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\nAmy Cheung: <\/strong>A bit of a story about that\u2026
9-Jan-2006 I registered my first domain name online \u2013 had been interested in internet marketing for a while but finally took action. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMorning of 10-Jan-2006 I was super-reluctant to go into work (as a Project Manager with an international car parts company), but went anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10 minutes after I arrived at the office, I got what I wished for \u2013 got pulled into the manager\u2019s office and was told I no longer had a job (the whole plant got shut down a month later \u2013 downsizing of the automotive industry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colleagues that escorted me out looked mega guilty, but I floated all the way home as though in a dream. Never had another job since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basically, I set my intention to be free and focused on it, then let the law of attraction take care of the rest. This has always worked out for me.
I joined the STM forum in 2014 as a regular member. I loved all the discussions! I got a ton of help from other members, and I also helped other members with their questions. Wanting to offer value and help other people is what has always made me tick. Unbeknownst to me, the administrators on the forum were looking for a moderator to join the team. They noticed my activity and asked if I would like to be a mod and I said yes \u2013 and it\u2019s a post I\u2019ve happily held to this day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Why did you choose affiliate marketing as a sphere to progress in?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\nAmy Cheung: <\/strong>Being an online marketer meant you either promote your own products and services, or those of other people (i.e. through affiliate links).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And promoting other people\u2019s stuff is certainly easier \u2013 no need to create products or deal with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also lower-risk because I\u2019m not married to anyone affiliate offer<\/a> \u2013 if I test 10 and all are unprofitable I know I could still test the 11th to potentially find a winner to make it all back and more.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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3. <\/strong>Affiliate marketing was going through a difficult time in 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic). Has it already recovered so far?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\nAmy Cheung: <\/strong>The way I see it, and also based on having talked to a ton of other people in the industry, the pandemic was actually BENEFICIAL to affiliate marketing and the entire online marketing industry in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because so many people were stuck at home, there was a massive surge in online traffic. The e-commerce industry was among the biggest benefactors \u2013 even people that didn\u2019t use to buy online started doing so due to the lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any \u201cdifficulty\u201d we\u2019ve had to go through during the last couple of years, was not related to the pandemic directly. I could see a few issues:
a) Ad platforms like Google and Facebook have become stricter in enforcing advertising policies by banning ad accounts. <\/strong>Many affiliates were affected because a subset of affiliates would promote in a misleading way, resulting in these platforms becoming ever more vigilant in spotting (and putting an end to) non-compliant behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\nb) The iOS14 changes have made it so much more difficult to run profitably on Facebook<\/strong>, which prior to those changes had been one of the biggest sources of paid traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
c) The bullish crypto market and the rise of NFTs have lured many affiliate marketers away.<\/strong> I personally know of at least several big affiliate marketers that have left the industry (at least for now) to pursue crypto\/NFTs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having said all that, there were forces that have come in to balance out the difficulties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a) To combat account bans, more affiliates have started to run under agency accounts<\/strong> (at the cost of a % of their ad spend).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
b) To combat iOS14 changes, affiliates started to focus more on producing amazing ad creatives.<\/strong> Many affiliates have also turned to Tiktok instead \u2013 and some have found massive success (as reported by threads on the STM forum).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
c) Although the affiliate marketing industry has lost some good people to crypto, we\u2019ve also experienced a surge of new affiliate marketers that have decided to pursue work-at-home opportunities. <\/strong>Some people lost their jobs due to the pandemic and lockdowns. Others just want to work from home to avoid the commute and save on childcare costs. So they went looking for income opportunities online \u2013 and some of them found affiliate marketing and the STM forum.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n