Spending Money To Make Money

When I first got started in Online Marketing, I noticed a trend by “up-and-coming” affiliate marketers who were storming the scene.  Practically every blog had its owner proudly holding up a check for four or five figures, cheesy grin and all.

I thought, like most young naieve marketers I’m sure, that a picture of myself holding such a check would be the bee’s knees.  A few weeks later, when I had an opportunity to hold my own fat checks up (showing a bit of restraint I left the Nikon safely in its camera bag), my suspicions were confirmed.

It is the bee’s knees!

But it doesn’t take long to realize that as fat as you think your check is (no matter how wide that grin accompanying it is), it’s still just a miniscule fraction of what you made the company you were marketing for.

This was never clearer than when I moved out of the marketing racket and into the SaaS (Software as a Service) industry.  As a developer and vendor of proprietary software, I liberally employ the marketing oomph provided by (good) affiliate marketers.

My affiliate/vendor relationship is a coveted one, but it does lend a bit of perspective when you consider that I spend more on pay-per-click campaigns alone than most affiliate marketers make in a year…

* Certain private or confidential data removed from image

* Certain private or confidential data removed from image


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