So this is my first post that hasn’t been about how my day has been going. It is more to do with the morals and ethics of working as an affiliate marketer. Let me bring you up to speed with what got me thinking about this subject.
I had been following this domain for a few days because it was about to be dropped. It was going to cost me $69 to back order it and I wasn’t sure if I should do it. I eventually opted not to because I have been buying far too many domains. I went to look for it again and it wasn’t listed there anymore. So I checked if it was available and sure enough it was. All I had to do was pay the normal registration fee.
I had no plans of developing this domain because it would take a fair bit of money to get it ranking in this niche. I’m trying to stay focused on my current projects. So if I bought the domain it would be purely to sell it on.
So this is where the dilemma is. I am business minded and always have been. But at the same time I have always had strong friendship values and think of myself as a very honest person.
I know someone that would very much like this domain. I have talked to him a few times and have a done a little bit of business with him. I wouldn’t say that I know him well but I do know enough to think he’s a good bloke.
So what do you do? I’m not sure what everyone else would do in this situation but all I could think about was doing this guy a favour. I know he would put it to much better use than me so why not help a fellow affiliate out where I can?
Many affiliates right now are probably thinking that I am not business oriented or am not cut throat enough to make it in this industry. While I could probably have made $2-400 (really have no idea how much it’s worth) I am a strong believer that what goes around comes around. I honestly don’t expect anything in return from this guy (honestly), but I do believe that people that do nice things will have nice things happen to them.
While it might seem like a naive attitude to some and maybe even silly with the low income I have, I haven’t swayed in my opinion on this. For instance if someone picked up a domain that they knew I would want and then tried to sell it to me with no other intention. I would think they are an arse hole. Maybe that is how business works, but that’s just not the Aussie way!
Now I have worked in some pretty killer environments in my time and I know for sure I am no pushover. I have run sales teams of 13 people and run divisions and all that good stuff. I’m talking about direct sales too, so I know my way around. As I alluded to earlier, friends help each other out. I consider the affiliates I talk to as friends. I may not have met you but in my books you are a mate.
There are so many people that have helped me over the past 12 months that have saved me a lot of time. There are still a lot of affiliates that take time out of their day to give me a hand with something. Now I may not repay that favour soon and maybe they are losing out by doing this. But I know they are a good person and if a situation arises where I can help out then I will.
The same goes the other way as well though. There are people that I help out all the time that don’t necessarily give me a favour back. Do I expect them too? No, not really. Not in the terms of – hey dude I did you a favour, you owe me one. But I would like it if they thought I was a good bloke and WANTED to help me out.
At the end of the day there is always the argument that you have to look after #1. Well I do agree with this but I also think there is another way to do things that is a lot more rewarding for everyone involved. Maybe I’m just sweet and innocent, but I really don’t think that’s the case. I moved out of home at 16. Now while that might not make me mature simply because of that, I certainly have seen some less than desriable things in life. I have always done things my own way so I don’t think the way I approach affiliate ethics is leaving me vulnerable
I do have some more opinions on this topic but would love to hear some varying opinions from everyone else. I will probably make a follow up post to delve a little bit deeper into this topic. Leave a comment and tell me if you agree with me or yell at me for being stupid and naive.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a good question. My feelings pretty much match your own – what goes around comes around.
I’ve been given an awful lot of help and support from the affiliate community since I launched my first site and I’d feel slightly awkward buying up a domain just to try and sell it on to the same people who didn’t charge me a penny to tell me why my first site sucked.
I enjoy helping out where I can and have equally had people treat me the same way. I guess I just find that kind of friendship/support more valuable than a domain name.
Just my two cents though!
There are a lot of two faced people in online marketing. It’s a pretty dirty business. Me personally I’d prefer to be fair about things but it’s hard in this industry when it seems like a lot are out to screw you, fish you for information, or F you over.
Hey Roger,
Yeah this is why I want to get some input from people about what goes on behind the scenes so I can make a follow up post.
I tend to not get involved in much of the politics and when it comes to this particular industry I haven’t been F’ed over.
So while it may be easy for me to say “do nice things and nice things will happen to you” that can be hard to swallow if there are a lot of snakes around.
Nick
My first encounters in the business were as follows:
1. Guy who ran a huge spam campaign on forums (not due to ignorance).
2. Guy who evaded income tax on his (substantial) affiliate income, and turned out to be a somewhat shady character.
3. Guy who pumped me for information and proceeded to waste a lot of my time fx getting me to spend time introduce him to the AM of a room that he were already promoting (I still don’t understand why he did that).
4. Karim from RTR pointed me towards PAP.
5. Ca. 1 months later PAP imploded because of Cardspike.
I have had a lot of good people help me out and enjoy helping others, but I’m beginning to think that it maybe I should stop spending my time helping people that I haven’t seen help others.
Hey Nick,
Nice post. We briefly spoke about this topic and although we didn’t really ‘finish’ the topic, after reading the post and all the details of the situation, I don’t think there’s any doubt – tell your friend about the domain. Here’s the thing IMO, you called him a mate. If he’s a friend, someone you believe is a good person, do him the favor. That’s not to say you screw over someone who isn’t a friend, but that’s besides the point for this topic. You said you consider him a friend, and friends should take care of each other.