This post is from 2011. Products, prices and links in it may be out of date.
Step into my time machine and let's travel 33,000 years back in time. What we see is a world inhabited by Neanderthals. They roamed the world in masses, life was good. Then suddenly, they were all gone.
What in the world happened?
Modern humans, like you and me, came in and dominated. We stomped all over the Neanderthals, took their lunches and sent them home crying. Ok, so maybe not exactly like that but the general idea behind all the Neanderthal extinction theories boil down to the fact that they didn't and couldn't adapt quickly enough to stay competitive and keep from dying out.
The same scenario is playing out again in the affiliate world. A few years ago the average Neanderthal Affiliate could live quite comfortably going out with sticks to hunt every day. Those days are long gone, buddy.
Like before, Neanderthal Affiliates are starving. They're fighting for the scraps modern affiliates are not even interested in. While they are dining on steak, the Neanderthal Affiliates are chewing on bones.
How do you know if you are a Neanderthal Affiliate?
Sorry, but if you have to ask, you're already a Neanderthal Affiliate.Here are a few more tell tale signs:
- Still direct linking- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- Not building an asset- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- High bids make you cry & whine- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- Not constantly learning and improving- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- Making 100% of your income off one traffic source- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- Your income disappears when you stop working- You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
- You don't understand the LTV of every person you send to your site-You're a Neanderthal Affiliate!
The list goes on, but you should get the point by now.
Neanderthal Affiliates Rejoice!
It's not too late; to survive you must evolve. The smart modern affiliate controls his or her destiny. They understand the value of building a strong asset. This could be as simple as building an email list. When you think about it, an email list is just another traffic source. Billion dollar companies have been built on a strong email list, as of this writing Groupon is worth 12 billion dollars. A decent chunk of that valuation comes from the huge email list they've built up over the years.
Are you constantly learning about what's working and what's dead? Do you have the knowledge to look at the clues around you to know in advance that winter is coming up so you should invest in storing food and building a warm shelter? Acquire that knowledge or learn from smarter people so you are not caught unaware and unprepared.
Do you understand the value of your traffic and have systems, paths and flows in place that allow you to bid 2-5x or even more than everyone else and still make 10x more profit than they do? On many traffic sources, the one who pays the most gets all the traffic- everyone else fights for the scraps. Who do you want to be?
This short article is not enough to save you, Neanderthal Affiliate, but hopefully you take this as a wake up call. Affiliate marketing is not dying, Neanderthal Affiliate marketing is what's dying. Keep doing the same old stuff and extinction is your only outcome.