Next week the Affiliate Convention will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. This will be out first time attending an event surrounding affiliate marketing and we are looking forward to being a part of it. According to their website, “Affiliate Convention provides the greatest opportunity to learn from your peers, find better commission deals, as well as explore new products to offer. We expect 1000+ affiliates in attendance at the inaugural event. This will be the highest level of affiliates ever assembled in North America.”
Wow–that’s a tall order–the highest level of affiliates ever coming together on this continent? With new “power” affiliates popping up all over the place, determining who is a “high-level” affiliate could be difficult. Many people out there think that they can sign up to be a publisher with any network, start a “flog” (fake blog), post some ads on it, and the money will come rolling in. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way long term – at least not anymore. As flogs grow in popularity, the consuming public gets smarter and more aware of the scheme. I’m not saying affiliate marketing is a dying industry, but consumers have become very good at sniffing out fakers.
A client of ours mentioned that sometimes on those weight loss flog sites, the “before” picture is actually the “after” – that the subject in the photo was actually smaller at first, then gained a bunch a weight, and swapped the order of the photos to attribute weight loss to the product they are promoting. The particular flog they noted was shut down by the FCC for false advertising a few months later after being investigated for numerous complaints.
It all comes back to being genuine. If you have a product or service that is useful, in demand, and you want to be in business long-term, find a reputable way to sell it… period.
Hope to see you at the convention!
