I've personally witnessed a very disturbing trend in affiliate marketing. Super affiliates sign-up a bunch of hopeful internet marketers as JV partners and have them mail their latest big product to their lists. What happens then? Everyone who responds is directed to opt-in to the super affiliates list and voila, the little guy has lost the responsive portion of his/her list to the super affiliate.
It's only fair you say? It could be fair but it's not. I've personally witnessed super affiliates who have already co-opted a JV partner's list announce a follow-up launch to start on a particular date. The super affiliate however mails his list prior to the stated start date and time and all the customers who showed an interest the first time around are hit with the offer before the JV partner gets his email out. How much credibility does the JV partner have sending a similar email to their list? When your late to the party, you miss out on the hot prospects.
It brings up another issue I have and that is the incestuous nature of the super affiliates. It seems like they're all in bed together going after the same date, ME! I get sometimes ten identical email offers from ten different affiliates. And these are the biggest names in the game. I understand how it's supposed to work but please excuse me if I find it all a little dishonest. They all tell me about the latest, greatest, system they've ever seen or tried and I know that 99% of them have no idea what the product even is! Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining!
This is one of the reasons I wanted to start my blog. I wanted to promote products I have personally tested and either give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down based on my own results. I'll never be involved in a launch unless it is relaunch of an existing product that I've had time to evaluate. I'm also going to try my best to only promote products and people that won't continuously spam my readers with endless emails and different offers every other day.
If you agree or disagree please leave a comment. I'd be interested in hearing other folks experiences.