Dave I agree
I realise that as it stands I dont currently have the best currency in the world as per being an Affiliate Marketing genius, bearing in mind that the last company I worked for (Searchlogic) went tits up. However, this wasnt down to the endeavours of the staff, but more down to a senior management structure built on straw that didnt fully understand that running an Affiliate Network requires a long term strategy.
But that aside, I would like support afform and Profitistic insofar as this industry, while it does have its fair share or sharks (as does any other industry in the world) it is somewhat unique in that it is self regulated via forums like this.
If you look at a lot of the threads, and if you ever attend any of the events, you quickly realise who is who in the industry for keeps, and who is there for ****s and giggles, and consequently, you realise who can make your Network sink or float in the short term (especially if you are a small Network). Who the Affiliates are that offer little but make a lot of noise, and those that keep under the radar, but can deliver serious traffic. Obviously there is a whole gamut of people in between, but I think that you get the drift of what I am trying to say.
I think to judge a network on the tracking software they use is misguided. DirectTrack is obviously a proven piece of software, and I cant imagine any serious affiliates deciding whether or not to work with someone on the back of whether they use Microsoft or not, for example.
(I realise that there is a previous post stating that the high entry levels to becoming a Network are a good thing, but DT isnt cheap in itself. Its £5000 set up, then more to skin the interface, and then about £500 per month fees. Thats £11000 without the reskin. So even if you ran it on its own with no paid staff, and didnt pay yourself and averaged 30% override on a 5% CPA (assuming average basket size is £50, which is way excessive), that means that the network earns 30% of £2.50 per transaction. thats 75p per transaction. So to cover your costs of £11000 you need to provide around 15000 sales over the year before you even start paying yourself. On a CTR of 5% again, that means 300,000 clicks...if people are hanging off of using you cos you are using DT, then that isnt necessarily the easiest thing in the world to achieve and *will* take dedication.)
The problem in my mind, is that there are too many hangers on in the industry, and too many chancers (although for some a chancer is an entrepeneur, so who am I to judge). These people look to set up enterprises without the interests of affiliates at the core of what they are doing. And this isnt restricted to the small DT based Networks. Looking at the forums, you can see just how many posts there are about non-responsiveness. This is mainly down to the fact that the industry is growing faster than there are qualified Account Managers. So underqualified, or naive people are employed. And you, the affiliate is left with someone to account manage you you doesnt really give a **** about who you are, what you do, or anything about your business.
Lets be serious - most affiliates worked for someone else before they set up on their own. Indeed, some still do work for others. Did you *really* care about anything apart from the paycheque? Probably not, because you didnt realise the implications of not doing what you said you would - its all about the paycheque. And in the case of Affiliate Marketing, the free *do's*, "conferences", days out, and every other freebie you can gather are much more exciting to a 25 year old on £35-40k per year that listening to some faceless website spouting on about declines and product feeds. Mainly cos they dont know what product feeds and declines are in the first place. You could cull 30% of most Network staff and no-one would know.
This industry is polluted. And it seriously needs an overhaul to separate those that are posting at 10 at night, or working on a Sunday, sorting out the best interests of their merchants *and* affiliates, or even answering their emails on a day to day basis, from those who are intertested in coming in late with a coke induced hangover looking for their next affiliate do. Those people are the ones that you should be targetting your caution over, not the honest folks like afform, Profitistic etc who are trying to build their own empires.
Mind you, I remember posting something a while ago about the fact that the industry will never be taken seriously until Affiliates are transparent with their sites and PPC setups. Oddly enough, it was the last post on the thread, as no Affiliate had the balls to say "this is my site, this is what I do, and I PPC in these sectors". I expect this post to do the same. I love this industry, but seriously some people *really* need to look at themselves before posting judgements on forums.
Just my 2p, like.
ps - I'm not endorsing PQ btw!!!
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