Edwin - 12:02 pm on Apr 24, 2007 (gmt 0)

I guess part of the problem is the 1% of affiliates who are succeeding big time (or whatever the % actually is - in all events, it's pretty small) are fed up with the constant "background noise" of boosterism coming from just about every affiliate program, attractive or not, successful or not.

Reading the typical affiliate program's sales pitch leaves you gasping for air as you drown in superlatives.

I have a wry smile reserved for the folks who trumpet what should, from the 1% affiliate group's vantage point, best remain buried, like... "We even have 7 affiliates earning over $2,000 a month!" (almost the exact words I saw on an affiliate program page for a fairly prominent ecommerce site just the other day). If your best affiliates are performing that badly, why are you shouting about it?

And then there's the many, many affiliate programs that seem to parrot the same basic script that has been around almost as long as affiliate programs have, to the effect that adding their affiliate links to my page will somehow boost my own traffic and make my visitors ecstatically happy...

So I guess most of the 1% folks go "fishing" from time to time, choosing their lure (keywords) and fishing location (niche) carefully and checking up to see if there are any new/prominent companies in that niche that have started offering affiliate programs, or have expanded/improved their offerings.

Basically, if your affiliate program is attractive enough then the best affiliates are almost certainly going to be able to find it of their own accord...