Most of the domain community has been looking for additional ways to monetize there names. Marc Ostrofsky is certainly one that has found numerous ways. He will be Keynoting the Affiliate Summit East 2011 this Sunday.
The Affiliate Summit is “the show” to attend to learn alternative revenue sources for your domains. I will be attending. Please LMK if anyone reading this will also be there.
Search Marketing Expo opened today and runs through Wednesday. It’s an interesting show. I was there earlier today and ended up running into 3 people I knew. If you live in the NYC area, you might want to get an exhibit ticket, which I believe is just $50 and lets you attend some of the main talks. There are some good networking events/parties today and tomorrow. Their website is searchmarketingexpo.com.
One of my readers recently sent me information about WEGcash closing down their affiliate program. From what I am told it was one of the more popular adult affiliate programs. I am told that there are many other profitable affiliate companies offering adult services so I think it is a company issue and not an industry wide problem. Here is the letter that was forwarded to me regarding Wegcash:
Today’s communication with our affiliates comes after much deliberation, as well as a heavy heart. After 10 years, and millions of dollars in affiliate payouts, WEGCash has decided that the continuation of the affiliate program is no longer sustainable. Therefore, we will no longer be accepting referrals effective May 21st 2010, at 4PM PST.
The reasons, many of which are obvious to all of us, revolve around the decline in membership revenue. The continued proliferation of free adult videos has spawned a market which does not support an affiliate program. This communication should in no way be interpreted as an industry, political or ethical stance, nor should it be deemed dispiritedness; rather, we choose to look at this as a time to embrace the future.
While our company is closing one door, we are working steadfastly on new opportunities. While we could all engage in the revisionist history of “what ifs,” events leading up to the current free tube models aren’t negotiable; we are better served focusing on the future. We also feel that energy is better served realizing the true successes that our affiliate program brought to us, and to our thousands of wonderful affiliates (without whom we would never have achieved the success we did).
The gravity of this announcement is in no way lost on our company’s staff, from executives and programmers, to its owners. The Wegcash brand was conceived by two passionate and driven entrepreneurs. Throughout the years, its continued prosperity is attributable to the hard working staff members, past and present, who stayed late, came in early, and passionately put their heart and soul into the product. It is also very much attributable to the thousands of affiliates that entrusted our brand with their business.
While today undoubtedly is revealing in terms of the current market, it’s also the lore for the successful future.
Our sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for the past decade of fruition,
WEGCash