January 1, 2009
2008 Affiliate Marketing Review, the Bad and the Good
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I’m not a big one for resolutions, but I do like to take a look back and reflect on what happened in the past year and think about what the next has in store for us.
2008 was a truly remarkable year for the Affiliate Marketing Industry, for my own company, and for myself.
I started out with my own personal stuff in this post, but it got too long, so I’m splitting that into a second post.
The Bad
Let’s start with the bad so we can end on a good note.
Of course the economy is the big one in the list of lows for 2008. The jury is still out, I think, on how it will affect online business. I do think that January will bring some very sobering news from the retail sector.
Affiliate Marketing saw a few challenges in 2008, reminding us that not all is sunshine and lollipops in our industry even in good economic times.
The New York Affiliate Tax sent a number of affiliate marketers from New York off into other lines of work, while others stood and fought the good fight.
We got a harsh reminder that the charity/loyalty software affiliate model is as strong as ever, most recently with Rakuten-owned OneCause getting a good examination under the microscope.
They’re not the only ones contributing to channel conflict in the affiliate space. Not only are affiliates stepping on each other, but getting themselves into the clickstream where they don’t necessarily belong, even without toolbars.
The Good
Out of the bad, a number of strong industry movements have formed.
- Haiko and ABestWeb continue their vigilance and passion toward fairness in affiliate marketing.
- NYAffiliateVoice formed to combat the aforementioned New York Affiliate tax laws.
- An organization called Affiliate Trust has formed to help raise awareness to the loyalty/charity affiliates and their use of toolbars.
- The Performance Marketing Alliance was formed, and incorporated in 2008 with only hours to spare.
- Affiliate Marketers Give Back have raised thousands of dollars for Breast Cancer.
We’ve also seen a rejuvenation of affiliate marketing related blogs, bloggers, podcasts, and publications.
- Revenews.com reorganized and reinvented itself with a new publisher, Angel Djambazov. Things are looking up there again.
- Shawn Collins continues his tireless post-a-day at the AffiliateTip blog.
- Shawn and Missy launched their own affiliate marketing publication, FeedFront, most recently featuring the women of affiliate marketing.
- Speaking of which, some of those women are strong bloggers in their own right, with Linda Buquet, Missy Ward, Kellie Stevens, Stephanie Lichtenstein, TrishaLyn Fawver, and Melanie Seery kicking up their blogging efforts.
- Revenue Magazine had a rocky time, but continues with their great publications, and Lisa Picarille keeps their blog active.
- Sam Harrelson brought CostPerNews back from the brink (again) and is producing great content again. Focus Sam, focus.
- Jamie Birch is writing some great stuff at his new blog.
- A new forum surfaced, AffSpot.com.
- Most of the affiliate networks have finally started blogging, with only one holdout. Hopefully we’ll round out that list in 2009.
- Jim Kukral, former Affiliate Summit best blogger award recipient reinvented himself as the BizWebCoach.
- And if you’re rather consume your info through your ears, be sure to check out the Affiliate Thing podcast and the GeekCast show. My own podcast efforts fell flat. Flying solo is a tough haul. These group podcasts have the right idea..
I know I’ve missed many from this list, and I mean no slight. I will say, there’s one person I wish was on this list. Pat Grady, dude, get a blog. In the meantime, you know can have an account here in a heartbeat, my friend.
As an affiliate marketer, you’ve got no excuse to not understand the issues in our industry, and there is no shortage of places to get your voice heard.
2008 was a big year, and I expect even bigger from 2009.
Happy New Year and I wish you and our industry great success in 2009.
Continued on part 2: 2008 Review Continued, Personal Stuff.
Nice to see the list of the bad is a lot shorter than the list of the good.
I'd love to see 2009 as a breakout year for affiliate marketing bloggers… and podcasts. There is an underserved audience out there.
Happy New Year!
Sometimes it's difficult to see all the good when we're all caught up in the bad. Thanks for taking the time to post the roundup. Cheers to a great 2009!
Second Missy's thought on your good list, thanks!
And thanks for the callout for me to blog, greatly appreciate the thought behind that.
See you very soon in Vegas!
Some social networking websites such as Squiddo can also be used to benefit your affiliate marketing strategy. Squidoo can be used effectively to create a lense promoting you affilliate product that you can link to the sales page.
Great Summary! Thanks Scotty, I know I'm a bit behind but I was still on Costa Rica time. My mission is to blog more this year and I concur I would read the Pat Grady blog all the time, get to it Pat!
More good things happened than bad. This is encouraging.
I love the new social book marking sites and have used them often to bookmark mys sites. My only problem is once I get on them its hard to get off and I waste away the hours. I am sure many others have the same problem !
Thanks for the great review. It will definitely help me to make a decision.
It’s very nice that you ive writing the subjects about seo.
This good infaction, great summary. i know blog more a year. good luck jangrooo
In these times of recession/depression and high unemployment it's nice to hear the good news.
That’s a very good review and thanks for sharing it. Affiliate Marketing is my core business so I’m pretty interested in what 2009 will unfold too. But I’m thankful I’ve got some proven affiliate programs with proven track records to get me motivated to do even more in 2009.