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Is Affiliate Marketing Dead!???!!! (26)

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Dears,
I was enthusiasm too much for starting Affiliate Marketing and i red alot of resources and had a big potential.
One from books i red was by @charlesngo
Today i got surprised by his new article about the field. And misleading people and another ethical matters.
This his article

https://charlesngo.com/affiliate-mar...uwn_BHlzdThq4k

Whats your opinion about this?



Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums mobile app

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Hitting a high xx - low xxx daily profit isnt that hard still honestly. But doing xxxx/xx.xxx daily cost 25x more time/energy/hands/resources than before.

And his points are kinda true all imho.

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Oh, it´s time for this thread again?

Years ago STM was a smaller community of more experienced affiliates and networks.

The biggest change was when the golden combination of pops and 1 clicks arised and many people made shitloads of money as long as it lasted.

This was probably one of the easiest time ever to make money in affiliate marketing and there STM also had the biggest growth.

Then regulations kicked in, competition got harder and so the wave of success stories also slowed down.

Yes, because many of the former "Super Affiliates" consider themselves as "Gurus" now and make more money from selling dreams than from running campaigns.

Sell shovels to golddiggers

I won´t disagree but an important factor is also that affiliate marketing just matured and the wild testing of new stuff got more and more replaced with setting focus on proven things.

That doesn´t mean that this is only bad, it also means that some old and proven things just work better than innovative new stuff.

Just take the rules lander in adult as an example, why isn´t there a new LP styole and why run 99% of all adult affiliates the same LP style for many yeras already?

Because it works.

In the end Charles is right and you can still start and succeed in 2021 but you should get rid of a "It´s easy and everyone can make money online" mindset.

As I said in a similar thread already, it´s not that much about if affiliate marketing is still working in 2021, it´s much more about what you are willing to do to make it working.

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Rather like Charles? As soon as I saw that email, all I could think was: "What is the angle, what course is he about to pitch?"

I'm still not sure, but I have no doubt it is coming. Let's remember, just a few months ago he was still pitching LGE 2.0. Perhaps it is going to be eCommerce 1.0?

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No, I didn´t mean anyone specific and the situation is also not new at all

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Of course @twinaxe. But Charles is not the first guy to decide he'd rather sell shovels than mine, and he won't be the last.

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Pretty good trolling by Ngo.

It's obviously written for engagement.

He's at a level where he doesn't need to do anything to make money. He has enough shit running successfully in the background already on to live off the profits he has earned in the past.

He could retire yesterday.

But I imagine it's way more fun to troll newbies about how hard WH sweepstakes on pops are when you're doing BH crypto on FB

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I've read the post of Charles, I agree to most of what he's saying, and I believe that he honestly writes what he thinks without a hidden agenda.

Quote from his article: "I’m no longer active in affiliate marketing." That would include BH crypto on FB in my opinion.

I'd say he's just finacially set and he retired (at least from AM). It's OK and congrats to him. He was by far the most consistent blogger with the highest value posts that I've followed over the years and I highly value him for this. He has been blogging for almost 10 years I think. Look at all the other wannabe AM marketing bloggers that either disappeared or stopped blogging after less than 10 posts... What you can learn from him is that consistency and persistance pays off.

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Seems you checked my blog

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I read it and nodded my head and agreed with a lot of it.

And I’m not saying he does BH crypto on FB.

Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if he secretly did. Nor would I judge.

Remember the industry we are in.

Finch had an update recently with the same sentiments. But he at least admitted that he is not qualified to talk as he is not running anything for the past 4 years. The last update was him getting hair implants in Thailand.

But I still wouldn’t be surprised if he was secretly running BH Nutra campaigns on Native. Nor would I judge.

Remember the industry we are in.

Just saying to be careful with what you read, kids.

This is not a knock about ngo or finch, both of who are veteran STM members.

But it’s definitely a troll when someone brings up ‘affiliate marketing is dead’.

Every time.

Since 1998.

That being said:

Affiliate Marketing Is Dead

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Take this with a grain of salt as I'm still in the "haven't made it yet" crowd.

I feel like Affiliate Marketing is in the process and not innovation part of the cycle. It appears no one is really coming up with anything groundbreaking, but plenty of people are doing the process better and better. The ones who are winning are winning because they have the process down cold, whether that is WH with teams or BH with methods to always get new accounts.

That does mean that it is harder to get started, but the door is far from shut. For someone in a tier 1 geo, the cost to start is still far, far less than a "traditional" business. There is no store to rent and equip. There is no inventory to stock, nor even an expensive and difficult website or app to build.

I would point to @jaybot's Native Follow-Along. There are people asking if Lead Gen on Native works. In my manual spying, I found several brands that have been around for years and by all accounts are doing serious spend. They have their process down, and they probably have also managed to get the top payouts. The opportunity is still there for someone new, but you can't half-ass it anymore.

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i read this also, i always wondered what he ran, i wonder what he is running now, i have a hard time believing he is completely out, just changed directions

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Funny when others complain I am hitting records....

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Give me your advise to do one successful campaign , my budget is running out without one conversion from 5 campaign i did.


Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums mobile app

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Then slow down.

I bet you're making the same mistake I make sometimes. You rush when you should go slow and go slow when you should rush.

Spend more time spying and seeing what is out there and what other people are doing. Try to identify successful affiliates and see what makes their campaigns successful. Yes, you will never figure out their exact placement list and bid, but you can determine the ads they are running, the landers they are using, and the angle. It sounds like you have more time than money right now, so leverage other people's knowledge.

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Actually i started to slowdown as you said,i’m reading now how to optimize the campaign to get better result.
Regarding spying i’m using adplexity but actually i feel its not useful .
Most of campaign are getting low no of Hits.
And when see the getting most traffic i see it’s stopped running.
How can i get all benefits from adplexity?


Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums mobile app

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Affiliate marketing is 10x harder than it was in 2015.

Lots of people will tell you otherwise, because they have alterior motives and probably benefit from masses believing its easy and you can lambo with $500 start.

Here's actual FACTS why it's harder from a person that's been doing it for MANY years, and still does it everyday!

1. In 2015 and beyond Google Ads, Facebook Ads didn't have such sophisticated policies in place NOR did they have the systems that can so effectively detect if someone breaks policy.

EXAMPLES:

-You could put the words CLICK HERE and put play button on display ads on google in the past, then they came out with the "TRICK TO CLICK" policy that killed this overnight.
-You could use creative ways for diet ads lets say (crazy looking drinks, fruit, other symbolic things) and their system couldn't detect this workaround, NOW THEY CAN.
-You could play the accounts warm up game, submit ads, make the system think you are a 'good guy' and then upload 99 compliant, and 1 affiliate ad, and 'get it through' now you can't, because even if you do, they will catch it in a few hours or a day and then disable it or ban you entirely.


2. Years ago you had many pin submit offers, these relied on 0 or 1 click carrier billing. The cell phone providers didn't know how enabling their users to buy stuff with phone number this way could be abused and exploited by affiliates and advertisers to get people to opt in to recurring charges they didnt want.

So they PUT AN END TO IT. In the process, putting an end to the offers that converted like FIRE, because every advertiser wanted as many people to click as possible to get them onto their shady billings.

3. Years ago you had TRIALS, weight loss, nutra, other ever green stuff where people would be able to get PILLS or CREAMS that cost them only SHIPPING (they were told) $4.95! So they can 'TRY IT' what these people didn't know is they will get billed $75 or $150 a week later if they don't cancel their card.

The CREDIT CARD companies PUT AN END to most trials, the market had for example's sake 100 different trial offers, today there are 5. And these 5 aren't available to YOU, they are available to guys who are KNOWN to be good at sending tons of traffic (super affiliates) with HISTORY & connections.

Not only that, but they used OPRAH, DR OZ, and all these celebs with click baity titles (which are now not allowed, and auto detected) by FB.


4. People are WAY MORE "AWARE" of these scams now as the use of internet and social media adaptation has gone up 100000x. Sure the technique to target old people works, that's what Indian scammers doing those refund scams do.. but even they can't get CREDIT CARD processing, so they are resorting to MULES and weird ass ways of getting victims to send money in CASH via FEDEX To pickup houses and the rest is on Youtube.. check out some vids on that..


so as u can see, lots of things have been introduced to make it 100x harder for affiliates to run their schemes.

Is affiliate marketing dead? The scammy ass way sure is dead, because most people coming into the industry don't have money to build operations of scale.

The guys still doing those old ways launch daily 100-500 fb accounts. Even if an account costs you $20 , 100 accounts * 20 = $2000... 99% of the "LAMBO DREAM" folks don't have that kind of money to invest into Operations.

Affiliate Marketing has evolved BIG TIME.

I am doing only WH, own offer in ECOM and lead gen world. I STILL get banned. But we get the accounts back thankfuly because we promote and use our aff know how to optimize and find the best angles that are not only compliant in FB and Google's eyes, but they bring value to the advertiser and CUSTOMER is HAPPY.

The customers are happy because they fill out, sign up or whatever AND GET WHAT THEY EXPECT! Great deal on X (lead gen) or a Cool product that isn't a piece of shit Drop Shipped from Senhzen or whatever..


the scammy aff marketing shit still works, but u need to run it on PUSH, 2nd tier NATIVE, SMS, EMAIL... and you need way bigger budgets to start than years ago..

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If affiliate marketing was dead...

-Why would there be so many affiliate networks still in business, with new ones popping up every month?

-Why would there be so many traffic networks selling so much traffic still?

-Why would bid prices be so high? How could advertisers afford bidding those prices?


Yes, affiliate marketing has changed. As other members have pointed out, regulations everywhere have tightened, and the masses aren't as gullible anymore.

But you better believe that there are still stupid amounts of profits being made, for every major traffic type.

We just need to test more (offers, landers, angles, audiences), work more efficiently (e.g. use automation), and innovate.

Of course, there may be easier ways to make money. But with so many people trying to make money online now, the days of easy money are gone.

No matter which method you choose, you'll need to buckle down and give it your all for a while, to give it a chance to show potential.

Otherwise, you'd be scattering and squandering your budget and time over multiple opportunities, getting frustrated and disappointed at not finding that "turn-key" solution.


For anyone seeking direction on what's working in the industry right now, this report is a must-read:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...marketing-2021




Amy

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The most important takeaway from the blog post of Charles in my opinion is this :

Affiliate marketing has evolved and yes, it's nowhere as easy it once was. But that could be said about pretty much any business.

It was easy to open a cinema once, when there were none in your city. It was easy to open a foodtruck, when there were none operating in your area. It was easy to open a new restaurant, where there were none in your neighborhood.

Now there are cinemas everywhere, foodtrucks selling streetfood are everywhere and there is likely a bunch of restaurants in any part of your town or city.

Does that mean you cannot open one and profit from it? Hell no. Does it mean it will be way harder to become successful than it would have been X years ago? Hell yes!

There is a ton of competition in any business area and not everyone will make it. But does that mean NOONE should attempt to start a new business at all? I don't think so. Whatever business you would try to start with, there would be competition, there is absolutely no way around this.

Will you make it? I don't know, but I can guarantee that some people will.

And this one :

People tend to think about affiliate marketing in a very narrow way. When in the end, it's such a wide area filled with opportunities. It's not just about POP traffic and Sweeps offers. There is so much more that you can try.

Start with POPs, learn the tricks, then apply it to any online business that you might want to try. Every business needs customers and leads and affiliate marketing is all about delivering these. Internet traffic just keeps on rising and that means more and more customers that we can reach with ADs, emails, notifications and whatnot.

The truth is, as long as there are businesses looking for customers, there will be a place for affiliates. We just need to explore all the other ways and opportunities that we have now, instead of relying on the old methods and refusing to adapt.

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I think this goes back to what I said earlier about process and not innovation.

Yeah, it was great being the first guy to open a theater in your town, or the first McDonald's, the first microbrewery, etc. But was it really? It was something brand new and stressful at the time. Sure, you thought the idea was great, but did the market? Maybe there is a reason there isn't a microbrewery in Yeehaw Junction, Florida (yes, it is a real place). Maybe Bug Tussle, Texas can't even support a McDonald's (also real).

Even things that seem surefire may not work, Pets.com anyone? Or what about IBM and PCs? IBM is still here and going strong, but they haven't made a PC in quite some time. Even Apple is no longer a PC company, they are a phone and software company that also makes desktops and laptops. Or even closer to home, anyone remember AltaVista? Google was far from first, they simply did it better.

Right now, we are at the point where we know that Internet Marketing works. We even know that Affiliate Marketing works. Just like many cities, there is always room for one more restaurant. But if you have poor service and poor food, you are unlikely to survive. Just like with AM, if you don't have a good process, you are unlikely to survive.

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Maybe the methods used ten years ago in AM are dying out, but overall AM/Performance Marketing is growing by leaps and bounds.

The article states that interest in crypto is a cause/symptom of AM's decline, but that's 100% incorrect - how do people think all these crypto YouTubers are getting rich? Its primarily affiliate links to Coinbase, Kraken, Coinmama, and a million other crypto affiliate programs.

It has a meme saying "Stop trying to make push ads a thing, its not going to happen" - well, tell that to the countless individuals who made millions upon millions of dollars with push ads over the last few years.

The industry is also increasingly becoming institutionalized where private equity firms are buying seo-affiliate sites at huge multiples.

And in many ways we now see affiliate marketing fusing with crypto as everyone becomes stakeholders in the platforms and communities they belong to via built-in referral programs and financial reward for spreading adoption. Indeed, within five years we may reach the point where everyone is an 'affiliate marketer' in some sense, since every platform will have tokenized financial reward (in one manner or another) for those users spreading adoption of it.

There are just as many - actually way more- 20 year olds making millions their first year in AM now as when Mr Ngo did it back in the day, they're just using different methods than he is. That means the industry is evolving, not dying.

So yeah, no disrespect meant to Charles whatsoever - I learned SOOO much from his blog back in the day its not even funny... but I just could not disagree with this article more... and it feels like the tone of it is diametrically opposite of the gritty, tough, ballin every day mma practice every night, radical self-ownership, thumotic, masculine, internal locus of control tone that his blog used to have, and that made it so easy to fall in love with what he was doing.

So yeah, for what I consider to be a more upbeat/accurate take on the question, here's Topher from GiddyUp's speech from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G1jLRBi0Ms

But yeah... anyway... if Charles is no longer doing AM and no longer passionate about it, I hope he finds a new passion and considers sharing it with the world as well, because he is an enormously talented and likable guy, and I'd definitely be interested to see where he believes the best opportunities now are in the world of business/life/etc. I personally think there's more opportunity in AM than ever before, but I suppose it depends on what you are defining as 'AM' and how broadly you are using the term.

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Great posts @jack_l and @iwanttofly ! Some solid points made.

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You can see me and my lady in the first row. This was a lovely speech that ended the last day. It was surprisingly sad to leave, but this speech gave a crazy big motivational boost for us to perform better.

Like other people have already said, I don't think affiliate marketing is dead. Like others have said, it sure is more challenging to make money, but that's a good thing. It forces us to be more creative and become even smarter. Like Topher said in his video, we are the best in the internet, and there's a reason for this. Those who innovate, adapt, and overcome.. are successful today. The days of being lazy are over. Years and years ago.. we had 10+ servers running Xrumer, building backlinks for our sites, and our sites were jumping to the #1 in Google like there was no tomorrow.. All we had to do is press a button, and voila. These days are over.. and now you need to be a lot smarter.

I don't mind that things are getting difficult.. that means there are actually fewer people who are successful and more opportunities for other people. (I don't appreciate high bids tho). Also, I enjoy a good challenge any day. The more challenging it is, the sweeter the victory

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When even Jesus says affiliate marketing isn´t dead we can close the discussion!

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I believe in Jesus! And/Or Topher! Will that help me get approved on GiddyUp?

In all seriousness, have you ever seen both of them in the same room?

Perhaps, not a coincidence.

This is going into my Affiliate Marketing Gods book. It needed some new scripture.

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Lol!

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