The Syndicated Affiliate #2

[2HousePlague]

Part 2: RSS, Advice for Sponsor Programs

I have already predicted a radical transformation in the nature of business over the course of the next 10 years -- (tangent) -- I have also predicted that the gap between people who sell things online and the people who buy things online is going to disappear -- (tangent)

For the present discussion, however, it is enough to speak of Syndicators and Affiliates. Though these terms will likely change to something more layman palatable, the roles will be the same. Joe wants traffic. Jack knows how to get traffic. Joe will make Jack feel loved to get Jack's traffic. One difference, one new development I should say, will be the penetration of affiliate marketing into popular culture. That means the choice who to promote, who to send your traffic to, will be influenced by fashion and other factors of cultural effect -- just as consumerism is influenced today.

RSS comes into play as the mechansm through which Syndicators will deliver content to Afiliates, and through which Affiliates will communicate with each other and Syndicate Forward.

While it is already commonly understood and expected that sponsor programs will give you tools and content to help you promote them, the tipping point in that relationship is definitely shifing in favor of the traffic sender.

Here again, RSS comes into the picture, as Sponsors/Syndicators pump billions into affliate acquisition marketing. Production costs rise with audience market share. And audiences are notoriously fickle. This is exactly like broadcast television, during its sponsored hey-day, with a few very important differences.

1.For Syndicator/Sponsors the top line will no longer be limited because it is a function of available ad-space or air-time inventory. Once you have spent a million dollars for 30 seconds on the Super Bowl, where do you go from there?
2. In contrast, revenues from online sales will be comparatively unlimited. Affiliates will be the ones who open markets for companies, using cultural, language and technological expertise to monetize "traffic" in all its forms and wherever it exists.
3. The use of the Web for value transfer of unprecedented global scale creates new billionaires all over the world, in many cases ovenight.
4. Everyone has a net "presence" of some sort, and whether they are recommending a dentist to a friend or operating a $50,000/day e-commerce site -- we are ALL affiliates.
5. The onus of performance shifts all the way to the Syndicator/Sponsors. Just as it is today, the programs with the highest payouts and the best tools win -- except in this future scenario, Affiliate Marketing is the only marketing.

[2HousePlague]

Three MORE GOOD R's...