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opinion

It's All About Variables

Stats threads have been a longstanding pet peeve of mine, along with many other webmasters who have been in the business long enough to be considered at least "functionally knowledgeable." Seeing stats thread titles with screen shots of how good or how bad they are doing with any given program turns my blood to vinegar.

Ninety-nine percent of them are either propaganda with a conveniently located ref code to the program or slander under the guise of an affiliate who isn't happy that the platinum level traffic he is sending doesn't convert at 1:20 anymore.

Variables, people! This game is all about variables. Stats threads are officially the most worthless thing you can submit to a message board for others to read. This isn't 1999 anymore where everyone's traffic is hotness. Just because webmaster A does 1:800 on MGP traffic does not mean that webmaster B will do the same. More and more, I am having new affiliates who are just starting out in the game ICQ me and ask me why they haven't made a sale after 500-1,000 hits of bought traffic.

In one case, through a barrage of questions, I end up finding out the traffic was bought from a broker, probably skimmed and blinded about 20 times before it even got to this one guy, and then when it did finally get to his site, he never had a chance. He could have gotten 100,000 hits of whatever traffic it was he bought, and I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't have made a sale.

On the other hand, you've got the "OMG! I did 475,000 sales today with ThisProgram.com" type of guy. I don't really feel I need to get into this one; you all understand what motivates these types of stats threads. But with so many variables at play in this game nowadays, let's all do each other a favor and just let stats threads die. They've lived their golden years during the online gold rush. The only thing to do is to take a look at yourself, take a look at the program that you want to promote, match your traffic to them and give it a shot.

Work closely with the affiliate manager of the program to help you convert. If you don't make sales, they don't make any money either. If it doesn't work out for you, then move on; some formulas just do not produce a product for both sides.

No two affiliates are alike; no one is going to see the same numbers as another, it's statistically and realistically impossible in this day and age. So, without getting sad and going into mourning, let's say goodbye to stats threads. You will be missed. RIP. It's true, I read it on the Internet.

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