Affiliate business model dying?
 

With all these programs closing or closing to affiliates, do you think the affiliate business model is closing? Should programs just stop taking affiliates and create and or buy traffic? Crazy times.

I don't think it will ever die.

Many programs simply do not know how to get free or cheap traffic. Affiliates are like free salesmen. Providing you price payouts within your means, they should always be profitable.

I'd much rather have 10K affiliates spreading my brand name and creating sales, than one or two full time employees costing me money directly, and still having to buy traffic.

go mainstream boards. booming there.

It won't die if you can build up a network of affils, get them to refer a bunch of memberships to you w/ revshare, and you can just close down the program and keep all the money. That actually seems like a wonderful business model. Let others build up your business, then take it from them.

Not a chance. Programs fail all the time.

Quoted for Truth. Also, I'd like to add: having affiliates mean having free RESEARCHERS. There's tons of free traffic on the Internet--both from proven sources and recently evolving sources. A % of the affiliates are those on the forefront--digging, prodding, scrutinizing, tweaking ways to get traffic from relatively unsaturated sources.

Resource: Free Website Traffic Blog

there will always be people out there with sites and search engine listings that have traffic that can be best monetized on adult sites so affiliates will always exist. in numbers enough to support the number of programs and sites we have today - no, one of the reasons you're seeing some programs shutting down and more will follow.

easy to say that program owners will just generate their own in house traffic - most of those that say they are/can are full of shit. do you know how much quality traffic you need to generate say 50 joins a day never mind hundreds? a ton. and let's not forget how much money to generate that much quality traffic.

I've said it 1 year ago or so, affiliate business model AS WE KNEW IT is dead. And buried. Time gave me the reason. I win. I'm oh so smart. Build me a fucking statue. Now. Chop-chop

I have to agree with that and that's one of my pet peeves when I read people posting about "in house" traffic as if there is some pool of untapped traffic that only program owners can access. The thinking seems to be you throw up a couple cookie cutter tube sites and suddenly you have in-house traffic...lol

Agreed. I had said the same after some conferences in 2008 when BROgrams started publicly talking about bringing more traffic in-house and not being held hostage by the whales and PPC.

I do not thing the affiliate model will ever completely die. I think PPC will actually start coming to more realistic numbers, and you will start seeing more rev share being the only option for some programs as well as their T.O.S. changing.

People are simply going to have to do more with less.
:2 cents:

:2 cents:

Fuck!! Now who just closed? Last one I know of was WegCash and AdultProfit.

I know DigitalDope just up and disappeared without notice.. there was another couple but I forgot who.

Anyone got a list?

promote us, we still take affiliates and will always take them

i laugh too. the few people who know seo and how to generate traffic most likely will not work for a paycheck.

if you use stolen content and get your domain turned off yeah you probably end up closing down.

not dying now or ever, the reason these programs are closing is because their content sucked.

I think the PPS on trials, Free PPS, etc models are slowing down. Straight rev-share will never die though.

Sponsors think they need to have high payouts to get affils. In the past yes. Today, you just need to convert decently. That is all. (That is enough :) )

Oh and for the record, the number of actives affils is holding to only around 100. Guys who get a check a period. Look at your paystubs. So I think there will always be open arms. :)

No, I don't think so. The programs that are dying right now are the scams that the industry needed to get rid of anyway.

It's 2 am (the fear is gone) j/k old song, :) and I spent all day on this affil shit, thus, permit me to offer this song from "The Affil 100" to our Favorite Sponsors..

To our sponsors that remain strong. We know you will always have "open arms" because you are a winner. :)



sigh :)

You knew I was in love from the first check you sent. :)

:2 cents:

everything is as cool as a cucumber



"I shiver but I love this game"

even if programs have their own large traffic sources, I don't see the harm in having extra traffic through affiliates.

does anyone in the thread make any money?

---Sometimes a $20 signup is more than a $40 signup---

The problem is that since they can no longer do xsales and stuff, and with tubes and all, retention for users is worse thus they can no longer maintain the cost of $100+ PPS offers to affiliates. If we stuck to the standard 50% revshare from a few years ago, less programs would be dieing.

You don't seem to understand, that $100 PPS days are only promo days. They aren't done for immediate profit, but for attracting new affiliates or reminding the old ones. Those days have nothing to do with xsales or retention, even 5 years ago, nobody would have made profit on such days from members alone.

you can shave affiliates but you can't shave "in house" or bought traffic.

:2 cents:

Why? In revshare, both sides profit, so why would not be worth running that model??

I think its just the end of high PPS.

Wish I knew what I know now in 1996.

promote www.mrban.com sites.

http://i.imgur.com/UhenB.jpg

I strongly feel Affiliate programs and CPA channels are the most efficient and cost effective ways to drive traffic. Pay Per Click and paid ad spots can be great, but you're not guaranteed a return on investment. With affiliate marketing you're only paying for performance and what you pay is a set amount you control.

From my perspective, if you can't afford to have an affiliate program you're doing it wrong.

The thing about CPA is you set your own price. I think the days of setting payouts based on clicks and leads are waining, but if you have a program where you set your payout based on a a paid action you're only paying money when you make money. Do your math, try to put out a competitive offer but don't over extend yourself so you're top of the heap if you can't afford it. Keep in mind competitive conversion is just as important- if not more so- than competitive commission. Keeping an eye on how your landing pages / tours convert will not just help you with your affiliate program but will benefit you across all your marketing efforts.

My god, are people this fucking stupid? "All these programs are closing".

Take a fucking look around you. We are in the worst recession we've seen in our lifetime. Businesses are closing left and right. Up the street from me is a huge business plaza with only two businesses in it, and next to that is a half built condo complex that has a few units built and two dozen concrete pads before the company went under. The Wendy's up the street closed, so did Strings, and Chilli's.

Programs aren't closing because of the affiliate model. They are closing because they were barely making money before the recession hit, and once it did hit with ratios going up they just couldn't afford to stay in business. Then add in a bunch of companies who's entire business model was xsales, and well, it comes as no big surprise.

I run a blog network and much to my surprise my sales have shot up 30% this month alone. (Although granted, I've been expanding a lot.) The affiliate model isn't dieing, it's just becoming a lot more difficult to make money.

Not true. Pussycash has been advertising with $100 PPS for years. Just visited their site and they still state:
In upper-case letters, of course.

Shit we're not going anywhere! But we also don't do xsales and only do revshare.. *shrugs*

I don't think a lot of people realize just how big this industry is... There are way more affiliates and way more affiliate programs than what you see on GFY. The profit margins have dropped, so a few companies have moved onto more profitable ventures. Nothing is "dying".

This business is changing and the affiliate model is changing, but it won't just go away. If you are smart enough to change with the times, you will be in business, if you aren't well you can see whats happened.

go mainstream

No no no, GFY is where the "industry" meets!! Nothing more to see out there!

Excuse the fuck out of me for making a business thread on GFY, God forbid.

There will always be a market for it, just not as profitable as it used to be. As such, expect to see a drop in the number of programs.
WG