Ever Outsource Affiliate Work?

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mstef

mstef

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I've been thinking of non-traditional ways (at least in my mind) to expand on affiliate marketing as much and as fast as possible. I was wondering if any of you ever outsourced affiliate work to people who aren't, say, techies. I know a lot of people and have a lot of friends (surprisingly) who are unemployed (losers). Since they don't have the first clue of what affiliate marketing really is or how to buy a domain name, I was thinking that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to give them small commissions on any big commissions they can make for me. Say you have an offer paying $35/lead/sale - give them a domain/link to promote with their own subid and say they get like $15 for every lead they pull in. Let them promote however they want; online or offline.

Probably a stupid idea but was just curious if anyone has ever tried anything like this before..
 


@machinecontrol haha not the people i know

@marcel Motivated by the commissions that they think are high?
 
Well if they don't have a clue what AM is, they probably won't be able to promote anything online, but give it a shot if you're looking for door-to-door Shamwow salesmen ;)
 
I think the key is to let them do the fun, lazy, easy stuff, while you be the CEO, accountant and cash dispensing machine. Actually you should automate the hard stuff.

BTW, anyone wanna work for me ?
 
i'm sure theres like a 1% chance of someone getting a sale but i figured i have nothing to lose, why not maybe try it..i wouldn't fund them or anything
 
mstef said:
i'm sure theres like a 1% chance of someone getting a sale but i figured i have nothing to lose, why not maybe try it..i wouldn't fund them or anything
Click to expand...

#1 Having friends work for you = bad idea; I've considered hiring some friends back when I was a full-time AM but ended up realizing that it just wouldn't be worth it.

#2 Setting everything up for them and explaining what you're interested in will take time, so it really wouldn't be that great of a deal anyway.
 
I outsource a lot, but I never do it with any kind of performance bonus, and I never give one person too much insight into what's going on. I'll hire someone to write content, hire another person to design pages, another one to build links, etc. I specifically look for people who are good at only one thing - not well-rounded types who could easily put the pieces together.

I never outsource my initial research into a niche, PPC, or keyword research, though. I've experimented with it in the past, but to me, it seems like anyone smart enough to do what I need in those departments is a good candidate to become one of my future competitors.

As far as finding people goes, I usually pick college students in the area of Elancers.
 
Whilst I haven't done it with any AM stuff, I used to hire friends to help promote events and do some grunt work for the setup/packup.

IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!

Some guys saying that they did more work than others and wanting more because of it. Others just not doing the work they said they would and going "Well, if you think I didn't do it, then just don't pay me", but in that tone of voice that also says "but don't bother calling next time you want to go bowling", etc.
Being friends with people just makes business with the same people really awkward.
 
As others had mentioned, you can't hire any relatives or friends; since emotions would come into play. You should be able to fire anyone for bad work without feeling ANY guilt; otherwise you'll be running crappy campaigns because of crapper workers.
 
well... i'm hiring my big brother.. he makes like no money at his job he has now and doesnt really have many options.. hopefully get him some money and learn the biz while doing alot of the work i dont like to do
 
I've worked with companies that can run your affiliate program for you (there are a few good ones out there). Getting involved with family and friends could turn into a nightmare.
 
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