Quote:
Originally Posted by Webby
Don't matter which sponsor program - 90% is taken up by inactive or poor performing affiliates and 10% actually do the biz. At the same time, that 90% consume more time and resources than the productive webmasters
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Because I use hosted galleries, RSS feeds etc., I work with dozens of sponsors and in order to get to see what they offer, I have had to sign up with hundreds over the years. The number I actively promote, except via the use of their content is very small.
Even so, when I could still work full-time and my income was over $300K a year, the most I ever made with a single sponsor was $7K, maybe $8K a month. There were a few others in four figures, but lots were smaller. Particularly since I doubt I have actually spoken to more than a half dozen sponsors over the past 11 years, I am damn sure I would have been tagged among the 90% by all but a handful.
Apart from people like me who by accident or design have their eggs in lots of baskets, sure there are plenty earning small amounts. But if an affiliate only earns $10K a year, flipping hamburger money, 100 like him are generating about $2 million a year in sales.
My point being that although the percentages bandied around about earners vs non-earners might be accurate and if so, send out an apparently clear message, the actual money involved is nevertheless significant. Perhaps those so ready to write off these small operations, might be better off figuring out how to get more from them?
Since that is largely off topic, I had better throw in something more relevant. You can shop on Fifth Avenue, at Wal-Mart or a dollar store. You will good and bad deals in all of them, but when you choose one, you have a pretty good idea of what they are offering. Online, if the owner of a site with 50 image sets pays the same money to the same designer as an owner of a site adding 50 sets a week, he can have a store front every bit as convincing as his competitor.
We are our own worst enemies. There must be thousands of affiliates promoting sites without even checking out the tour, let alone the site itself and promoting rubbish as a result. Yet every single time we p*ss a surfer off by selling him crap, we make it that much harder to convince him to spend money next time around. If we were near as smart as so many claim to be, not only wouldn't we be promoting the downright bad sites, their owners wouldn't even be welcome in the industry. Yet somehow we manage to convince ourselves that only the surfers are getting fleeced.