Can you hear me now? – First of all, my apologies for the silence over the last two weeks. Things have been so manically busy as we approached the end of some major projects that it’s been very difficult to find even 5 minutes to post to the blog. Normal service will be resumed from here on.

Proud to be Fat More and More - No, I’m not talking about my ever-expanding “affiliate belly”, although I do believe there’s a link between the size of your stomach and the size of your commission cheques – All that time sat at your computer writing content and blog posts means both get a little bigger each day.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m a 100% fat affiliate, as over the years I’ve had around 50 “thin” affiliate websites that offer nothing whatsoever of value to the end user, all of which made varying amounts of money. I’ve still got a couple of “thin” sites now, and I do partake in Brand Bidding where allowed (I know, boo! hiss!), but I also know that those are not sustainable revenue streams that I will be able to live off in 5 or 10 years time. And for that reason, I’m also slowly building a couple of “brand” sites and publishing somewhere in the region of 100,000 words of unique content every single month.

The “thin” stuff pays the bills today, and enables me to concentrate my time on the “fat” stuff that will pay the bills for the rest of my life. It’s naive to assume that people will ignore the easy low-hanging fruit that brings in shedloads of short-term money, but it’s also foolish to ignore the benefits of building long-term, sustainable revenue streams. Maintaining a sensible weight is the key to a healthy affiliate lifestyle.

Call me Mr. Chairman More – Two weeks ago, I was a humble affiliate. Now, however I am co-owner of a football club, having invested quite heavily (£35) into Ebbsfleet United Football Club. I’m so pleased to have been asked to form part of the small consortium, and I’m sure I speak for the other 28,249 co-owners in saying that we’re sure this is the start of a very bright era for the football club, and we have complete faith in Head Coach Liam Daish (until we lose a few games, and then we’ll be ready and waiting with the dreaded “poll of confidence”)

Does AM need its own UK Magazine? More – It’s a tough one this – I subscribed to Revenue magazine, but soon found I wasn’t actually reading each issue as it was too US-centric. I’d certainly support anyone who took the risk and published a UK Affiliate Marketing magazine. I’ve known so many publications go bust due to lack of advertising/low circulation/high publishing costs that it’s a hell of a risk. But there hasn’t been a decent read for the UK Affiliate since Internet Works went pop, and the Industry is much bigger now, so perhaps the time is right? I certainly won’t be risking my own money to bring out a publication, but will happily support anyone who does.

Dragons Den looking for Entrepreneurs - If you’re unable to handle constructive criticism and think that your business that earned you £20.79 last year must be worth “about a million”, then why not apply for Series 7 of Dragons Den? The BBC are currently looking for entrepreneurs, and have specifically targeted Internet entrepreneurs this year as some of the biggest investments from last series went to online companies such as Hungry House and Gaming Alerts.

If you’d like to take part, then please email dragonsden@bbc.co.uk call 0870 200 3003 or visit their website for an application form. Will I be taking part? No chance – I’d be far too nervous!

Buy.at coming to Plymouth More – After mucho campaigning, the buy.at team are coming to Plymouth this Friday afternoon for a day of networking and fun. So if you fancy a day on the Sunny south coast, taking in some Clay Pigeon Shooting and an evening of fun with the guys and girls from buy.at (as well as the chance to talk turkey with them of course!), then make sure you email events@buy.at to register (it’s free) before Wednesday to grab your place at this top event.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

You might also like to read...