Affiliate Marketing Is So Tacky
I have always thought so, even though I have always dabbled in it a little. I was inspired to write this post because I still see affiliate marketing spam all over the place and I wish it would just go away. I believe affiliate marketing can be done with a little dignity and class and for about 15 years now, I am still seeing, “make $10,000 a month from home with affiliate marketing” and other such promises. Sure, it’s possible, but only if you are a spam artist.
Spammy affiliate marketing campaigns are tacky as “link exchanges”
I believe they serve a genuine purpose however, if done correctly. I don’t see a problem with having a few affiliate links that are relevant to the subject of your blog or website. I also don’t see a problem with having an (meaning one) affiliate link on the footer of an email subject nor do I have an issue with having a link for a product that you endorse and genuinely want to share.
Affiliate marketing the right way is simple. Post great content and have one or two relevant affiliate links for products or services that you would use.
Luckily, there are some affiliate merchants who actually monitor where their links and banners are going, which is good for them because I cannot imagine any company who would want their link or banner utilized in a spam farm. It not only looks bad on the host, but it looks bad for the company the host is promoting. I am hoping that the Google algorithm and the email spam police improve their capture and “hand slapping” of these spam marketers because I am sure I am not the only one who has reached a fatal threshold of annoyance.
2 Comments
Jonathon
August 1, 2012I agree with you Amanda, just remember though when all this was new to you, and me too. We looked at all that $10,000 by tomorrow stuff. Maybe even bought a few turkey ebooks. What we forget is the thousands of new folks joining the ranks of wannabe marketers every day. The spammers don’t forget. I don’t think that type of junk mail marketing will dry up and go away, until there are no more fresh faces looking to give marketing a try.
SEO Affiliate
October 17, 2012I think affiliate marketing is still not dead… despite the fact that Google is punishing affiliate marketers so harshly… we’ll just have to rebuild our business model and optimize differently.
The web is saturated with such programs and only a few marketers will succeed in earning well!