I was just turned on to an article about affiliate marketing called “A Penny for Your Clicks?” I knew going into it that it was contraversial, but I was appalled after reading it.
First of all, the article talks about Affiliate Summit like it is a big drinking fest. At the events where she accuses us of “boozing it up”, I had a total of 2 drinks in 24 hours. But at the same time I made an exclusive magazine deal for one of my sites, introduced my new site to a number of merchants, picked up some product samples for my members, suggested technological changes to a new network, and signed on to more than 10 new programs. While I was doing that, my marketing specialist was negotiating higher commissions for us, obtaining coupons for our members, and learning about new programs.
In the days that followed, I was inspired to add video content to my sites (which I did successfully at www.sunshinerewards.com/videoblog), I brushed up on the legal ramifications of spam, and I learned new techniques to get positive press. But I guess that was all a waste of time since I am just a “mom and pop” operation.
And on that topic, who cares that I am a small business and work from home? I worked from home for seven years when I was employed by a huge international corporation. I pride myself on being a small business owner who employees family and friends. And its true that anyone can start with no investment and little effort up front, but you get out of it what you put into it. I put in a lot of effort and get a lot out of it.
It’s irritating that someone could malign an entire industry without really understanding what it is that we do and how hard we work at it. If you’re interested, read a couple of other responses to the article by Mike Allen and Carsten Cumbrowski. They speak to some of the other issues in her article, including the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit and the affiliate approval process.
