Comments:
Interesting points.
I’m going to have a few beverages tonight (Friday) and think on your insight more before I post an exhaustive response.
Initially, one quick question… explain your reasoning behind the statement that affiliate marketing doesn’t scale well. I know retailers who argue for that point, but there are many who disagree and are able to have relationships with both the cpa networks and the affiliates within that network (ideally, that’s how it works).
More soon…
Hi, Sam…
I look forward to your expanded thoughts.
As for my comment re: scale, yes, affiliate marketing programs doesn’t scale—meaning retailers (in particular) can’t grow them without throwing more resources at them. I’m not sure who gave advertisers the impression that they should expect otherwise—after all, this is partner-making and partnerships generally take work to execute. Partnerships on the Web, however, come with a different expectation.
Relative to buying Adwords or Yahoo ads and just about every other kind of online advertising, affiliate marketing takes time— EXCEPT when advertisers don’t need transparency (they feel less need to understand/know where visitors are actually coming from). That’s what I’m getting at. The less an advertiser cares to know where the users are coming from and HOW they’re being delivered the more affiliate marketing scales.
This fact is inarguable IMO and has given rise to both adware/spyware (illegit) and unbridaled enthusiasm in the CPC advertising space. It is, in fact, what allows click fraud to flourish… this lack of need for transparency. It’s a trade-off for scale (in the end that translates to greater/faster advertising reach).