and into the future.We also like to thank you all for the great reviews you have posted . ... The Past, Present, and Future of Affiliate Marketing
You'll discover the best affiliate opportunities through your own research. The Future In just the last few years, affiliate marketing has become a very powerful force on ecommerce. Every day thousands, if not millions, of merchants ... Shares, Stocks & commodities Tips - NIKIIMPEX Network
No Website in India gives complete result of their share tips as "Past Performance" - But we provide complete "Past Performance" of our share calls which you can see in our Past Performance Page. Shoppinginfoline.com is a huge shopping ... Motive Affiliate Network - Advent 2.0 Powered
Motive Interactive is an affiliate marketing company and their new Advent 2.0 System is just an indicator of their technology and marketing expertise. The new system brings together a publisher based advertising network and a direct ... Affiliate marketing its past, present and future
TheGoodOldDays Rememberthegoodolddays_You'dpurchaseadomainname,setupyoursite(withafewswearwordshereandthere),andplacesomebannerads(whilecrossingyourfingersforthe... Affiliate Marketing – Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Affiliate marketing is both new and old. It is new in that it has a new delivery system – the internet. It is old in that it is similar to the past sales systems where sales reps sell a product that someone else owns, ... The Past, Present, and Future of Affiliate Marketing.
Fortunately for us, the affiliate model was introduced.Ah, the affiliate marketing model. It never hurts to get a little help from your friends, right? Affiliate marketing networks offer a wide range of advantages to businesses. ... The Past, Present, and Future of Affiliate Marketing.
The Good Old Days Remember the good old days? You’d purchase a domain name, set up your site (with a few swear words here and there), and place some banner ads (while crossing your fingers for the best banner ad click-through results). ...
|
|
|
