Are affiliate managers getting desperate?

Or are they simply becoming more aggressive?

[europeforvisitors]

In the last few months, I've noticed a big increase in unsolicited e-mails that are pitching affiliate programs--often for startups, but sometimes for established businesses. Have other Web publishers experienced this?

Is it possible that a slowing economy is encouraging the more cash-strapped advertisers to outsource their risk? Or is affiliate marketing a new fad among vendors who don't realize how late they are to the party? Or am I reading too much into the flood of e-mails that I've been getting about niche affiliate programs? (I don't think it has anything to do with anything I've done, by the way--my site isn't any more visible than it was two or three months ago.)

[ibQuixote]

I definitely think the slow down in the world economy is forcing people to start new businesses. The web offers the quickest easiest way to jump into a new line of work. My wife just got two new website projects from people that were laid off.

[eljefe3]

I'm thinking it could be a bit of both. More people are realizing that the more people they have selling their product, more money and sales will be made.

Also people who are new to the web or have a great product to sell, are now hiring aff managers to get them up and running and not just relying on advertising or their own websites for sales.

I'm sure the work at home type people are jumping in too with promises of riches when they know mnay people are getting laid of or fired, so what's bad for one business presents a great opportunity to these types of businesses.

[Marcia]

I think also that budgets are getting tighter. It doesn't affect me because I don't do PPC, but I'm seeing a rash of TOS changes either forbidding or limiting affiliate PPC bidding, and it's too many in diverse niches to be a coincidence - unless the networks are behind it, but I can't see why they would be.

[Essex_boy]

Could be any of teh above, however I noticed around a year ago that the number aff managers shot right up, its cheaper than using a PPC firm so should be interesting to watch the trends over the next year.

[idolw]

I definitely think the slow down in the world economy is forcing people to start new businesses. The web offers the quickest easiest way to jump into a new line of work. My wife just got two new website projects from people that were laid off.

I am not sure it still is so easy to succeed on the web. Maybe the laid off people just think it is so easy...

[ronin]

Or is affiliate marketing a new fad among vendors who don't realize how late they are to the party?

I think this more than anything else. Ten years after it kicked off, AM is just beginng to permeate the outer fringes of public consciousness. I get the impression that the people who have just discovered it, think they're on to something really new.

And, in a way, they are. As far as we're all concerned they look like they're late to the party. But I think 1998-2008 will still go down in internet marketing history very much as the "early, pioneer years".