Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackCrayon
so every affiliate should be come a program owner or disappear? give me a break man. many people are happy with just being affiliates but that aside if every affiliate had a program it would be a much bigger threat and much more competition. things may change but for every chief, you need some indians for lack of a better expression.
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Yep, can't have too many chiefs and not enough indians, that's for sure. However, I never stated that successful affiliates started their own programs (although many did). I said the smart affiliates became sponsors themselves, as in mostly THEIR OWN sponsors. There are tons of privately operated paysites around, even if you may only know the ones that the high-profile sponsors like to plaster across the boards. Those paysites are promoted via traffic generated by their operators and in some cases also a few hand-picked affiliates.
Now, to your statement about many people being happy with just being affiliates, it is true. But that in itself will not guarantee the long-term existance of affiliates. Look at all the paid spots on various high-traffic sites, fewer and fewer affiliates can afford to buy them and make a profit, simply because the sponsors themselves are buying them up. Sponsors make a bigger profit on those listings (no 50%+ paid to the affiliate) so they can afford to drive up the prices. Should every affiliate disappear unless they become paysite owners? No, they shouldn't, but that doesn't mean that it will not happen.
