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I'm an affiliate marketeer. Couple of points: 1) Not sure why all the hate towards us. We can take a company from zero to millions overnight. I get that there

I'm an affiliate marketeer. Couple of points: 1) Not sure why all the hate towards us. We can take a company from zero to millions overnight. I get that there are some shady stuff floating around but that's not 100% of the industry. 2) Facebook + Teespring is almost a perfect combination. 3) Aff. Marketeers have created some issues in FB using Custom Audiences (T-shirts that said stuff like "This was made specifically for Joe"). Those sold like hot-cakes but FB went down hard on them. 4) Everyone wants a piece of the action, that's why you see so much tutorials and stuff around it. It's also a great way to learn Aff. Marketing if you are into that.

shostack 12y ago
As someone well versed in the affiliate space, I can say that a lot of the hate comes from the highly-visible low-quality affiliates out there. People associate it with the most intrusive forms of online advertising including spam, toolbars, pop-ups/unders, misleading ads, annoying banners, and much scummier stuff. It also doesn't help that is a strong association and overlap with the "get rich quick" folks. There are definitely affiliates out there that add value, and affiliate programs in general can be a very profitable channel when managed properly. But there are MANY bad actors out there, and just as many eager newbies ready to take what they say as gospel based on promises of quick cash.
nikhilalmeida 12y ago
Mind sharing any resources to affiliate marketing the right way? (non spamy)
dsugarman 12y ago
we work with <leading_affiliate_marketplace> and it is really hard for us to find quality affiliates. it feels like they do whatever they can to get us trapped into browser software and coupon websites, our profits are just completely cannibalized. can you please email me at dsugarman @ zentail, we would love to work with you!
- fabiandesimone 12y ago
  Great, I'll shoot you guys an email :)
  - jonathanleane 12y ago
    Same here Fabian :) Shoot me an email - jonathan@alternativemedia.com.au and let's chat.
  - jasonwilk 12y ago
    Fabian, I'd like to chat as well. We too have had troubles finding reliable affiliate traction and have worked with companies like CJ to no success. jason@allscreenhq.com
unclebucknasty 12y ago
We're in the space and I can say that affiliate marketing can be an unnecessarily shady industry from the top to the bottom. It doesn't just come from the affiliate side. It can also come from the retailers and networks.
cheez 12y ago
What kinds of things do you do to go from zero to millions? What is affiliate marketing if not the spammy stuff?
- abustamam 12y ago
  Affiliate marketing at its core is simply selling someone else's product for a cut of the profits. Possibly the largest affiliate network would be Amazon Associates. You sign up for an AA account, and you share your affiliate link for products with other people. If you do it casually (e.g. just recommending to friends and family on FB), then you can get some extra pocket change. If you do it professionally (e.g. actually finding a niche, doing market research, building a website w/ a capture page, etc), then you really need to work on promoting the products, which can be a full-time job in itself. Of course, Amazon doesn't rely on its affiliate program to be big, but that's also what's great about being an Amazon affiliate--you don't really need to "sell" since everyone knows Amazon. I can't think of any legit affiliate websites off the top of my head, but just imagine a site about dog training (a very popular affiliate niche). It has some free content on how to effectively train your dog (which could be valid or invalid), and in the content are some affiliate links. If the content is actually valid, and it works, and it's actually good content, I don't see how putting affiliate links on the article is spammy. I always appreciate it when a blog post links to a product it mentions because it saves me from having to Google it (but I will anyway to get a best price). Of course, you can have complete spammy people, who have fake websites with false content (or crappily outsourced content) and comment random people's blogs for link bait, and unfortunately that's a practice that some "mega affiliates" promote in their "how i became a rockstar affiliate" products, but it's not fair to judge affiliate marketing as an industry based on a few bad eggs, no matter how numerous they may be.

shostack 12y ago

As someone well versed in the affiliate space, I can say that a lot of the hate comes from the highly-visible low-quality affiliates out there. People associate it with the most intrusive forms of online advertising including spam, toolbars, pop-ups/unders, misleading ads, annoying banners, and much scummier stuff. It also doesn't help that is a strong association and overlap with the "get rich quick" folks. There are definitely affiliates out there that add value, and affiliate programs in general can be a very profitable channel when managed properly. But there are MANY bad actors out there, and just as many eager newbies ready to take what they say as gospel based on promises of quick cash.

nikhilalmeida 12y ago

Mind sharing any resources to affiliate marketing the right way? (non spamy)

dsugarman 12y ago

we work with <leading_affiliate_marketplace> and it is really hard for us to find quality affiliates. it feels like they do whatever they can to get us trapped into browser software and coupon websites, our profits are just completely cannibalized. can you please email me at dsugarman @ zentail, we would love to work with you!

fabiandesimone 12y ago
Great, I'll shoot you guys an email :)
- jonathanleane 12y ago
  Same here Fabian :) Shoot me an email - jonathan@alternativemedia.com.au and let's chat.
- jasonwilk 12y ago
  Fabian, I'd like to chat as well. We too have had troubles finding reliable affiliate traction and have worked with companies like CJ to no success. jason@allscreenhq.com

unclebucknasty 12y ago

We're in the space and I can say that affiliate marketing can be an unnecessarily shady industry from the top to the bottom. It doesn't just come from the affiliate side. It can also come from the retailers and networks.

cheez 12y ago

What kinds of things do you do to go from zero to millions? What is affiliate marketing if not the spammy stuff?

abustamam 12y ago
Affiliate marketing at its core is simply selling someone else's product for a cut of the profits. Possibly the largest affiliate network would be Amazon Associates. You sign up for an AA account, and you share your affiliate link for products with other people. If you do it casually (e.g. just recommending to friends and family on FB), then you can get some extra pocket change. If you do it professionally (e.g. actually finding a niche, doing market research, building a website w/ a capture page, etc), then you really need to work on promoting the products, which can be a full-time job in itself. Of course, Amazon doesn't rely on its affiliate program to be big, but that's also what's great about being an Amazon affiliate--you don't really need to "sell" since everyone knows Amazon. I can't think of any legit affiliate websites off the top of my head, but just imagine a site about dog training (a very popular affiliate niche). It has some free content on how to effectively train your dog (which could be valid or invalid), and in the content are some affiliate links. If the content is actually valid, and it works, and it's actually good content, I don't see how putting affiliate links on the article is spammy. I always appreciate it when a blog post links to a product it mentions because it saves me from having to Google it (but I will anyway to get a best price). Of course, you can have complete spammy people, who have fake websites with false content (or crappily outsourced content) and comment random people's blogs for link bait, and unfortunately that's a practice that some "mega affiliates" promote in their "how i became a rockstar affiliate" products, but it's not fair to judge affiliate marketing as an industry based on a few bad eggs, no matter how numerous they may be.