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The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast With Steve Chou
583: Google’s Algorithm Update DESTROYED Affiliate Sites… Now What?
00:39:09
In this episode, Toni and I discuss how Google’s latest algorithm update has shaken up the affiliate marketing world, leaving many sites in the dust. - We’ll cover what this means for content creators and how to bounce back stronger than ever. -
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to the podcast, the show where I cover all of the latest strategies and current events related to E commerce and online business. In this episode, Tony and I dive into the state of affiliate marketing and whether it's still a viable business model today, especially in light of Google's latest algorithm updates. But before we begin, I wanted to let you know that tickets are now on sale for Seller Summit 2025 over@sellers summit.com and the prices are now going to go up every two weeks until the event starts. The Seller Summit is the conference that I hold every year that specifically targets e commerce entrepreneurs selling physical products online. Unlike other events that focus on inspirational stories and high level advice, mine is a curriculum based conference where you will leave with practical and actionable strategies specifically for an e commerce business. Every speaker I invite is deep in the trenches of their e commerce business. Entrepreneurs who are importing large quantities of physical goods and not some high level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000ft. I personally hate large events. So the Sellers Summit is always small and intimate. Every year we cut off ticket sales at around 200 people. So tickets sell out fast and we've sold out every single year for the past eight years. If you are an e commerce entrepreneur making more than $250,000 or $1 million per year, we also offer an exclusive mastermind experience with other top sellers. The Seller Summit is going to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 6th to May 8th. Right now, this is the cheapest the tickets will ever be. So head on over to sellersummit.com and grab your ticket. Now onto the show. Welcome to the My Wife Quitter Job Podcast. Today we're going to talk about affiliate marketing in today's age where people are putting out less content, especially on blogs.
- [01:54]
B
Yeah, I'm cheating with this one because I'm actually on an affiliate marketing panel in a couple months, actually next month.
- [02:00]
A
At the Pet Summit.
- [02:01]
B
At the Pet Summit. Yeah. And it was funny because we had a little meeting yesterday to talk about what we were, you know, kind of the structure of the panel. As you know, I'm not a panel fan because I feel like people don't learn anything, but we wanted, we want this panel to be really educational for the, for the attendees. And so we basically walked through a strategy of what we wanted to talk about. And as we were doing that, we all had very strong views on how to best make affiliate marketing work for you. And I think you still can. I think this is actually still really lucrative. And the exciting part is, and We've said this a lot. You don't have to have a ton of traffic to make affiliate. Affiliate marketing work on any platform. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok blog. It's not always about being in the millions of views.
- [02:49]
A
Yeah. You know what, usually before we record, I go and I Google to see what like the latest current events are. And I've just noticed recently that there's hardly any content out there except from like the larger sites. All the smaller independent blogs aren't really putting out content anymore or. And if they are, it's all kind of like the AI generated stuff. So I feel like all these Google changes in the past couple of years have really decimated the entire blogging community to the point where at some point AI is not going to have any content or to digest.
- [03:24]
B
So that's what I wondered that last year, I think we probably talked about it on the podcast is like if everyone stops creating content, then where does the content come from?
- [03:34]
A
I mean, people are still putting out YouTube content.
- [03:36]
B
Yes.
- [03:37]
A
And short form content, but like the whole blogosphere I feel like is just going away.
- [03:45]
B
Yeah. So let's start with blogging. Let's start with that as the first, you know, bucket. I think if you have a blog right now and you've had one for a while, I wouldn't stop creating content and I wouldn't stop using affiliate links. I just think you have to be more strategic about how you're using them and also integrating other mediums with the blog. So for example, let's just, we'll do one of yours and one of mine. So let's just say vacuums. Right. I love to talk about affiliates for vacuums because I buy a vacuum every year and you know, before I could just write a post and include a link to a vacuum and you know, that would be it. Right. And people would click on it and I'd make money. But today that's not, that's not gonna work. Right, Right. So one thing you can do with the blog is, you know, not just write a post, but I'm gonna embed a video of me using like two or three vacuums and I'm gonna show you like how I empty my Dyson and how it works on different surfaces. And you know, I'm gonna include that video content into the blog post so that people can realize like. Cause I still, like, I still use that, I still use blogs for those things. I, I still read reviews and not just on Amazon. Right. Because there's a lot of times where I'm On Amazon. And I don't, I don't trust the product, the first couple product reviews. Right. Cause I'm like, that person totally got that item for free or there was some backdoor dealing with, you know, send it to me, I'll PayPal you, blah, blah, blah kind of thing. I mean, we all know that happens, those of us in this business. And so I still like to see regular people talking about the products and talking about why they like them and why they don't like them. So I would start incorporating video into my blog posts, especially with anything that, like, anything you could demonstrate. And then the other option would be, like, something you would do was how to use a tool.
- [05:40]
A
Yeah. I mean, that was largely YouTube focused.
- [05:43]
B
Yeah.
- [05:43]
A
Right. Even when I was doing a blog post for it, it was mainly the YouTube video that was driving a lot of those. A lot of those clicks, actually. And just to be clear for everyone listening, I'm not saying blogging is dead, but, like, if it's like a standalone blog without like a business or service associated with it, Google's just not ranking those sites.
- [06:06]
B
Yeah.
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A
And so the old method of, you know, creating a review post or a comparison post or whatnot for affiliate marketing, the likelihood of you getting at least SEO traffic to it.
- [06:19]
B
Yeah.
- [06:19]
A
Is highly unlikely now. Yeah. Which is why people have stopped writing posts for the most part.
- [06:26]
B
Well, yeah. Because you put in all this work and then no one sees it. And if you don't have. If you don't have an email list that you can drive people to read stuff to, or you're not leveraging social media or Pinterest, if Google was basically your main, main squeeze, then you really don't have another way right now to get traffic to your website.
- [06:46]
A
Yeah. And I think the, the issue with affiliate marketing, at least the way it works today, for the most part, is that you need to get someone to click on a link where it's then attributed to you. But where can you put a link? The blog was the ideal location to do that.
- [07:01]
B
Yes.
- [07:02]
A
Right. So now that, like, the blog part is probably less likely for you to get traffic there. That leaves email, which is still incredible for that. And that also leaves social media and YouTube. I guess if you, if you consider that social media. Problem with social media, though, is that you can't include links. Right, right. And on YouTube, when you include a link, it's usually in the description. So getting people to click on these links is a lot harder than it used to be on a blog.
- [07:35]
B
Yeah. So I think the one exception to this would be, let's just say because you know, my blog has been up and down with SEO. It got hit really bad many, many years ago and then it rebounded a little and then it dropped and then it came. You know, it's like, it's like a never ending revolving door, right? But what I have found is there are still posts that do fairly well on Google Pinterest. Like they're still getting traffic, right? They're just popular posts. And what I was thinking about the other day. Cause you know how Google search console sends you like that little report every month of like what your, you know, what has impressions and clicks. And I realized that like as I usually just delete those, I don't look at them too seriously because Google hasn't been like a main traffic source for me for a long time. But I started looking at it and I was like, you know, this post, actually I don't think I've touched this post in a really long time. I was like, I should go in there and just if people are coming to it, like, why am I not maximizing that, right? So if you already have content and you are a content creator and maybe you have been hit by Google updates and you're discouraged and you're not creating that new content, you can still update your old content. And it was funny because I got a check after Christmas or like a deposit from Commission Junction that was like more than it. Nor like I get like about the same amount every month or so and this was like double. And I was like, huh, that's weird. Like maybe it's an error. But then when I like started digging in and I got the search console results, I realized like, oh no, this one post is like resurfaced basically and it had an affiliate list. So then it's like go in there and update your old content. If your seed is getting traction from wherever it's getting traction from, make sure that that stuff is optimized because there's probably like I'd actually I was updating another post and like all my affiliate links were broken, right? Because the post was like 13 years old and it had resurfaced on Pinterest. So the someone had pinned like a picture and then it was just getting like a lot of traction there. And I realized that every single Amazon link on there, the product, I mean, because I linked it 13 years ago, those products aren't being sold, right? And obviously people are still getting to Amazon. The link still tracks, right? So I would still get credit if they Bought something. But wouldn't it be better to actually send them to a product that they want? Right. Like, wouldn't it be better to work on that? So that's something. If you, if you're in that position, I would recommend, you know, prioritizing the content and making sure that everything is updated because it's so easy to just let that stuff go because there's so much else that you could be working.
- [10:11]
A
You're talking about like an existing affiliate post, right?
- [10:13]
B
Yes, Existing. Yeah.
- [10:15]
A
I'm curious, can we talk about your panel? Do you guys have an agenda?
- [10:19]
B
We. We do. We do. Okay.
- [10:23]
A
So I'm pretty sure the people listening are not going to be at the Pet Summit or most.
- [10:27]
B
No, they're not. They're not.
- [10:28]
A
Yeah.
- [10:28]
B
So one of the things that we, One of the things we really want to talk about, which I think is very important, is that in. Most of the creators at the Pet Summit are not bloggers. They don't even have a website. Which it still blows my mind. I know that I'm old school, but, like, how could you not just have like a landing page?
- [10:48]
A
I agree. Yeah. A lot of creators don't have anything. They just rely on Instagram.
- [10:54]
B
Yes. And their link tree or whatever. So that's what I learned last year from speaking there, is that there were probably 60% of the people there had no website at all. Like, everything was through Instagram, TikTok. And these are huge, like millions of followers. We're not talking about like little 10,000, you know, create follower accounts. So one of the things that I have found coming from working on both sides, Right. Being an affiliate and also working with the brands, trying to recruit affiliates, is that most of the time the creators, especially the ones that have built like a very large following on social, do not understand that you can negotiate with your affiliates. Right. Like, all of this is negotiable. Most of the time when you're a content creator and you have a social following, you usually send out that media kit. Right. Or you're like, why charge $1,000 for a post? Or I charge $5,000 for a video. Right. As opposed to negotiating, like, yeah, I'm going to charge you a flat fee, but also I would like a commission on sales that I drive to your product. And maybe your normal commission rate is 5%. I want 7. Right. So most creators don't know that you can do that in this new creator space. Right. Like these, the last people who've blown up in the last two or three years, they don't Understand that all of that is negotiable and that you should always ask for the double dip. You should always ask for the flat fee plus the affiliate revenue. Right now, if you're a small creator and you're just getting started, you just want to go in with the affiliate because you want to prove yourself. Right? But then the, on the flip side, what they don't understand is you can't just tell a brand, like I charge X amount of dollars and not be able to show the brand some level of conversion on the back end. Right. So, but oftentimes in every brand that I've spoken with in the past year or two, basically it was like, you know, I get these media kits and they want $25,000 for a, an Instagram post or so. Like, like some of this is like absolutely obscene. And, and I'm like, well, I would never take that. And I actually dealt with a brand just last week who sent a media kit and they wanted $3,000 for an email. Did I tell you this story? No, I want to make sure I didn't tell them the podcast already. So they wanted $3,000 for an email. Sponsored email.
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A
Okay.
- [13:20]
B
To I think 50 or 60,000 subscribers. That's a big list. Exactly. The market we want, like market align. Right. However, when I said, okay, can you show me a case study of when you've done this before? Can you show me your open rate, your click through rate? Like, oh, we don't have that.
- [13:42]
A
So you, you're the first person to ever do this, to ask for it?
- [13:45]
B
Absolutely.
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A
Or to ask for it?
- [13:47]
B
Yes, to ask for it. I would assume because, like the first time someone asks that you would probably figure out how to get it right if you're going to lose the deal.
- [13:54]
A
Right.
- [13:55]
B
And so they were like, oh, yeah, we don't, we don't have that. I was like, so you have no case studies where you've sold a sponsorship or you've, you know, put a link in, like you've used affiliate links. So you can tell me what your click through rate is on those links. You can tell me what your conversion rate is on those links in an email. I can tell you that for any of my clients. I can tell you that for myself. And I think that's what the affiliates need to know. And this is what I really want to focus on on the Pet Summit, because these people do have large audiences, is like, you need to focus on telling the brand, like what you can drive for them. Right. It's not about how many followers you have, and it never is. It's about what you can convert or what you can. At least the traffic you drive to them. Because obviously if they don't convert on the sales page, then it's probably a sales page problem, right? Or a listing problem. But, you know, if you can only drive 50 clicks, you know, and you have a million followers, it's probably not a good financial investment. But if you can drive 10,000 clicks, and you know that because you've used your own affiliate link, and you can use your own affiliate links to find this out, right, to create your media kit, then you're become so much more valuable to that brand. You can charge whatever you want.
- [15:04]
A
You know why this conversation is very relevant to me right now? Because I'm switching, okay, from one of my larger affiliates to a different one, mainly because the product is better, okay? But I wanted the same rates as what I was getting from the prior affiliate, at least. So what I ended up negotiating was actually an upfront fee just to even make the content, and then they match the other affiliate. But, you know, in reality, if I was thinking about it like, the product is better than. Than what I'd been recommending in the past. And so that, that's what prompted the switch. But I don't have a track record with this company, this new company, at all. But they were still willing to. To negotiate these terms.
- [15:52]
B
You don't have a track record with that company, but you do have a track record?
- [15:57]
A
Yes, that's correct.
- [15:58]
B
You can. I mean, I. We have it in Seller Summit Media Kit. Like, we have case studies in there for people to like, you know, this company did this. We drove this many signups, you know, like you. So you don't necessarily have to have it with the brand that you're talking to, but you have to have it somewhere.
- [16:16]
A
Yeah. You know, but they didn't even ask for any of that stuff, which is very interesting.
- [16:21]
B
That's absolutely nuts. It's nuts when there's an upfront fee, right? Because like, to me, if they offer you a bonus on the back end, like, okay, we'll pay you, if it's normally 2, we'll pay you $3 to sign up. Something like that. Um, and you don't drive any, then it's no harm on them at all. But if they're willing to invest that upfront fee, then that's where it matters, right? Then if you drive nothing, it's like, well, they're out a thousand dollars or whatever, you know, whatever it is.
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A
The reason why I bring it up is. I think a lot of companies don't ask that question.
- [16:54]
B
Interesting. I do. I never don't ask.
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A
I know you do, but it's actually happened a couple of times. Like, I've sold podcast sponsorships before where they didn't even ask for my listenership.
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B
You're just so famous. They don't know.
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A
But it has. Like, how do they know? Like, I have all the information on a page, but they didn't even ask.
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B
For it, which is crazy to me.
- [17:16]
A
Yeah.
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B
And. And. But here's where. So if. If this. And I'm sure this has happened to lots of people. Right. You're not the only person where brands don't ask for that. The problem is, is let's just say you're like, I charge $10,000 for a YouTube. A company pays you $10,000 for a YouTube video, and you drive 15 clicks, that company is not going to work with you again. Right, Right. And to me, the beauty of the content creation, affiliate marketing, all those things, you know, all of this online world is developing the relationships. Some of the most lucrative relationships I've had with brands and deals came from, like, our fourth interaction. Right. Like, you know, they approached me and are like, oh, you know, we want to like. I remember the. The company that I worked for that sold baby bottles. They were like, hey, we want to sponsor you to go to blog her. So we'll pay for your blogger ticket and we'll pay for your hotel or whatever. And you just have to, like, wear our T shirt around the conference. And like that. It was like. And write a blog post, something pretty simple. And I wanted to go to the conference, and I was, this is like, you know, 2009. And I was like, yeah, no problem. I use these bottles anyway. It's perfect, right? Have a baby. Well, then, you know that that post did well, drove a lot of traffic to their website, you know, and so then they were like, hey, we want to now pay you to write some more content. So I went from getting like a free ticket and free hotel, which was probably valued at 8 or $900, to we're gonna pay you several thousand dollars to then like, oh, we want you to be our brand ambassador. We want you to write on our blog. We want. Which then paid even higher. Right? So because I delivered in step one, I made it to step three and four, and it ended up being several thousand dollars over the course of a couple of years working with this company, same thing with another baby brand, you know, started out with, like, just an affiliate relationship. Then they paid for sponsored posts that did well. I ended up making multiple multiple with them in it with a TV deal. Right? Like so that's, it's like so if you charge, you know, $10,000 in the beginning, you don't deliver, then you've ruined any opportunity with them and you've ruined any opportunity to people they talk to. Right? Because when I was on the brand side we all talked like who's your like number one, who's your best blogger? Right. Like we had these like we all knew who the top people were and those are the people that got all the deals. So all these PR companies and marketing companies, they all talk to, they're all friends, they all work in the same building in New York. Right. Like so I think that's why as the, on the affiliate side being able to have very clear like deliverables and information to give to these brands from day one, even if they're not asking makes such a difference.
- [19:57]
A
I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a free resource that I offer on my website that you may not be aware of. If you are interested in starting your own online store. I put together a comprehensive six day mini course on how to get started in E commerce that you should all check out. You. It contains both video and text based tutorials that go over the entire process of finding products to sell all the way to getting your first sales online. Now this course is free and can be attained@mywifequitterjob.com free. Just sign up right there on the front page via email and I'll send you the course right away. Once again, that's mywifequitterjob.com free. Now back to the show. You know what's that? This is like bringing up all this ptsd. I'm working with this brand right now where they want to name the title of the YouTube video that's so dangerous. And I'm like okay, well you want this title. I will tell you right now if we name it that it's going to flop.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And it just depends. Do you want views or do you want to like rank for this keyword that's different. They're like views. I'm like okay well you're paying the money. If you want that title I'm happy to use it but I'm going to tell you now it's not going to do well and they haven't gotten back. No, I, I mean I was being frank.
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B
No, I mean that. Yeah, I mean I'm saying like I.
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A
Spent a lot of time on the, on the title and the thumbnail, which is like 80% of the success of a video.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And you want to name it something that's just kind of dull, like how to do something very specific, like, I'm a fan of the tool, but you know, if you, if you do a tutorial, how to. That's very specific, very granular, it's not going to do well.
- [21:36]
B
Yeah. And that's tough too. Right? Because at what point do you say, fine, you can, you can light it all up and let it burn. Right. Or versus. Because. Because then at the end of the day, when it doesn't perform to their expectations, it's on you, even though it's really on them.
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A
You know, I mean, I did a prior sponsored video for one company and I was, I had free freedom to do everything. And it got like 150,000 views. Right. And then so they re upped. They were very happy with that campaign, but this time they wanted to insert their brand in the title. Right. And so I spent all this time trying. I was like, okay, I'm just going to tell you up front, it's not going to do well. Yeah, it's not going to do well. They're like, that's okay. I want, I want the brand in there. And so sure enough, I did what they said. The video was good and it only got 7,000 views.
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B
Yeah.
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A
I haven't heard from them since, but I don't feel like it's my fault.
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B
That's not your fault at all. And if you're really honest with them, that's on them too. And I don't. That's where I'm like, brands, come on. The reason this is, this is to talking to the brand side. If you're hiring a creator to make this content, let them do what they do best. Quit trying to push the narrative. Like, they'll figure out a way to get your stuff in there organically. Right. Like, they'll figure out. They'll figure out the best way to do it. If you come in, if you know so much, then why isn't your YouTube channel at 500,000 subscribers? Right? Like, you don't. And that's why you work with creators. That's why you work with TikTokers. Right. Because their TikTok accounts are huge. Because they know what to say and what to do. You don't. And so it's like, let it. And as long as they're, you know, not. I know like a lot of them when I Was, like, really heavy into the brand space. There were things that they didn't want you to say that didn't align with their values and guidelines. That stuff I can totally respect. But the parts of, like, we want to title stuff or we want to, like, tell you, use our picture. This is a big one. Like, use their photos. I was like, so your stock images. No, you want my kid with a bottle, right? Like, you don't want an AI generated baby, you know, kind of thing. So that's, that's the hard part. But here's the other thing where I think you've. This is what's made you really successful with this sort of. Like, I know you've negotiated some deals with YouTube and things like that, which you didn't really do on your blog as much, you've done it more on YouTube, is that when, when you do something and it doesn't perform to your expectations, you. You make it right. And I think that's what creators and affiliates need to know too, is if you have negotiated a deal with a brand like you, maybe you're getting a higher commission or you're getting a flat fee plus a commission. And maybe it's just like the video flops, right. Or the content doesn't perform. Like, redo it, rewrite it, Ask your, like, get, get your circle to help you promote it. Right. Like, because you've. You want to value those relationships and show them that, like, hey, sometimes things just don't work out the way you think they're going to on the Internet. That's just life. But there are things you can do to help it. And you've. And you've always been willing to do those things for brands, which I think makes you very valuable to those companies.
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A
I mean, I am. When I don't warn them that it's gonna flop ahead of time.
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B
Correct. And if you say, like, if you. Yeah, that's a totally different. But like, if you are like, hey, I have. Like, if you would have done that video where you had all the creative freedom and it got 3,000 views, you would have done. You would have removed it, changed the thumbnail, changed. Like, you would have done stuff to like, hey, this isn't performing to the standard of my normal videos, I need to fix it. And that's what I think content creators need to do, too, if you want to build those relationships. Because you and I both know, like, perfect example, Jim Wang and JD Roth made their fortunes on affiliates.
- [25:23]
A
Yep.
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B
Right. And the reason why. Well, mostly Jim, but like, Jim was doing everything in his power to maximize conversions, in referrals, when he was, when doing that, like that was his main gig, right? Ab testing, you know, changing buttons, doing those things. And that's like as a content creator, if you want those super lucrative relationships and affiliate relationships, you've got to do everything to get the best results. And if you're willing to do that, you're going to see like huge financial gain from it. Especially if you already have an audience.
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A
Yeah, yeah, sorry. We got off track from affiliate marketing.
- [26:04]
B
It's still, it's still marketing in general.
- [26:09]
A
So I was just thinking affiliate marketing is a lot more difficult now on short form unless you're using the platform like TikTok shop as an affiliate is.
- [26:20]
B
I was just gonna say it's gotten so much easier.
- [26:23]
A
Oh, you're talking about. Well, yeah, so when I TikTok. Yeah, with TikTok, I just don't like being beholden to this pla. To these platforms. I have some acquaintances of mine who racked up a lot of Money being a TikTok affiliate, but then they created some content that got them a strike and they never got their payout. It's, it's stuff like that that you're beholden to a platform. I guess you are. Anyways, if you're on a blog too, you're beholden to the company that's paying you too. It just seems though, a lot more dangerous when it's company wide, like all your affiliates under one roof.
- [27:03]
B
So, so yeah, so yeah, I was like gonna go the absolute opposite direction. I would say. I, I totally agree with you with that. Like, and I, I feel like TikTok right now reminds me a lot of like those big Amazon affiliates back in like 2012, 2013, like especially the deal bloggers, right? That would like drive. I mean they were making 20, 30, $40,000 a month off of 2% commissions, right? Like we're talking like the volume is insane. And then all of a sudden Amazon wakes up one day and goes, oh, you're not 4%, you're 2%. Right, right. Which is essentially what TikTok can do today, right? Like oh, you're banned or this is a strike or we took the video down, right? Like they can kind of do whatever they want and you have no recourse. Just like you had no recourse was Amazon. If Amazon wanted to cut your commissions and Amazon went in, in like 2012, 2013, 2014 and cut every big affiliates commissions. Every single, not one person got out of that without a massive affiliate cut, which Is of course, so funny because, like, the smaller companies will up your commission if you're doing that good of a job. But Amazon's like, nope, screw you, because.
- [28:12]
A
They don't need us anymore.
- [28:14]
B
Yeah, because, like, oh, yeah, we. You got the product listing up, you got it viral. Like, on Amazon, we don't need you anymore. It's got 20,000 reviews thanks to you. So. But my thinking is, if you are newer to content creation and you don't really know anything about affiliate marketing and you haven't been in the space for a while, TikTok just makes it really easy. So while there's the negative of, like, you're also beholden to TikTok, just like, as a seller. Right. Same. Same thing. Like, the. The ease of which you can be an affiliate on TikTok is kind of nuts.
- [28:46]
A
I mean, same with Amazon, I guess. Right?
- [28:49]
B
Except for it's just like, so much easier to get. Well, like, but with TikTok, it's like so much like people can buy your stuff on tick, like, correct you. I mean, Amazon now on the Amazon influencer program, if your videos live on the listing, that's another story. But with TikTok, I. And I guess my. I don't know, is your feed filled with, like, these videos? Mine is.
- [29:08]
A
What type of videos? What do you mean?
- [29:10]
B
Like a TikTok influencer. Like, they're. They're hawking the Breeze drink the mushroom. You can tell my feed, Breeze drink mushroom gummies. I get all these bras. Like, that's just my feed. Right. Like, obviously TikTok's got a great algorithm.
- [29:24]
A
But I'm trying to think what I get sold. Like gadgets.
- [29:29]
B
Okay.
- [29:29]
A
The one I get a lot is like this. This gimbal for your phone so you can film yourself and it follows you. I've been getting that commercial a lot. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, I mean, a lot of times these days, actually, it's people live selling too. I get a lot of live selling streams too.
- [29:45]
B
I get the one Korean skincare girl, like 24 7. That's the one. And I've never bought skincare off TikTok, so I don't know why that's in my algorithm. But if you're a content creator and you have a TikTok account and you're growing, doesn't make sense to not do this, in my opinion. Yeah. Because one, the commissions. So this is where it stinks to sell on TikTok, right. The commissions are stupid, right? Like, they'll, like, on Amazon, you're lucky to get 2% on TikTok, you can get 10, 15 and then sometimes a bonus. Right. Because TikTok's trying to build this program out. So I would say like, ride the wave while you can. It probably will not be like this forever because I don't think it's like actually financially sustainable. But not only that, people, like if you've ever, have you ever bought anything from TikTok shop?
- [30:36]
A
I have not, but my wife has, I believe.
- [30:39]
B
Yeah. So the. So like, let's just say I make a video and I'm talking about like how great these little thumbtacks are and I show you my little bulletin board and you know, it's so awesome. And these are so cute and they stick and whatever. They've got the days of the week on them. I don't know. And you're like, oh yeah, I need those. You literally like click and it's in your cart and your checkout information is saved and within like 13 seconds, like that's my biggest downfall of TikTok shop is that like I'll see a video and like before I know it, it's at my front door. Like, it didn't give me a chance to decide not to do something. There's not, there's no barrier for the consumer. So as an affiliate, that's exactly what you want because the last thing you want to do, like I remember back in the day, it was like, oh, you can earn money if people like give us their email and fill out this 15 step survey and blah blah, blah. It's like, well, people drop. Right. But here it's like these thumbtacks, two clicks and I, I've bought them.
- [31:32]
A
Yeah.
- [31:33]
B
So as on the affiliate side, to me, not doing that doesn't make sense right now because now that's not how you should pay your mortgage. Like, you shouldn't base your whole financial plan on the TikTok affiliate program.
- [31:45]
A
But I mean some people do that, let's be fair. And YouTube and Instagram have something similar. Yeah. Now too. It's just TikTok works really well.
- [31:54]
B
Yeah. But I think if you should be doing that as an affiliate, you should be finding the products that you can go in there as an affiliate and find stuff that makes sense for your audience. Like don't promote stuff that doesn't make sense. Make sense.
- [32:06]
A
I know for my TikTok channel, once a week I get an email from TikTok that says, hey, I'll pay you a hundred bucks to create this specific content promoting this thing. So I, I'm not sure. I. I don't really chat with my Mastermind buddies about TikTok, actually. I'm just curious if anyone else is getting.
- [32:26]
B
I think the bigger your. Since your account's bigger, I'm sure a lot of anyone with your size of account is getting that, but I.
- [32:32]
A
But think about how easy that is. I would just pick up my phone and just say a couple words about this thing and then you get paid out, you submit your video, they approve it, and then you get your payment. It's anywhere between 50 to 100 bucks.
- [32:45]
B
Well, here's the other thing to think about. Like, the whole beauty of TikTok is they don't want edited content. They want literally seeing your finger push off the button right. To start the film. So it's not even like you have to edit anything. It's like you just pick it. Literally pick up your phone and record and. Yeah, I mean, so to me, like, on the affiliate side, not doing TikTok affiliate doesn't make sense if you're looking to generate revenue.
- [33:13]
A
Right.
- [33:14]
B
The other platform, I wouldn't like, put all my eggs in that basket. That's the only warning because it could get shut down again.
- [33:21]
A
Yeah, it's. I just would treat it like cash flow.
- [33:25]
B
Yeah.
- [33:26]
A
The other platforms, I think are a little harder. I mean, it. They're trying to mimic the same thing that Tick Tock has.
- [33:31]
B
Yeah.
- [33:32]
A
But at least on YouTube, I always, in the video say, hey, link, link below. And I always make it the first link so it shows up. If I'm trying to promote something outside of that, though, I, I don't know. I. I guess your friends are probably more into this. Are they still making a lot of money, Affiliates on their blogs or.
- [33:54]
B
I don't think anybody's like cleaning up on the blog anymore. Unless you still have a post that either is viral on Pinterest or ranks on Google, I mean, that's really the, the easiest way to do it. But what I do think is that. So this is where I think the affiliate opportunity is really ripe and we are not saturated in this. If you can make YouTube videos where you teach somebody how to do something or you show. Like if you're showing people something on a video, it makes it really easy to convert on those affiliate links. Yes. They have to click off of YouTube and go to the store or whatever to buy it or sign up for the software or whatever it is. But like, I can't tell you how many times that I have searched for how to do something and I watch two or three YouTube videos, and I will buy whatever the tool or product or service is based on. Like, that creator teaching me how to do it.
- [34:51]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of like my bread and butter, right?
- [34:55]
B
Yeah.
- [34:55]
A
I teach people how to use a tool, which is why with this new affiliate, once I film these videos, I know I'm going to be able to deliver. I was just curious because they don't know any of this stuff, which I think is.
- [35:06]
B
I think it's so crazy that they don't want that information. But I also am not surprised because I've dealt with a lot of these people.
- [35:13]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [35:14]
B
And that's the thing, though. It's like a lot of content creators are storytellers, right? Like, which we always say is like, the hardest way to monetize and grow, because most people are not that great of a storyteller. But if you can, even if you're a storyteller and that's like most of your videos, if you can teach people how to do something. Perfect example. This is like Jameriel, our friend that does the, like, mega cooking. She's a storyteller and she's good and she's interesting. Right. Because she's got a million kids and she has, like a commercial kitchen in her house. It's like people are watching it for almost like the TLC value. Right. Of, like, what does it look like to can 40, 000 jars of tomatoes or something.
- [35:54]
A
Right.
- [35:55]
B
But when she says, this is the only stew pot I use. Right. In her videos, then anyone who's watching that for, like, they do want to learn how to, like, bulk cook or do those things. Like, they're gonna buy that pot. They're gonna buy from her link. Right? They're gonna. So she's still. You can still weave in the teaching in a story. You just have to be very purposeful in how you do it.
- [36:18]
A
Yeah. I mean, she is just really good at being on camera, actually.
- [36:22]
B
Yes. And she will say that she's done every single thing wrong on you and still grows.
- [36:27]
A
Well, no, I mean, it's trial and error. I'm sure she was bad in the beginning.
- [36:30]
B
Yeah. She breaks all the YouTube rules, apparently. But, you know, I feel like there's a lot of people who are successful and they didn't necessarily follow the exact script. However, you know, if you follow the script, it's probably a lot easier for the most part. But, yeah, I think that's still an opportunity, even. Like, we talk about Kevin a lot on the podcast, but, you know, he did that video about like comparing routers or wi fi systems or things like that. And he drove for the size of his channel. The amount of clicks he drove was like crazy. Right. Like proportionally. And I think he had like 500 subscribers and he drove 300 clicks.
- [37:06]
A
I wonder if it makes sense for him to just be a tick tock affiliate in the tech sector.
- [37:12]
B
Yeah, I would think.
- [37:13]
A
Although I knowing his personality, I don't know if he'd be willing to do it because. Because these are, some of, these are no name brands, right?
- [37:20]
B
Yes.
- [37:20]
A
And he mainly talks about the mainstream so maybe he wouldn't do it but that would probably be a way for him to just review stuff.
- [37:27]
B
Yeah.
- [37:28]
A
And, and make a lot more money probably than, than the affiliate. I think he's an Amazon affiliate right now, right? Yes, he's an Amazon affiliate which, which doesn't pay out that much.
- [37:37]
B
Yeah but I, I think with the YouTube content like teaching is the key to getting people to click and buy through your affiliate link. And it's not, it's not too hard for people to cook there and do that. Like obviously there's a couple more steps than just on the TikTok shop, but it's still not, not, it's not that hard. People are willing to do it.
- [38:00]
A
Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. So I guess the overall sentiment here is I'm actually kind of sad that this is the case and we had alluded to this earlier but you know, blogging because of the Google changes, less favorable I think affiliate, like a pure affiliate blog. Yeah, I wouldn't do it today. Where the affiliate dollars are are on short form video and long form video and social media today.
- [38:27]
B
Yeah.
- [38:30]
A
Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you currently run an affiliate blog, let me know your thoughts. For more information and resources go to my wife. Quitherjob.com Episode 583 Once again, tickets to the Seller Summit 2025 are now on sale over at sellers summit.com if you want to hang out in person in a small intimate setting, develop real relationships with like minded entrepreneurs and learn a ton, then come to my event. Go to sellersummit. Com and if you're interested in starting your own ecommerce store, head on over to mywifequithherjob.com and sign up for my free 6 day mini course. Just type in your email and I'll send the course right away via email.