Surveying The Evolution of UK Affiliates
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Apparently there’s “quality, commitment, diversity and professionalism shining through” the affiliate industry at the moment and to celebrate the guys and gals at Affiliates4U want to survey the affiliate landscape. This is your chance to say what you think of the industry, what’s good, what’s bad and where you think we’re all going (the asylum is not a valid answer).
To bribe you to take part you also have the chance to win a choice of Amazon Vouchers or High Street Gift Vouchers to the value of £100.
The survey is quite painless and should take a few minutes - or half an hour depending how much you write in the “What part of the Affiliate Marketing industry really annoys you?” box!
It’s a “stop and think” survey and having completed it - including questions like “What is your thoughts on the outlook for the future of the Affiliate Marketing industry?” and “How could the Affiliate Marketing industry change for everyones benefit?” - I actually came away feeling a bit indifferent towards the industry and it’s evolution.
Yes, that evolution has brought “quality, commitment, diversity and professionalism” but it has also lost some of it’s shine. That is in part because you know that despite working hard, playing by the rules and trying to offer a good service to internet users, your business is exposed to outside forces, like Google, 100% cashback, tracking issues, merchants swapping networks every two minutes, voucher code sites and other fun and games that give affiliates headaches.
Some may say “hey that’s just business” - sadly they’re probably right!
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4 Comments on this post
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Nadeem Azam said:
Thank you to the organisers for setting up such a survey as it should be beneficial.
I don’t think the word “professionalism” and “affiliate marketing” can be used in the same breath. It’s still like the Wild West - and there’s a lot of blaggers out there. If there was even a modicum of professionalism in this industry I wouldn’t spend a few hours a day chasing people up who don’t respond to important emails
Jason, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts as you are one of the people who says things as they are.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:06 pm -
Jason said:
I think there’s a veneer of a “professionalism” which covers up various unpleasantness like rule breaking, shortsighted deals for the quick buck, bitchiness, oneupmanship and other elements.
However to be fair that probably exists in every other marketing sector (and every other industry)
On the plus side there have been massive improvements across the board, but at the same time there’s (imo) less transparency, a bit more paranoia (that’ll be me), a lot more frustration and quite a lot more BS.
From my pov as an affiliate I don’t think 100% cashback has been great for the industry. It’s uncompetitive and you only have to see there’s a lack of new affiliate blood coming in “starting from scratch” to realise something is amiss. It’s great for merchants (instant sales) and great for networks (instant override)… well at least to the networks get hassle or merchants realise their brand is now secondary.
The voucher code “iframe/cookie drop” really changed my opinion of AM and the networks. I still feel not enough was done to take to task the offenders and I’d go as far to say that some affiliates got away with a lot of dubious activity. Makes you wonder why we spent 10 years following rules when others can earn a lot more by breaking them.
Of course things had to evolve from the “10 blokes in limo” days - and it’s important to highlight that there are some decent, honest(ish), hard working affiliates out there - who also care about affiliate marketing and how it develops.
That said “money talks” and on the good ship affiliate marketing it’s every man/woman for themselves. I’ve been told by a few people now “make as much as you can any way you can because no one actually cares how you do it”… and perhaps that best sums up AM as it is now?
I do wonder at times if evolution has brought more professionalism and more money at the expense of ethics, concern for the user and care for the industry?
The worst point though is that these things for me completely overshadow all the good stuff that’s out there. E.g the widgets, content units, improved tracking, anti-spyware, decent folk who are there at networks, agencies and merchants etc.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pm -
Nadeem Azam said:
I agree with that.
“Makes you wonder why we spent 10 years following rules when others can earn a lot more by breaking them.”
I’ll second that. I often hear from well-known affiliates who say “well, we’ve all broken rules in the past” and then they boast about how they are now doing white hat stuff. Well, with all due respect to them, like you Jason I have tried not to break any rules, not now, not three years ago and not six years ago. I did not rake in the money during the “golden everything goes” days by bending rules or cheating, and tried to operate as ethically then as I do now.
Sure I must have done things wrong in my time and am far far from perfect, but I have always tried to run my business honestly, even though it means I make money a lot slower than others and therefore have to work a lot longer hours.
Even today, you will see we do not have our advertisers on some of the less ethical type of affiliate sites which you refer to, even though practically every network and agency works with them and receive leads from them.
Sure, it means we can’t drive as high a volume of sales for our clients and enjoy lavish bonuses, and it means I and my team have to graft longer hours to make my affiliate programs a success, but I put ethics above everything else. Just 10 minutes ago I rejected an affiliate who could have generated a huge volume of sales for Purple Parking, but I was not happy with how they would have done it.
Despite everything, I love affiliate marketing. We are priviliged to be part of an industry that is full of some of the most inspirational, hard-working and charismatic characters around (what would affiliate marketing be like without characters like Jason Dale!) and, as time progresses, hopefully more or us will begin to see that both affiliate marketing and their businesses will only truly begin to develop the reputation they deserve if we put ethics above making a fast buck.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pm -
Jason said:
“what would affiliate marketing be like without characters like Jason”
Erm, probably exactly the same as it is now… except with less duck related sites
July 31st, 2008 at 6:17 pm
