My First Affiliate Marketing Post
Well I'm in no way considered a Super Affiliate (yet), but I'll definitely give it a shot.
My work with affiliate programs goes back quite a few years. I first put together an Internet Access Review website in 2002 and began testing numerous affiliate offers. I can honestly say I did not 'rake it in'. However, it helped supplement my web hosting costs and bought a few lunches... which came in handy during the college days.
As time went by, I lost focus and let the site just sit.... quickly the profits dropped to zero. I still have the site, however with the competition in that market, it is not likely that I'd revive that site to great success.
Just a few years ago, I began to pickup on the Affiliate Marketing game once again. This time, I started reading blogs and forums quite often to get a better feel for the industry. I can say, there are quite a few characters in the industry.
However, reading blogs and forums can only get you so far. It is truly focusing, testing and researching that will move you up the Affiliate Marketing ranks.
I will follow-up with a post on a few simple things I have learned through my Affiliate Marketing journey.
Affiliate Marketing - A Long Road
Affiliate marketing is never quite as easy as it seems. I've been working at it for over eight years and only in the last 12 months have I made any real progress. The secret is always in the traffic ... no matter how good your page is, if nobody sees it then it doesn't really matter! :-)
Perverse incentive
So I've been thinking recently, don't all these affiliate programs provide a perverse incentive to the affiliates? Even if the service of whatever your pushing sucks, you get $x for sending them a new customer. [Disclaimer: I'm on Liquid Web right now and am quite happy so far, so this is not directed at them]. I've really only thought this since my previous host was horrible, but they sign up TONs of customers a month, mostly because their incentive program is pretty high by industry standards. But if you search XXXX sucks, or something similiar on Google, there are many complaints.
Thoughts?
Re: Perverse incentive
Yes, you are correct. So it really gets down to the affiliate marketer to choose if he/she chooses to promote products or services which have been known to 'suck'.
Personally, I choose to promote products and services which are fairly ethical.
Many affiliate programs are different but a large group are CPA (cost per action) which means affiliate are paid when a sale is made. So, to further answer your question... whether the service/product 'sucks', the affiliate is paid for referring the sale.