The Guru Gazette

I’m Not Making Chandeliers

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If you read forums and discussion boards devoted to making money with affiliate marketing, you’ve probably come across this question:

“Is affiliate marketing dead?”

and I have to chuckle. In July 2011, I summarized my thoughts below…

Its interesting how many people miss 90% of affiliate marketing. At its base, its just word of mouth advertising.

I like to write about decorating, solar energy and gardening. In the midst of telling people about a beautiful bedroom design scheme I provide links to the products, or similar ones. There’s no way I intend to start making and selling my own chandeliers, bedspreads, solar charge controllers, garden fences and compost bins anytime soon! Instead I refer my readers to the merchants and manufacturers who do.

Affiliate marketing can be as easy telling your friends where you got a great purse or fancy new computer.

There was a time before cookies too. You simply gave people a discount or referral code. Or – imagine! – your merchant set you up with a dedicated landing page.

So sure, there may be problems for certain types of approaches to affiliate marketing. But referral fees and kickbacks have been around longer than the web.

Play the game long term and you’ll discover you barely notice when everyone thinks it’s all falling apart.