September 2009 – The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Will September 2009 signify the end of Affiliate Marketing? This is not some gimmick headline either. I’m completely serious. After reading an article on Copyblogger then addressing the source at the Washington Post I’m intrigued to what will happen to the industry.

Fittingly, I have only recently written an article about affiliate marketing and whether affiliates should hide behind their links using cloaking. I take the approach of being transparent especially when communicating directly to my community. My reasoning is that I prefer to promote the fact I’m using an affiliate link with the hope that my users will appreciate this. The rational is, “hey guys, I’m providing you with some awesome information so if you like it and want to buy, use my link so I can keep providing it”. Not particularly greedy or unfathomable and I believe it’s quite fair.

Back to the issue at hand, will this signal the end of affiliate marketing as we know it? Well if it is implemented and policed diligently then I believe it will cause some changes. Will these changes be bad? No I don’t think so.

First of all, reading the Washington Post article it definitely seems to focus on the blogging side of things. Reading between the lines however makes me think it may turn into a full blown affiliate marketing disclosure ruling. That means PPC marketing will get a hit along with the review based affiliate sites that go with it. I can imagine there are many affiliate marketers out there who will start kicking and screaming as their revenues dive or they begin receiving ‘cease and desist’ notices from the FTC or whoever. PPC programs and courses will become pretty much outdated as their approach to PPC marketing will become void and technically illegal.

Think about Twitter! How many affiliate links do you receive a day from optimistic Twitterpreneurs hoping you’ll be the one to make them their commission? Will they, or you, need to disclose the fact that an affiliate link is being used? Where will that fit in the 140 characters? The phrase (affiliate link) on its own including parenthesis is 16 characters which means over 10% less room and a reduced chance of a click through. Maybe it isn’t so bad, I think I’ve seen enough of the Maverick Money Makers sales page for a lifetime.

Even if it’s a full industry crack down I can’t see it as being the end. What it may do however is clean up a sometimes sneaky industry. Maybe it might promote the need to develop relationships with people before you can start earning an income. Maybe it may turn white hat completely legitimate marketers into black hat masterminds.

I’m interested to see how things develop. I think my approach will lend itself to the changes but how some of the other guys and my Acai Berry buddies deal with this is going to be interesting to watch. Stay tuned.