Linda's Soapbox
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Editorial by Linda Johnson
Let's Hear It for the Little Guys
Those of you who know me by now, know I'm a big fan of helping the
"little guy". I always support small businesses over large
corporations. That's my own personal route to supporting the "American
Way". (As I have been known to say, "If I see someone stealing from
the mom-and-pop store down the street, I'll be the first one to chase them
and knock 'em down and call for the cops. But, when I see someone who is
hungry, stealing food from some huge supermarket chain to feed their kids, I
would probably trip the cop who was chasing them.")
Many also feel that the little guys are usually less corrupt.
(Hence the constant conversations on the net comparing Windows to Linux.)
And, no, the answer to this is NOT to steal from the big guy. In
the long run, this just hurts us all because the big guy just raises his
prices to compensate for his losses. The big guy will never lose,
believe me.
So, how can people like you and me support the little guys on the
Internet? Well, there is one big way we all can do this. And,
that is to USE their affiliate links. Unfortunately, for some reason
that I will never be able to figure out, affiliates seem to have a bad rep.
If anyone can explain the rationality behind this to me, I would love to
hear it.
First of all, for those of you who don't even know what an affiliate
is, here's a little tutorial:
1. Big guy sells a product and offers affiliate relationships to
little guys like me. What this means is they give me a special link I
can use at my website to advertise their product.
2. Little guy adds this special link to his/her site. Someone
who views their site clicks on this link and buys this product.
3. Big guy gets the buckos AND THE BIG GUY GETS A NEW CUSTOMER.
The little guy gets a small percentage of this ONE sale. (and the big guy
invests this money until it is sent to the little guy at the end of the
month, so the big guy MAKES money on the little guy too. The big guy
is in a win/win situation.)
4. Depending on the affiliate relationship, if this person goes
back to the big guy's site again in the future, without going through the
little guy's site, the little guy may make NOTHING on the future purchases
this customer makes.
The only way the little guy can continue to make money is for the
customer to go to the little guy's site and click on THAT LINK. So, if
you want to support the little guy, don't use the link the big guy sends you
when you order from them. Don't bookmark the big guy's link. Go
back to the little guy's page where the link resides and BOOKMARK THE LITTLE
GUY'S PAGE.
And, if you do like the product....don't send your friends to the big
guy....please send them to the little guy.
Something I often see is this: Someone posts a link in an email
group to a helpful product or service. Let's say it's one of my Newbie
Club books. It would look something like this:
http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic/?buntah
Note that whatever you see behind the question mark (?) is what
identifies the affiliate so they get their commission.
Someone in this same group then sends in a comment like: "Here's
another link without the affiliate garbage:
http://newbieclub.com/wordmagic"
What purpose does this serve? The person who clicks on the second
link gets the EXACT SAME PRICE as the person who clicks on the first link.
The only difference is the big guy gets ALL the money and the little guy
gets nothing. So, why is this helpful to ANYONE other than the big
guy?
It's similar with cookies. Many affiliate links rely on cookies
that identify where the buyer came to them from. So, people who
disable cookies on their machines, thinking they are preventing the big guy
from identifying them, are actually preventing the big guy from identifying
the affiliate. Those big guys who actually DO let the affiliate
continue to make something on future purchases, place a cookie on your
machine which identifies the affiliate when you go back to their site
without using the link at the little guy's site. Disable this cookie
and again, the big guy gets it all and the little guy gets nothing.
Now, I understand the need people have to disable cookies, but all I'm
saying is, if you use the link on the little guy's site, he will still get
the commission without the need of the cookie.
My third point, and then I'll shut up:
Remember that a lot of us little guys give you WAY MORE FOR FREE than the
big guys ever will. The only way we can do this, WITHOUT ANY COST TO
YOU, is hope, when you do decide to buy from the big guys, that you
will use our affiliate links to do so.
In my case, I would never become an affiliate for a company I do not
support or believe in. If I send you to a big guy, with my affiliate
link, you can believe that I am sending you to a product that I believe to
be good and have used myself.
Affiliates are NOT a bad thing. In my opinion, they are what will
keep things free on the internet. Without our affiliate income, many
of us little guys will have to start charging to cover the expense of
maintaining our web sites and giving you so much for free.
Just think about who you may actually be hurting when you don't support
affiliate links. Bottom line is you are probably hurting yourself,
definitely hurting the little guy, and definitely NOT hurting the big
guy at all.
Many little guys go to great length to disguise their affiliate links so
no one knows they are making money. Not me. I WANT you to know
when something you are buying helps me to help you better. I always
proudly display my affiliate links when I recommend something. I am
not ashamed that I get paid for what I do, cuz I know I do it well and I am
not trying to mislead people. And, I assure you, since I DO understand
the importance of affiliates in keeping some stuff free on the Internet, if
I have a choice between going directly to the big guy or supporting the
little guy, I will ALWAYS choose to support the little guy.
Have a great month, everybody!
Happy computing!
Linda Click here for readers'
response to this editorial.
Linda Johnson is a
college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well
as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance
learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at
Eclectic Academy. She has worked helpdesk and teaches
and lectures at many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this
newsletter by checking out Linda's eBooks, MS Word MAGIC!, Book
I: Fonts, Fun & Formats and Book
II: Table Wizardry,
How
To Get Started As a Software Trainer, and
her newest series of MSOffice
eBook Tutorials and CD
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From reader, Chris:
Linda;
In the 14 July issue you have "If you messed up your life, you could press
"Alt, Ctrl, Delete" and start all over!"
I think that you meant "Ctrl, Alt, Delete"??!! :-)
I was impressed enough with the 14 July issue that I sent a link to your
article on "affiliates" to Fred Langa of Langa List fame. Now that I
understand a little more about the affiliate program, I'm sure going to
start using it the right way.
**thanks Chris...from me and all the other "little guys" :-)
Linda |
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