Growth Through Affiliate Programs
A recent conversation with @steemit-life (thank you!!!) inspired me to come up with the following growth-idea for steemit.
It seems that steemit's blogging interface currently doesn't support external product links of affiliate programs like amazon (embed code). I am a member of amazon's partner program and just vainly tried to include a GoPro product link in my latest blog post.
Supposedly that feature is blocked for a reason ;)
What if steemit cooperated with affiliate partners and the monetization of product placements was shared between Steemit Inc. and the participating / advertising bloggers?
Affiliate marketing on steemit
- What is the problem? steemit needs to become an attractive environment for established influencers.
- What is the solution? Providing smart opportunities for content monetization.
- How will you prove your project was a success? Increasing number of subscribing professional bloggers.
Being steemit a network of the new attention economy, we probably wouldn't talk about classic amazon product links in blog posts when talking about affiliate marketing.
We would rather talk about smart cooperations.
Imagine that...
- steemit cooperated with commercial networks, digital stores, online shops that accept crypto currencies as payment method for their products.
- steemit provided their bloggers with especially customized affiliate programs with these partners.
- steemit included in their blogging interface predesigned product advertisement options according to the products offered by steemit's partners (gateway steemit > partner).
- steemit and their bloggers shared the generated income through these affiliate networks (win win) according to a predefined percentage (incentivation: more reputation = better share?).
- steemit used the generated incomes to close even more smart cooperations in order to constantly improve the network's growth.
Imagine!
Besides all these wonderful social bonds that are generated in networks like steemit every day, we are all here to earn some money as well. Aren't we? :)
Marly -
Picture source title image: blog.bloombees.com
Isn't the idea behind this platform though that we don't end up dominated by a bunch of "influencers"? If in the end Steemit just becomes another endless stream of listicles, product promos, fake news and celebrity worship, then it is no better than facebook in my opinion. I'm probably an idealist, but my impression was that the platform's vision is to ultimately act as a governor against this by rewarding people directly for their awesome content.
If this thing turns into another sales pitch then I'm not sure what the point is. I'm not opposed to people writing about cool things they use and sharing what they like(Like your post for example). However isn't the Steemit payout enough?
Hmmmm is money ever enough? :) I completely agree with you to a certain point. However, I wasn't talking about fake news or celebrity gossip. I was just thinking about product cooperations. Would you mind finding a product link to a camera at the end of a photography blog post? If things are coherent and smart they don't need to be annoying.
Currently steem is the only way investments into the platform can be done. That's a bottleneck that might somehow impede considerable growth in the future.
I believe steemit - including both the largest stakeholder and the smallest blogger - definitely need to think about alternative ways to earn money.
Definitely. I'm just thinking out loud about how to contain that genie once it is out of the bottle. You've been around here longer than me, but in my little bit of research trying to learn the history of Steemit, I can see there have been plenty of "lord of the flies" moments. It's one of the challenges of truly democratic and decentralized groups. I'm sure there's a great solution if people keep putting their minds toward it.
Absolutely. I am furthermore convinced that decentralization and monetization can be best friends :)
I believe in Unicorns also... J/K It will take time, but it's doable. We just need a paradigm shift. Usually painful at first, but worth it in the end.
LOL - I love unicorns :-)
Were you trying something like this? Go Pro Hero 5
And... from a newby.... how do create a link? thanks
When you apply for these affiliate programs you can generate these links on the related websites. Then you search for a specific key word (e.g. GoPro camera) and the site proposes products to link. Then you chose one you would like to promote and generate the specific embed code. Usually you just need to copy and paste it into your blog post. Here on steemit it seems to be a bit more complicated :) If I find out how it works, I'll write about it.
I tried to include an iframe tag (embed code) provided by amazon's affiliate partner program that links to a page like the one you copied. Probably I have to modify the embed code, but don't know which is the format steemit supports. The tag iframe is not supported.
Because the value of STEEM is backed by content, if the content becomes highly saturated by advertisements and advertorials, this deprecates the value of the content, and by extension STEEM. It negates the purpose of the platform on a fundamental level.
Hmmmm which is in your eyes the purpose of the platform?
Quality content. What is in your eyes the purpose of the platform?
The capitalization of quality content. Edit: rather the capitalization of social interaction.
The Only time i dared to flag a post it was because it was directly related to gamble websites and referals...
It just did not feel right in steemit;in other way... I would hate to see someone trying to sell me directly a bicicle but I would love to read a nice review backed up by user comments
Edit: u know i write a lot about Tenerife because i love it here, i dont think i should be linking "cheap flights" within my post...
But once again, i really lack the knowledge to say if your idea would help Steemit to grow sooooooo i still think you are very nice :-)
Flights to Tenerife are rarely cheap! :D Haha
But seriously talking: I absolutely get your point. We surely don't want advertisement walls. However, that's not what this proposal pretends. There could even be options to display and hide advertisement. Obviously showing ads should be rewarded accordingly since it would contribute to the overall platform's wealth. But since this is a hyper democratic environment, everybody should be heard and everybody should feel comfortable.
Considering my review of the GoPro (last article), would you really feel annoyed if I placed an amazon product link of a GoPro at the end of the article? Your eyes could easily skip it if they don't like ads at all :)
No, i would not feel annoyed to see a gopro advert and it would very, very, very difficult not to press on it :-)
There is also the cross platform issue: the more people come to steemit the more user friendly will have to be; copy and paste, drag even talk input text have to be already in the pipeline. (where is my app at?)
Personally, I find very annoying when i try to move material from facebook (where i follow several tenerife trekking groups) into steemit but... "computer says no...." (100% english thingy joke); maybe you know the trick....
What do you mean by try to move material from facebook? You mean sharing FB content on steemit? Cat videos? :D Haha I'm kidding. Explain what you mean and maybe I can help...
"Come for the rewards, Stay for the community"
Yeah well we all know that slogan. But why would steemit users spend literally months discussing about the reward curve if they were not really interested in the financial outcome...? Hmmmmm :))
You know, I am starting to belive the problem is s0mewhere else; lately i have been actively visiting the "introduce yourselve" tag, you wont believe how much money a new blogger can make just saying hello (around 40, 60, even 110 dollars). Now, that sets the standards soooooo high that EVERYBODY feels down when after three post they are getting 15 dollars IF lucky. Then, its when everyoene HAS TO go through the discovery process that steemit is: getting a follower a day, posting for trail contests, whales dolphins and other fauna, discord, openledger, whitness... NOT everybody is ready for that long process when they are getting very little in return; little IF compare with that first post obviously...
I love this comment. That's the absolute truth.
For this reason we urgently need the improvement on the whole onboarding process which was luckily defined as one of the major goals of Steemit Inc´s marketing team. There are no helping hands, no tutorials or best practices showcases. We have so many successful bloggers on steemit that have passed all these steps you mentioned. There is a huge treasure of knowledge still unexplored...
I do not see a problem with affiliate links. If you do not like them just do not read or click on them. People complain about ads, but ads are how things get paid for on the internet unless you have a subscription business model. Let me clue people in on a "secret". Anything produced by Humans beings will not be Free. There is value to ones labor and time used to produce anything we consume. Affiliate links giver Content Creators an opportunity to make money from their work.
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I have been considering some of these things... and feel ambivalent about commercializing the content here excessively. Part of the beauty of Steemit is precisely that it is largely ad free and commercial free. In turn, that gives the site super high kred with Google and other search engines... we are content driven, rather than product driven.
But not ignoring your idea here, instead considering a different direction, which might actually be of considerable growth potential for Steemit: How about someone take what is now PeerHub and turbocharge it into our OWN Steem-based peer-to-peer marketplace like a crypto based eBay/Etsy/Craigslist variant. Focus on the arts, music, creativity, collectibles and individual buyers/sellers... a truly global market that IS what eBay WAS, back when it was still cool. Not only does it add commerce, BUT it also turns Steem into a commercially active and viable economic currency with an active venue in which to use it. Boom! All of a suddent, Steem if "differentiated" from all the other alt coins because now it suddenly has an economic reason for being, not just an investment reason. Very attractive to potential investors.
Just taking your idea and moving it around a bit...