The Affiliate Manager Position is Dead
 

Paraphrased:

Thoughts?

I though purpose of affiliate manager is helping current affiliates to help with their conversions?

True - thank god.

I'm an affiliate, and many owners are often difficult to get with, I think many are busy, but many are just distant.

I have decent relationships with the affiliate managers I do use now.

As long as their is affiliates like myself, there will be managers, OR the owners themselves will have to take the time for the little guys. (which most likely will not happen).

No matter what, someone needs to do business with the people sending sales. Or we will send them elsewhere.

So how exactly does the affiliate manager "help affiliates with their conversions"?

LetMeHowThatGoes

I don't agree... Pre-pays and large budgets don't equal sales.

seems like plenty around here.

Really? No rep has ever hit you up after evaluating your account with optimizations they suggest?

We do it every week. I go through our WM database and offer ideas for optimizations, which thus would help with their conversions.

the affiliate system will probably come to an end.
internal traffic will be the logical next step and so "Traffic Managers" can and/or will be used to assist the program owners.

There are a handful of definitions of what an "affiliate manager" is and does. Just like there are a handful of definitions of what an "affiliate program" is and does.

Everything isn't wrapped up in a nice little bow. It's much more complex than that.

Programs especially bigger size ones still need Affiliate Managers
(not for the purpose of helping to do better conversions) but to
assist the needs for affiliates . :2 cents:

He can help with picking proper promo tool,suggest how to improve site,provide list of fhg's in custom format,etc..For example there is very little aff manager which are willing to send fhg list to your mail,most of them will tell you fuck off.

Not us. If you need something custom, let myself, Kristin, or Nadya know.

I hear this sooooo often and everyone thinking there are no WMs, blah, blah, blah.

There are WMs ... just go find them! And that usually takes reps to do; ie: a sales force.

Then you are working with the wrong program.

Agreed...

The AM position will never be dead

Correction:i do not working with them :upsidedow

because it's just so easy to know how to get traffic huh? you think that someone who really knows how to create big traffic is going to work for a wage?

there are a couple programs out there, but it is rare.

One word: Wizzo.

:2 cents:

like i said, a few. but rare. and probably have some killer compensation.

but not every company is going to find someone, thus the affiliate model.

Agreed.

There are 'some' in this industry who could handle this type of position. I can't say they would all work for a 'wage'. But Robbie, ThumbLord, Wizzo, and a handful of others fit the bill for people who 'could' do it.

Well no matter whether you call them affiliate managers or traffic managers, their job is to get sales for the company, no?

As long as the affiliate model is profitable for companies there will be affiliate managers.

:2 cents::2 cents::2 cents::2 cents:

Traffic is Key, as we all know, so how you get it is the issue. Through affiliates or your own 'internal' traffic? I think eventually this issue will become semantic as 'affiliate managers' morph into 'traffic managers' who morph into something else as the industry changes and getting (good) consistent traffic becomes increasingly tricky.

It's all about the traffic so WHO gets it for you, in the end, doesn't really matter as long as it's working for YOUR company.

But more to the point: looking to hire someone, full-time, to either 'manage affiliates' or 'get internal traffic' depends greatly on a program's existing affiliate base and its' current traffic sources. Every program would need to make it's own unique decision, I would imagine?

Yep big companies will always need an affiliate manager. A lot of people who sigh up are new and want to ask a lot of questions.

and the older ones that come back around. They need login and help finding whats new.

I think the definition of affiliate manager has evolved.

The typical hire a hot chick to flirt on the boards and watch the sales pour in thing has run it's course....

Affiliate managers need to be traffic managers. They will need to provide affiliates with tools, but also manage their time in such a way that it's not all they do. They will have to become multi-taskers. They will need to know and understand all of the various traffic sources and how to take care of affiliates sending each way, this includes but is not limited to exits, cross sales, upsells, ex-member sales, etc.

The affiliate manager version 1.0 is dead, so AffiliateManager2.0 needs to be better equipped, work harder/smarter and know how to manage their time so as to not waste it making custom ads for someone who is going to send 1 sale every other month, but not ignore the 1-3 sales per week guys that when combined, can add up.

Internal traffic isn't a death knell for an affiliate manager, but it is an evolution that they will need to be ready for or they will disappear and become obsolete.

:thumbsup :thumbsup

Yes you do I cause I recieved one of your emails and you replied back very quickly..thanks.
I will get round to getting that whitelabel up. Im just working on another site atm and uploading content while I chat on here :)

Great post.

IMPOSSIBLE!!!! If web-masters existed they would be all over this board.
They would be like flies on a turd at trade shows.

Web-masters is a rumor from the 90s. They do not exist.

http://sunwalked.files.wordpress.com...foot-steve.jpg

:1orglaugh

yes... yes it is

:thumbsup

AWE does it also, they do not respect their affiliate program anymore, changed the TOS and have managers hitting up tube sites for prepaid deals....

Very good and dead on post :thumbsup

affiliate manager position - the old position, designed for lazy big talkers is infact gone, old position involved a guy sitting on his ASS waiting for potential affiliates or old affiliates to contact him and helping them with what they need. THAT is gone

What is available is managers that bring in new affiliates daily in addition to helping old affiliates, bringing in new affiliates is a time consuming tedious process, many think posting junk on boards is the way to go. The method that works requires emailing people who would do well with your stuff, so if you have a spanking site email site owners with spanking sites (if you yell spam you are an idiot).