Hey guys, I have been noticing a trend that has been disturbing me quite a bit. I am aware that I may be sounding like chicken little or some shit, but I am definately not trying to be a doomsdayer here.
I simply think that if you follow the logical string of events that the ripples will indeed provide some negative repercussions. I would like to address these here and get some thoughts on the matter.
I have been getting a request every now and then for us to submit galleries for affiliates. In addition, some programs have even gone so far as to actually provide this service. While at first glance this seems like an AWESOME tool for you to utilize to profit from, if you think about it and look at it closely, it's actually one of the first steps of DOOOOOM!
In all seriousness, though, look at it this way: most affiliate programs have the money to hire teams of submitters, right now, as you are reading this, you are ALREADY competing with most of the programs you promote. Your valuable, hard-earned traffic may not be converting as well as it used to not because of saturation of AFFILIATES but by programs competign against it's OWN affiliates for that same traffic.
As time goes by, it's only a
small jump from submitting for affiliates as a SERVICE up to basically cutting the affiliate out of the picture all together.
Why pay out to you, provide all the necessary tools, run promos etc. when all a program has to do is simply do your job for you to bring in those sales? And with outsourcing and in most cases, near unlimited budget this theoretically could be a profitable decision for some companies.
**Disclaimer: please do not take what I am 'predicting' as having ANYTHING to do with Hundies, it is my personal opinion and predictions that I am asking for feedback on!**
So I ask YOU, in spite of how tempting it is to have one more "easy" revenue stream, in reality you just might be shooting yourself in the foot for a little bit of short term gain.
and that, my friends, is my
