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when you think about it who are better placed than experienced affiliates to build something like this from the ground up ?

Imagine what 50/100/200 of us could do if we popped a few grand into a pot, a minimum commitment of x hours per week each at set personal and collective tasks and took no income initially, with the long term view being to aquire market share of a sector or two and grow something of intrinsic value whilst providing a valid and enhanced service to consumers.

With the multiples kicking around at the moment and looking forward as the web is surely going to get more cluttered and harder to stand out as more media comes from offline to online, it could be worth tens of millions in a short timescale with the collective knowledge and skill of a mini army of highly experienced uk affiliate ninjas !

Could be a great commercial networking project! Get paid in shares in proportion to the value of your input. God knows how we'd measure it but it's a great idea.

So what's the problem? Hasn't it always been this way? He or she with the most money wins... or at least in this case can take the lead position. As a newcomer to AM I have seen how low the barrier to entry is, but wake up to business 101. If you aren't creating more value or a better proposition than mine is cheaper/we give more back, then you will be forever looking over your shoulder.
If you can make the investment or raise the funds, then why shouldn't you be able to take advantage of a technology or good idea, and in the process create some space between you and competition. I'm in favour of good ideas, great content and a free market economy.
Who dares, wins!

Great idea Shane. Get a good group of Techies and Marketing experts and it wont be too difficult to get off the ground.

M,

Perhaps I'm in a minority here, but looking at these sites will they have any degree of longevity or are they just riders on the bandwagon of web 2.0 trendiness as opposed to trailblazers?

Will mydeco really revolutionise how we shop for our homes? I'm not convinced - in the end it's a social media network come price comparison - which will (imo) require serious maintenance to keep it in the public focus (how often do you change your furniture? deco?).

The communities side of things is "cool and trendy" but you don't have to click too far to see that communities don't exactly set the light on fire in some places.

Osoyou is neat, but imo will suffer once the likes of New Woman etc release their own shopping sections (i.e. products featured in the magazine, go to our website to buy...that kinda thing). Also it's been around for a while now unlike mydeco.

Another point to consider is this - bells and whistles and all this web 2.0 milarky is great, but if a user looks at a site and things "blimey how do i shop here" they're not going to stick around.

Jason

Can I just ask Matthew if you are saying that these 2 sites are using some special new product datafeeds? i.e. have the networks created bespoke feeds for these companies because they have lots of financial clout due to the VC backing?

The main issues I see preventing me creating anything on these sites scale are staff / technology enabling me to makes sense of the various affiliate networks automatically as I currently need to manually skim check data for my sites as something always changes within the datafeeds or isn't entered correctly by the merchants

I like the idea that the affiliate community here could build something on a truly global scale and invest hours / money for a share but I would want everything in writing before I invested my time (and therefore money) before jumping on board.

Thanks for your comments on osoyou.com - good and bad! I can assure you we are not a huge corporate VC backed entity. We are a small start-up who have used our contacts and help from the affilaite community to provide the ultimate marketing channel. We believe we do represent the future - and should be viewed as an exciting development in the online shopping space. We can be agile and independent. So if anyone out there wants to talk to us about an opportunity - get in touch.

A technology platform would first need to built to facilitate controlled, transparent and equitable cooperation.

But such a "wisdom of Affiliate crowds" concept would allow individual Affiliates, working in cooperation, to complete with VC backed enterprises.

It is a matter of extending the Open Source software developmenet concept to the Affiliate Vertical.

Think how Linux competes with the beast that is Microsoft.

In response :

"I like the idea that the affiliate community here could build something on a truly global scale and invest hours / money for a share but I would want everything in writing before I invested my time (and therefore money) before jumping on board".

Yes a technology platform specific to the Affiliate Vertical would be required to be to 1. Facilitate effective and efficient coopperation, 2. Ensure effective, transparent and equitable cooperation.

An "affiliate Wisdom of Crowds" platform of this nature would allow individual Affiliates in cooperation to compete effectively with significantly sized VC backed business models.

This concept is very similar to the Open Source software development concept which allows the Linux OS to compete with the Microsoft OS.

Dawn

PM me please

Cheers

Doug

The truth behind every system and its credibility depends on how the system is setup, if affiliates were to follow the referral's system according to their network sponsor to leverage commissions and at the same promote their affiliate sites this could generate millions.

There are some really great businesses out there that I wish I had the time to take part in all of them, but that is just a ridicules idea to begin with.
So to help every affiliate to build the business that you are currently promoting as well as create some additional cash flow opportunities we need a leverage system that can be used parallel to your affiliate without disrupting the system in place with no additional cost.
considering Matt's word:
"I’d hope, and know that Affiliate Marketing is much more than this!"
I can truly say that it is way more than that, and you can see it here,
and also geordieGeek's word
"I like the idea that the affiliate community here could build something on a truly global scale and invest hours / money for a share but I would want everything in writing before I invested my time (and therefore money) before jumping on board."
I understand his concern but we have technology on our side and many many different referral and affiliate programs, you just need to be open to explorer the possibilities. Chances are, that you will find a way to double what you're making now and if you not making any money it yet, please get involved with an affiliate sponsor that can help to learn the secrets of making money online.

Matt I truly enjoy reading your articles, congrats
please read my blog and be
prepared to be blown away by the system introduction video.

I truly believe that those that take their precious time to research and to learn about this new system will stay home and make lots of money for a long period of time.
by the way, it is TOTALLY FREE (no candy coating)
If you need any help just ask me, I'll be glad to answer all your questions.

Thanks for reading

Kind Regards

Terry