One late night at Affiliate Summit 2007 West, I stopped by the convenience store in Bally’s Las Vegas to pick up some munchies. I picked Fig Newtons and the cashier asked if I was part of the “marketing conference.”
I answered yes and asked why? It seems the folks from the marketing conference were buying Fig Newtons at an unprecedented rate.
Are affiliate marketers more likely than other citizens of the world to eat Fig Newtons? Who cares? But there are a lot of other interesting factoids that were revealed in a recent affiliate census.
The UK Affiliate Census Report was published by E-consultancy.com in association with Affiliate Program Advice.
E-consultancy is an online publisher of best practice internet marketing reports, research and how-to guides in the UK.
Affiliate Program Advice is primarily an affiliate marketing consultancy and affiliate program management agency with an emphasis upon research and development within the affiliate marketing industry.
The purpose of the UK Affiliate Census Report was to provide a better understanding of affiliates in terms of:
- Their profile (e.g. who they are and where they live).
- Their lifestyle as affiliates.
- The nature of their affiliate activity / business.
- Their relationship with networks and merchants.
- Their opinions about key issues and market trends.
More than 1,500 affiliates took part in the survey at the end of 2006. Key findings from the Affiliate Census include:
- The overwhelming majority of affiliates are male (83% of respondents)
- 27% of affiliates say they do affiliate marketing as their day job (compared to 73% who do it in their spare time)
- Half of all respondents (49%) earned less that £500 a year from affiliate marketing
- Of those who do affiliate marketing as their day job, 61% earned at least £20,000 a year
- 10% of day-job affiliates earned more than £750,000 in the last year from affiliate marketing
- Only 26% of affiliates have done any marketing courses compared to 73% who have not
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is far and away the most commonly used method of promoting merchants & getting traffic. Organic search is used by 74% of affiliates compared to 38% who use Paid Search
- Affiliates are typically signed up with multiple affiliate networks
The full UK Affiliate Census Report can be accessed by registered E-consultancy users at e-consultancy.com.
A: I don’t mean to dash your dreams, but that’s almost like asking how do I start my car with an empty gas tank. The answer, unfortunately, is that you don’t.
On the first day of the conference, we had the Affiliate Jam Session and Sing-a-Long, hosted by Shareasale.com. At this event, anybody could get up on stage and sing karaoke with a live band of affiliate marketing music all stars.
I was the surprised recipient of the First Ever Guest of Honor award(?) from AffiliateDinner.com. With the wily Brook Schaaf behind this event, it couldn’t be a mere honor. Rather it was a roast.