It seems like every year or so the topic of whether Affiliate Marketing is dead or not comes up. It’s usually started by someone that makes some sensational claims in a blog post or interview. I won’t name names, but there have been a rash of these lately, so I felt like a response was necessary.

So is Affiliate Marketing dead? In a word: NO!

In fact, I would venture to say it’s the best it has ever been. The sheer amount of opportunity out there is staggering, and it’s only growing on a daily basis (not shrinking). People like to talk about “the good old days” when things were easier. But they have been doing that for years. It’s always last year that the money was made, and now we are all doomed because Yahoo / Google / Facebook / MSN changed their policy. Funny though, the next year, we’re all still here.

Marketing methods do come in and fall out like the changing of the tide, but the whole point of being an affiliate is to be creative. If the big ad agencies had the patience and ability to try all of the new traffic sources and creatives that affiliates do, then we might be in trouble. But they aren’t doing that. There will always be a place for creative individuals that have a talent for optimizing campaigns. That’s essentially what we are: optimizers.

You can call it whatever you want, but as long as I am making money from the internet by placing ads and getting paid for my sales or leads, then I’m a happy camper. Stop worrying about whether or not the industry is dead. The people that are making money aren’t sitting around reading these blog posts anyway. They are setting up new campaigns and laughing all the way to the bank.

Which would you rather be, worried or rich?