Affiliate Marketing Today – A Real Life David & Goliath Story
In recent months affiliate marketing has been under relentless attack from the “powers that be.” From state tax law reform to widespread Google Slaps, affiliates are getting their first taste of the consequences of newfound fortune and economic power. So where does that leave affiliates and their networks going forward?
Back To The Future!
You can safely assume that outside attention on the affiliate industry isn’t going to relent anytime soon. The more powerful affiliate marketing gets as an industry and as a legitimate interest group, the more fire it will probably inspire from critics and people seeking to get a slice of the pie for themselves. This, however, is the kind of intrigue that’s exactly what makes affiliate marketing such an exciting industry to be in. By anticipating upcoming trends and adapting to them, you can weather the storm of government policy changes and unpredictable Internet mood swings with ease.
Take The Hits, Keep On Clickin’
Yes, recent developments could easily get affiliates more than a little torn up inside. For one, many state legislatures are bringing the hammer down on the world of affiliated e-commerce in order to find ways to pay off massive accumulated debt, which means affiliate marketers need to have even more intestinal fortitude and savvy than ever in order to succeed and make a living.
Second, Google’s authoritative approach to content regulation has put a lot of affiliates under the gun, forcing them to rebuild, rethink, and completely rejig their campaigns or even start again from scratch. Agility has therefore emerged as one of the cardinal virtues for affiliate marketers. The ability to take a hit and adapt your campaign strategy quickly and accordingly makes all the difference in staying competitive and profitable.
Opportunity Knocks
Despite recent setbacks, we think a lot of good will come out of this situation in the long run. Heavy sanctions and tough obstacles will ultimately increase the standards of quality by establishing new benchmarks in customer service for online shoppers, while flushing some of the lazy marketeers out from the digital underground.
It will also help build consumer trust in shopping online. For affiliates, now is not the time to fold the tent and pack it in. With all the heat coming down, the key message for you is to stick to your plan, make the necessary adaptations, and come up with new ways to continue to grow your online revenue.
Godspeed, Mighty Affiliates
Be bold and forge ahead. We believe that affiliate marketing has sustained recent hits with surprising resilience and is now on the verge of a major resurgence, with higher revenues and stronger systems to come in the months ahead. Propelling this resurgence is a paradigm shift that will change how affiliate marketers and networks operate in the future…
Redefining The Purpose Of Affiliate Marketing
This new paradigm involves more affiliates, not less. Cutting the number of affiliates in the world (which some big companies like Amazon are doing) will only damage the future of the world’s online economy. Since increasing referral-based transactions and leads requires the highest number of possible distribution partners, having less affiliates makes it that much more difficult to continue to expand online revenue.
Remember: Affiliate marketing’s main purpose is growth. It’s primary goal is to generate new customers and new revenue in new markets otherwise not available through traditional retail channels. If today’s emerging affiliates don’t continue to develop and become leaders in their field, then their industry will cease to fulfill its purpose.
For that reason, focusing our attention on just a few top-performing affiliates, hoping they can carry the industry forward all on their own, is dangerously underproductive. And here is the paradigm shift. The industry needs an influx of new minds, new strategies, and new approaches to meet the challenges of the day in innovative ways – and they will come from the scores of affiliates who aren’t supers.
Diversification Is The Key
Affiliate diversity and integrity are the keys to this new paradigm. More affiliates across more channels, using high-legitimacy white hat techniques taught to them and supported by ultra-responsive affiliate networks. This is the ideal landscape for a rejuvenated affiliate marketing industry.
Networks and merchants that cater only to the big player super affiliates and ignore the rest will miss out. They’ll find that while it may be easier to manage a smaller affiliate base, ultimately this type of strategy will result in one dimensional revenue streams that have little potential to expand, replicate, and deepen.
Why The “Top Affiliates Only” Mentality Is Seriously Uncool (and Bad for Business Too)
No, today’s super affiliates aren’t the be-all and end-all. And yes, this probably goes against everything you’ve ever heard about affiliate marketing. Super affiliates are usually treated like Internet royalty; the wise men on pedestals that newbies turn to for enlightenment and guidance.
Let’s be honest though. Some supers are better in their role as “model affiliates” than others. Some supers are very demanding and secretive. Some supers are truly great. The truly great supers are hard to find – the ones who want to share their knowledge and help the industry on the whole in a benevolent way. The “true supers” are anomalies – usually self-made, autodidact type personalities who could’ve risen to positions of stature no matter what their chosen discipline. In a word: Rare.
Bridging The Disparity Gap
One of the hurdles in today’s world of affiliate marketing is that there is such an immense gap between super affiliates and the rest of the affiliate world. Often we pay too much attention to the top end and not enough to the bottom tiers. Without a doubt supers are very important to the industry, however, focusing on them exclusively can be detrimental to your online business, leading to plateaued revenue growth, stagnated merchant acquisition and atrophied product vertical expansion.
While networks, merchants (and even affiliates themselves) try to find or become supers, a ton of potentially great affiliate marketers who don’t have any experience are being left in the lurch. They don’t really know where to go or what to do next because the networks/merchants are busy focusing on the supers.
So what should that remaining 99% of the industry’s affiliate base do to change its collective lot?
Investing In The Long Tail
Everyone needs to realize the “long tail” affiliates are a gold mine of potential revenue and start investing in their development. With hundreds of new people signing up every day for affiliate networks around the world, its seems a waste that so many of them get lost in the fog.
You might even be one of these long tail affiliates looking to crack into the inner circle. If you do fall into that category (new to affiliate marketing with low revenue generation), one thing we can advise you to do is keep trying. The industry is definitely coming around to you. In fact it has to in order to continue to survive. That means you have more clout than you might know.
We think you’ll find affiliate networks will start opening up to you and offer more services targeted to your specific needs. If you’re proactive and ready to learn, then you can also approach your affiliate managers and see what kind of services their network has to help you develop your game – because the game is definitely changing!
If you’ve got questions on how we can help you out of the long tail and into the money, please feel free to contact us.
5 Responses to Affiliate Marketing Today – A Real Life David & Goliath Story
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Pingback: Affiliate Marketing Today: A Real Life David & Goliath Story - 5 Star Affiliate Blogs
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article marketing would always be my choice when i want to sell products online ”
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