Jason Calacanis calls affiliate marketers spammers

Jason Calacanis (creator of Weblogs, Inc and Mahalo) held a speech on the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas. I haven't been there myself but read quite a lot of coverage of the event.

Jason made apparently a very controversial speech where he called affiliate marketers spammers. He claims they are polluting the internet and not adding any real value. (Jason's cover article)

I think he makes some valid points but in my opinion it's a little bit harsh to call all affiliates spammers. I agree with Jason that affiliates should focus on the quality of their websites in the first place. That way not only visitors but the affiliates themselves will profit from it in the long term.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on this. Whether you are an affiliate marketer or not, what's your take on it? Can you do affiliate marketing without spamming the web? Do you believe your affiliate sites provide real value to the visitors?

 

Well Jason Calacanis can just kiss my ass!

 

His tactic works -- create controversy and you will get free publicity.

See, you are promoting his name on this forum

 

Hmm, not really interested in your opinion on Jason Calacanis himself. If you could elaborate on the whole affiliates=spammers thing, it would be nice.

 

I don't think he is in need of publicity from the DP forum

 

No, not specifically from DP.
I was talking in general.

Usually something controversial will attract people's attention.
And this is happening everywhere... DP is only one of the venues...

 

Sure. Controversy attracts attention, no doubt. But this thread is not about Jason Calacanis. It's about what he said. Do you agree with it or not? Do you feel offended by his words? Do you think he talks bullshit? What's your take on affiliate marketing?

 

If you didn't catch my thoughts on his opinion from my statement above, then you need a smack on the head
It wasn't an opinion on Jason himself, it was me saying what Jason can do..
Which is kiss my ass..

 

You have strange way of expressing yourself but I take it as you don't agree with him and think affiliates are not spamming the web. Thanks for your participation on the subject.

 

Hmm.. No experience in affiliate marketing so I cannot say much.
One thing's for sure though, people will do anything to make money.
Spamming seems to be the trend, for the future.

So, what can we do about it?
I am afraid there is nothing we can do to stop spamming.
It is built-in, the nature of the web; the system is very distributed and we cannot control other people's actions.

 

Actually, I was very clear to say that I didn't think all affiliates were spammers. Clearly there are folks using affiliate marketing without deceptive practices. You can hear the talk for yourself at Webmaster Radio (i'm not allowed to post links).

all the best,

Jason

 

Who cares what he said? Some of us spam, some don't. I would be honored to be called a spamer. Some of my sites run on the borderline of being spam, but it doesn't really matter, does it? If the customers think you are spaming, they won't buy. It's all about how much money you make, and thus about what the customer thinks.

 

Really? What's there to be proud of?

 

Jason knows how to create controversy. And calling affiliates spammers but not all affiliates are spammers. lol.. Very catching.... I am a affiliate and I do extremely well. However I have not use spamming tactics to do any of my marketing. Jason can say what he wants to say. That spamming statement does not apply to me. And why is it Jason that you can not post links here? hmmmmmm..........

 

Cool, thanks for your input. I was waiting for someone to post that you can do successful affiliate marketing without spamming. I never spam myself, I like to keep my work clean. I don't make 6 figures but I'm doing alright.

 

Maybe. But if he is doing that to make some bucks from more visitors, he's out of luck. Stupid move.

Spammers don't make as much as the ones who properly advertise and get word of mouth going. Hell, not even close.

 

I guess he has a point for some affiliates. I'm personally sick of "review" sites that I know are just affiliate cloaks. In the main though, most affilates - the ones making a decent living certainly - are not spammers.

Jason is in no position to be taking the moral high ground though. In my humble opinion blogs are the curse of the internet. I remember when my friends started gravitating from forums to Live Journal; couldn't see the appeal personally. They'd gone from communal discussions to "let's talk about ME". The sheer egotism and vanity involved here was mindnumbing, as everybody insisted in writing in turgid detail about their boring little lives. I mean really, who gave a shit? It was tantamount to publishing your personal diary online IMO.

The worlds attention-seeking freaks and voyeurs were able to get together in an incestous little lovefest thanks to Jason and others. So thanks for contributing to the staggering self-absorbtion of Western culture, Jason. Real contribution you've made there.

However, just like affiliate marketing, not ALL bloggers fall into this class. Many are quite interesting and have good information to impart, especially when they escape the egoism and talk about something outside of themselves.

JMHO of course.

 

I would strongly disagree with this statement. Spammers make tens of thousands a day with their methods. Those who build "proper" websites and do "proper" promotion should be lucky to make a couple of hundreds a day, at most thousands.

 

The definition of "spammers" is one who sends identical or almost identical messages to thousands of people, mostly via e-mail.

Now, in this day in age, how many will actually open that e-mail up? And look at all the ones on this board, and on other boards. They didn't get very far.

But maybe I am missing something here?

 

And he said we were all poor and I know that aint true lmao.


^^ just look at my sig ha!