Travel Affiliate Network

My name is John Webster, I am an Affiliate Channel Manager who looks for Publishers that are a good fit to our products at Online Republic. After spending the last week calling and emailing a large number of blogger, with some declines but I did receive a number of positive responses from blogger's interested in an affiliate program. However I found a small but noticeable number reply with counter offers that were somewhat commercially untenable as an advertising option. So I thought its time to ask the question directly.  I pressed the affiliate offer some where very negative about affiliate programs and really questioned them as an income.

So I want to know, does it work for you? If not what do you suggest as a win win alternative?

I understand that a blogger who wishes to make a living from writing will need ways to gain income from the site. I also understand that affiliate pay per action models are no guarantee of a regular income, which would explain the trending toward older print magazine style pricing models.

If a space is for sale at a set rate on a time over size and page location, it’s a known value and much easier to create a business model around. Cash flow becomes much more certain and this removes the need to evaluate the relevance and potential uptake of a product/service by the sites readership.

Now consider being the advertiser or affiliate provider. Firstly if the objective of the advertising is create brand awareness with little or no action then the above business model is not a bad fit.

But if advertising is part of a business model that must stimulate sales in order to justify the advertising cost, this model must be scrutinized to a far deeper level. If an advertiser is expected to pay a set fee regardless of any results, the medium (Blog site) and its visitors/ readers need to be evaluated to understand what the potential results could be. 

Set fees and CPC advertising must be backed up with justifiable information the goes beyond a Google page rank and volume of monthly visitors. As an advertiser I need to understand the demographic of the audience, who, where, what age, interests. If other advertisers have done well using this site - examples, testimonials.  Flat fee and CPC advertising just puts the risk evaluation back on the advertiser, so to attract advertisers the evaluation must be detailed metrics.

Then there are the fees. Many fees I have been sent appear to be made up on the spot. Part of attracting advertisers is understanding their business model and the margins they have to work with.  

If an ad/ link costs $50 a month that generates 100 hits.  It creates 3 sales total value of $100 with a margin of $15 each. Well this advertiser will not advertise for long. Understanding what your offer is actually worth commercially to the advertiser is the key to attracting advertisers and affiliates.

So what do you Travel blogger's want, flat fee or CPA ? Or is there another way that will work for both parties? I feel there is a commercial vacuum between some blogger's and advertisers at this time that needs to be addressed.