There is a Future to Affiliate Marketing
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause future to affiliate marketing.
There has been alot of discussion of the value of Affiliate Marketing past Voucher sites, Product feed / price comparison sites and Cashback sites. But affiliate marketing should not just decend into these three models.
There is a future for niche / review sites / content sites and generally interesting blogs (Lee). But there is more than that.
Affiliate marketing is not a case of jumping on the backs of brands, catching traffic by PPC / SEO or by offering rewards (financial or otherwise) for people who would shop at a particular store anyway . Affiliate marketing is a method of promoting a site, service or product to a new or undecided customer. We need to not loose sight of this fact.
More innvation is needed in Affiliate Marketing. It is happening, but typically by the big boys (thinking big social media sites). The fact is that a good idea should come first addressing what would people want / what do people find fun / what are people interested in. Then affiliate marketing come as a way of renumerating the site. NOT people looking at affiliate marketing commission rates and saying “I can get 6% on sales through XYZ - how can I get some one to do this”.
Look for a need. Be it good content, social interaction or something completly different and then build yourself a useful, interesting (and thus viral) site. Then look at offering merchants offers to your customers through their affiliate program.
