Originally Posted by signupdamnit

As for $/click it's a great metric but not the be all and end all. Especially for long term rev share models. With rev share you have a lot of money tied up in future rebills. That means you are relying on the sponsor being around and being honest enough to actually pay you without any funny business. It also depends on the affiliate's methods and how they promo the content. It takes an investment of time and there are other opportunity costs in promoting a sponsor. If the sponsor turns rotten before the affiliate recoups compensation for that investment then the affiliate has lost out. Time is money. Part of the problem for affiliates in the last five years has been having to swap out code and content when a sponsor goes out of business, decides not to pay or otherwise start cheating. The affiliate doesn't get paid for this labor and if they do not change things then they are throwing money away. Smart affiliates will try to minimize this labor and that is the whole point I think. You can minimize needless labor by being able to swap out links and content easily but you can also minimize labor by trying to deal only with reputable and honest sponsors. Remember the story of the The Tortoise and the Hare. Longevity matters. You may disagree but it comes down to how we each choose to run our businesses.