Affiliates and the New Membership Site

TOPIC #1: Video Problems

Well I really owe y’all an apology. I’ve been so busy with the new membership site that I hadn’t logged in to the blog administration for a while, so I didn’t know all those comments were awaiting approval.

And as a result of that omission I wasn’t alerted to the fact that the video wasn’t displaying.

The reason for that remains a mystery. I certainly wouldn’t completely exclude the possibility of an error on our part, but I’m inclined to think there was a glitch in YouTube.

When the video was posted it was originally set to Private while we checked it out, then reset to “Share your video with the world”. But it appears that either it didn’t reset to Public, or it subsequently reset to Private again later.

I’ve changed it again to Public, so here’s hoping. Please drop back one post and try viewing the video again. If you still have problems try viewing it on YouTube by clicking here.

TOPIC #2: Affiliates and the New Membership Site

Since I announced in an earlier article the impending demise of The Hacker’s Nightmare e-book I have received several contacts from people concerned about the loss of an affiliate program.

For those readers not familiar with the concept, in Internet terms an affiliate is someone who has built a list of contacts to whom they promote various products and services.

Legitimate affiliates are NOT spammers. People on an affiliate marketer’s list have expressed an interest in the marketer’s area of interest and have given their permission to receive newsletters, announcements, promotions, etc from the marketer. An ethical and reliable affiliate marketer can be a very useful source of information on new products/services, interesting events and other up-to-date information.

In return for their efforts affiliate marketers receive a commission from the manufacturer or publisher of products they promote.

Of course, as with everything else, there are both ethical, principled affiliate marketers and there are self-serving cads who won’t hesitate to recommend complete rubbish if there’s a buck in it for them. Smart affiliate marketers know only too well that their future success depends on their reputation for honesty and integrity, so they won’t hesitate to call a dog a dog if that’s what it is.

Now, from my perspective, affiliate marketers can play a very important part in the success of the upcoming CAOS members’ site. An affiliate marketer with a large list of people who trust his recommendations can spread the word faster and more effectively even then paid advertising.

Although I know that we’ll be providing a valuable quality service that is needed by a lot of people, obviously it can only be of value to those people who know about it, thus getting the word “out there” is extremely important.

So believe me, I fully appreciate the value of affiliates and I’m not taking the affiliate issue lightly.

The conflict exists because of my insistence that membership be affordable by absolutely anyone. And I mean REALLY affordable, like the cost of a couple of coffees per week! I still haven’t figured out exactly what it has to be in dollar terms to cover my costs, but as I promised in a previous article, the only shock will be just how low it is.

Anyway, getting to the point, I’ve thought long and hard about this and I believe I can satisfy everyone after all.

There WILL be an affiliate program, but…

It will apply to every member rather than just to semi-/professional affiliate marketers. There are still some details to be worked out, but here’s what I’m thinking…

• Every registered member will be eligible for a small cash incentive for every person they refer who in turn becomes a member. Considering the extremely low price point, this should be such an easy “sell” that it would be more like doing your friends a favor than convincing them of anything.

• You’ll receive your commission every month so long as both you and your referral maintains membership.

• I’d like to work it so that as few as three referrals would be enough to cover your own monthly membership. Anything above that we’ll send to you in cash each month — say via PayPal. I’m hoping that just having their own membership covered will be attractive to those members who have no real interest in becoming serious affiliates.

• Professional affiliates accustomed to commissions in the dozens up to hundreds of dollars will, in one respect, be disappointed. However, the ridiculously low membership fee should mean (a) practically zero buyer resistance if you’re targeting the right market, and (b) an extremely low cancellation rate. I’m not suggesting you will be able to order a new Porsche, but paying the registration and fuel shouldn’t require much effort.

What do YOU think?

For or against? Foresee any problems? Questions? Recommendations?

The new membership site is intended to be for its members, not for me, so it’s important that it meets your wants, needs and desires. I KNOW you will be delighted with the content and services inside the membership area, but there are other aspects to be considered also.

So please don’t be shy — use the comment box below to give me your thoughts.