I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
I know some of you have been doing this longer than I have, but a few years ago, nobody talked about what niche they were in. It was like if someone found out, they’d start a competing site and take away some of your market share. Yet these days, it seems that affiliates are more open to talking about their niches, and even collaborating with the competition.
Along with reviewing wine clubs, I also have a site (in desperate need of work) that promotes cloud backup services. When GAN shut down, CrashPlan‘s affiliate program also shut down, with promises that it would launch “soon.”
Well “soon” turned into weeks, then months, of excuses. Luckily, I knew a couple other cloud backup affiliates and we pooled our influence in this market to get results. It was a disorganized effort, but it worked.
I’ve also worked with other affiliates to identify tracking issues (affiliates typically know when tracking is down, before the merchants know), to coordinate efforts to remove toolbars and other spyware from the merchants’ affiliate programs, and have discussed Google SEO changes specific to our industry.
We now have a private group in which we can discuss the industry, and specifically the affiliate programs. While we’re all competitors, we also have a common goal.
Whatever niche you’re in, I encourage you to work with your competition. You’ll probably learn something, meet some nice people, and increase your earnings.
A Niche Affiliate Community is different from a Mastermind Group, which is used to enhance your overall business and success.
Comment
Matt McWilliams
Couldn’t agree more. Not to suggest they are enemies, but \keep your friends close and your enemies closer\ applies to some extent.
The math works in your favor too. If you have 30 people doing what you’re doing and 5 of you join together, you are going to do 10X better. Even if all of you do 10X better, you’re stifling the other competition. It’s OK if others grow, too.