As a long term opponent of affiliate marketing (or certainly what it has become) it does seem to me that logic is prevailing and shrewd on-line retailers like Amazon are beginning to examine their affiliate programmes in detail.
Amazon in North America has made the announcement that it will no longer be paying referral fees to Associates (affiliates) who send traffic via paid search to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com.
Clearly, Amazon.com have analysed how they are "investing their advertising resources" and have come to the conclusion that paying for sales from affiliates who engage in paid search is a money-wasting exercise.
I've always argued that affiliate marketing is, at best wasteful and at worst destructive if used in combination with SEO and paid search programmes. If you do paid search and SEO well, affiliate marketing only competes with your efforts, it never complements them.
Affiliate marketing is an alternative to having your own SEO or paid search programmes - in our opinion. As soon as you can, you should develop strategies and programmes for SEO and PPC, abandoning affiliate marketing. There isn't that much traffic out there and you've got to get it at the lowest possible cost!
Let's see what Amazon.co.uk associates programme does?
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
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