So here’s something for you: have you ever wondered how the advertisers make any money when they are essentially handing you X.XX for a zip/e-mail submit? I mean, it’s not as if they’re directly selling the sign-ups anything, so how can they afford to pay an affiliate to send them little more than a zip/e-mail lead? From someone who isn’t familiar with the industry it likely makes little to no sense, but once you dig deeper you begin to realize how it works.
To make it short and sweet (for those who don’t want to read the entire article), the answer is “mailers”. Think of it like this: if I am running a campaign for a free iPhone, for example, that requires a two field sign up (name and e-mail address) I’m likely going to pay somewhere between $1.00 and $2.50 per lead. Thousands of affiliates are going to promote that lead somehow (via PPC, e-mail, co-reg, SEM, etc.) and pump that offer out. That offer might generate 50,000+ names and e-mail addresses, and while I’ve paid $50,000 or more for them, I’m laughing.
Laughing hard.
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