would our industry benefit with more structure?

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by MrIzzz@Feb 5 2005, 03:15 AM
would there even be affiliates anymore?

Some companies consider it their core business to obtain affiliates and make partnership deals. Generating traffic internally takes resources that for many companies would be better spent elsewhere. That being said, I think there is a place for generating some traffic internally if that is one's mindset. One difficulty is that it takes intellectual capital to do such things and these people easily jump ship or get motivated to strike out on their own.

There is considerable risk in trying to generate all one's own traffic that is better spread out amongst a large number of people that consider it their core business to "generate traffic.

How would you regulate this? As long as someone is capable of getting and selling traffic there will always be someone who is willing to buy it - in many cases secretly.

The reality is that for most affiliate programs it is easier to get traffic the old fashioned way. They buy it. On the other side, I know people that have tons of traffic with absolutely no interest in running membersites.