just watched this.... pretty interesting point of view... curious...what do you guys think of this?
http://performinsider.com/2012/06/pm...aste-of-money/
I wouldn't listen to anything John Chow or any other self appointed "super affiliate" says, his own blog admits that he makes money online, by telling people how to make money online. He's never really been an affiliate beyond referring people to networks or hostgator.
Affiliate marketing, John Chow and PerformInsider... I'm gagging already.
I don't really get it to be honest. Media buying isn't a business model at all. It's a form of advertising and traffic generation. While I do agree that sending infinite amounts of traffic to other brands is not the most efficient way of growing a business, arbitrage is a powerful thing. There are marketers out there that are using this business model to reap thousands and thousands of dollars every day.
They'd be pretty stupid not to use that profit to invest in more longer term assets, but does that make media buying a stupid idea? Not if you can do it well.
John's argument seems to be that keeping the customer for yourself is a better idea. Fair enough. But the costs of building your own Match.com, or your own diet pill company are hardly insignificant. Many affiliates take the arbitrage route as a launch pad for investment in their own longer term projects. And if using paid advertising is the quickest way to raise that capital, albeit through other brands, then so what?
This is Pace Lattin, Murray Newlands and John Chow we're talking about though... You'd have trace through about 7 trees of mutual friends to find somebody who is involved with the shit that people like us worry about on a day-to-day basis.
Finch... like usual... you are a voice of reason. thanks dude.
i was thinking ya... it may not be a sustainable model... and you might not be building an asset if you don't own the offer you're sending traffic to, but fuck... you CAN make a shitload of money doing it.