This article is a bit of me on my soap box, though. But it’s edited, don’t worry!

Let’s start with what an Affiliate Marketer really is.

An Affiliate Marketer is someone who sells you the product or service of another company for a commission. They did not create the product but you can buy it from them and they will be paid by the company who did create the product.

There is a perception that all affiliate marketers are scam artists. And for some, it is justified. In the early days of the Internet you could game the search engines to get ranked literally overnight. It was a lot easier to set up a scam site and lure people in with hypey yellow highlighted sales letters.

Those days are gone but the perception of Affiliate Marketers as snake oil salesmen persists.

Yes, it is true that some are but not all. For example, I am an Affiliate Marketer and I take great pride in my Integrity. If I recommend a product or service then it is because I have either used it before or used other products from the same company and I trust that they have good stuff and will take good care of my customers. And if they don’t I will make it right. Me. Personally.

Think of it this way…

Let’s say you walk into a grocery store because you want something to drink. You look around and choose a bottle of Absolutely The Best Soda Ever.

At that point do you stop and say, no, “I’m not going to buy this from ABC Grocery Store”? Do you say, “I’m going to get back in my car and drive to the Absolutely The Best Soda Ever Bottling Plant and buy it directly from them”?

Doubtful. First of all, the ABSE plant is not going to sell to you. That’s not what they do. That’s why they distribute through the grocery stores. They pay the grocery stores to stock and sell the product and share the marketing responsibilities. ABSE might buy a 60 second spot during primetime TV but ABC Grocery is going to back that up with their weekly newspaper ads.

So ABSE Soda makes a product. ABC Grocery gets it into the hands of the consumer for them and they both get paid.

Seems fair to me.

Now let’s turn that around to the Affiliate Marketing Model.

I use Host Gator. Love Host Gator (yep, that’s an affiliate link!) Their support is just the best and I can’t tell you how many times they have saved me from myself! I have an affiliate banner ad for them on my “I Recommend” Page and when a client is having hosting problems then I recommend they switch to Host Gator. Host Gator wins and I win and most importantly, my client wins.

My clients have never heard of Host Gator. They are frustrated and feeling like they just have to put up with the problems they are having. Without my recommendation they probably would never hear about Host Gator. For most of them, someone they don’t even remember set up their site and then left them. If my client is having a problem with their hosting service, the original developer doesn’t care. They’re done. They’ve been paid and they are now sitting on a beach drinking ABSE soda.

But me? I’m here. My client’s success is my success. My purpose here is to help them. And if I can solve their problem by educating them and getting them a good hosting provider why is it a bad thing for Host Gator to pay me a sales commission?

Answer – it’s not.

Take a look at the stuff around you. Everything you have, someone sold to you. You got what you wanted and they got paid.

Same with Affiliate Marketers

P.S. OK, with all due respect to Seth Godin, I did “borrow” my title from his book – All Marketers Are Liars Storytellers 

You know – great minds think alike.