Could Affiliate Marketers/Marketing Be Considered a Profession?

am is like prostitution, it requires a lot of work and it's all about not getting your balls scrubbed. so yeah, its a profession.
 


Bombastic said:
I don't want people to think it's a profession. I want them to think I'm some loser destroying my life by playing on the internet all day. Then I can keep making money off the ignorant masses who think every website is made by a major corporation rather than little guys like me.
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Agreed.

turbolapp said:
This. Only in my case it's the bad mom that plays on the internet all day while her kid is in daycare. *sigh*
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I love that no one has a clue WTF I do. I don't get hassled to make loans (that will never get paid back). The only (very slight) regret I have is my relatives and in-laws thinking I'm some unemployed slacker who won't let my wife get a job, destroying any chance my children have at a normal life.
 
An Affiliate marketer is like a starving black kid peddling crack in the ghetto while the Big Boss takes most of the profit.
 
amanda11 said:
An Affiliate marketer is like a starving black kid peddling crack in the ghetto while the Big Boss takes most of the profit.
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true story, but some of those little kids turn out to be hustlas and hustle the Big Boss all day everyday
 
it can be, and here's how wikipedia portrays it:

685px-Affiliate_Marketing_Illustration.png


I don't see this as much different than being a car dealer
 
amanda11 said:
An Affiliate marketer is like a starving black kid peddling crack in the ghetto while the Big Boss takes most of the profit.
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I see your point with this statement, and in the old days people could have said "Big Boss takes the profit but also the RISK"... nowadays not so sure the risk isn't evenly divided now.
 
That's like asking if baking is a profession. Put it this way, if you run you AM like a hobby you're not a professional. If you run it like a business, then you are. Do you bake brownies for your family or do you sell 50 dozen a day?
 
Since most Affiliates are investing there own time and money into building there own business, I would say we are entrepreneurs...
 
Absolutely Mike said:
That's like asking if baking is a profession. Put it this way, if you run you AM like a hobby you're not a professional. If you run it like a business, then you are. Do you bake brownies for your family or do you sell 50 dozen a day?
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Hrmm going off of this example, would it be a fair distincition to put it as:

Affiliate Marketers who make a LIVING off AM = Professional

Affiliate Marketers who make some extra money from AM, but enough to survive off of = Hobby (like doing home renovations, painting, landscaping, etc. as a side job)

Kind of like a Professional Golfer vs the Guy who wins local tournaments here and there but still works a 9-5 etc.


Or am I out to lunch?
 
Unique said:
Hrmm going off of this example, would it be a fair distincition to put it as:

Affiliate Marketers who make a LIVING off AM = Professional

Affiliate Marketers who make some extra money from AM, but enough to survive off of = Hobby (like doing home renovations, painting, landscaping, etc. as a side job)

Kind of like a Professional Golfer vs the Guy who wins local tournaments here and there but still works a 9-5 etc.


Or am I out to lunch?
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Yeah I like what you wrote. There's a little more to it that but it's pretty accurate. There's a saying, if you treat it like a hobby it will pay you like a hobby. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business. You don't get to compete at a pro level if you don't practice ever day, and a doctor can't open a practice after taking one class. Now you can make a lot of money and still be unprofessional, but I think that's a lifestyle choice that people can get away with since the affiliate marketing industry is still young and going through growing pains (government, organizations wanting a piece). But it's also an industry that allows you stay home and make money.
 
AM is a profession if you treat it as such. If you're serious about your trade and you do everything you can to be the absolute best at it, then I'd call you a professional. If you're just some dick cheese that has a blog and a 160x600 adsense block in the sidebar, well you're not a professional in my book (you're a DP member).
 
Unique said:
I was just thinking today given the amount of studying, research, testing, constant education updates on new trends etc. would it make sense to consider what we do a Profession? (for those that take it seriously)

I mean professional fighters, golfers, gamers, etc. are all outside the norm of Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants... but are still considered Professionals.

I dunno, maybe I'm just off the handle today, but given how "make or break" some of our decisions can be financially, I would think its a justified title.

Thoughts?
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totally justified.

usually i tell the not knowing that i do "internet advertising"

and most people take that to mean i spam their inbox.

A lot of the people out there think we sit in front of comps spamming their inboxes one piece of email at a time... IE as fast as we can click the send button.

geeks.

Just got a cash advance lead off of someone i know because i sent them an offer over IM... hehehe
 
I prefer everyone thinking I'm playing games 24/7. It's funnier!

EDIT: I'll actually contribute something.

Dictionary.com defines a professional as: "following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain". Occupation being defined as a person's "principal work or business, especially as a means of earning a living", or "any activity in which a person is engaged".

Therefore, yes, technically affiliate marketing is considered a profession. You don't need a piece of paper to be a professional.
 
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