Most people say that affiliate marketing is dead. I couldn’t disagree more. I just think it’s changed. The days of 70%+ commissions are long gone and as I’ve always said, anyone who offers you those kind of numbers should scare the living hell out of you.
Because no program can be profitable by paying out so much and if they aren’t profitable then they won’t be in business for long.
So I decided to look into mainstream because website owners are reporting massive profits in promoting mainstream programs. So why is that? What does mainstream pay? I decided to find out.
Amazon’s affiliate programs payout varies from 4% to 6%. No that is not a typo. They actually pay less than 10% and have an INSANE number of affiliates promoting their shit all day long. Top Amazon affiliates report earning $10,000+ per month. Last December one Amazon affiliate boasted earning $30,000. Not a bad Christmas, ey?
But that’s not the only thing that surprised me about Amazon’s affiliate program. Their cookie length is 1 day. 1 freaking day?!!!!!!!!!!! In porn affiliates bitch if it’s under 6 months. LOL
Walmart also has an affiliate program. They pay typically 1-4% and their cookie length is 3 whole days.
How about Target? They pay about 2%-5% and have a cookie length of 7 days.
Surely Best Buy pays more, right? Nope. They pay between 1.7% to 6% depending on the item purchased. Their cookie length is 3 days.
Home Depot – 3% to 5% with a 1 day cookie length.
Plenty of Fish – a popular mainstream dating site pays only 20% but that’s much higher than any other of the mainstream programs and they even offer a 60 day cookie length.
So with so many big time mainstream affiliate companies paying so low, could that be the reason why porn affiliate programs struggled?
As someone who has been an porn affiliate for almost 20 years, I can tell you the biggest problem I have is getting paid.
I typically only get paid on about 25% of what I actually earn in any given month.
I probably spend more time chasing my money in a month than I do actually earning it. How sad it that?
So what are the options?
- #1 I now only do business with companies that have a solid reputation.
- #2 I have a two strikes and you are out policy. If you are late or bounce a check more than once, I will put you on my fuck you list.
- #3 I no longer expect any affiliate program to help me with the promotional material I need to well … promote their website. I get it on my own.
- #4 I don’t do business with affiliate programs that have large payouts. As I said before I know that no business can maintain profitability under those conditions so I know eventually they won’t be able to pay me what I earned so I do myself a favor and avoid doing business with them in the first place.
- #5 I’m not afraid to do business with a program who is only paying 25%-35%. Why? Because I would rather do business with a guy only willing to pay me 25% and actually pay me what I earned ON TIME EVERY TIME than to do business with a guy offering me 70% and pays me late or his check bounces. I don’t have time for that shit. I want to get paid. I’m tired of the bullshit that comes with the big payout guys. As long as I know up front what I’m going to get, then I’m good with that. I actually do business with a program that pays me 30% but they convert well and pay on time so I’m more than happy with my 30%. I make more with that 30% program than I do with any other programs I work with and some of those pay me up to 60% revshare.