Why is affiliate marketing (dominantly) the realm of men?

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DaveEMG

DaveEMG

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Jan 11, 2007
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Hey... So I was talking with a friend about this the other day. Why is affiliate marketing so dominated by dudes? We came up with a couple ideas...

- Women are scorned at a young age from being "computer geeks". It's cool if a guy is a computer nerd (well, not necessarily "cool" but at least socially acceptable). Women on the other hand can't find peers that will accept them as computer nerds.

- Men are more entrepreneurial, by and large. Men, at least from my perception, are taught to be larger risk takers. In turn, that means they're more likely to take the risk of self-employment and 20 hour workdays.

- Men tend to seek more profitable opportunities than women. Women derive "social value" out of their careers, such as nurses (helping people), teachers (helping children), etc.

So... yeah... totally sexist post and all, but just curious to your thoughts. Not trying to start a flame war - I'm just curious why more ladies aren't in the biz. Especially to the (1 out of 10) women on the boards, what do you think?
 


You're dead wrong on this one.

Women are actually the best marketers there is.

What exactly are most people looking in IM? "making money while you sleep", "making money from home" and so on. You know what? A lot more women than men do exactly that. The husbands/boyfriends/squeeze go to work daily (or do whatever) and the women sit at home chatting or scratching their pussies. Is that like the best marketing ploy ever or what?

Right now I'm busting my ass (well, not really, but you get the idea) everyday at work while my wife stays at home enjoying life with the kids. I'm the one who also dabbles into this IM to get extra avenues of income. On top of everything - I don't resent it. I am actually happy I can provide an easy life for my family. Who's your daddy now, oh, you so smart manly man computer geek ? :D
 
I think you might be right about the risk taking part, because most of the women you do see online are looking for JOBS, most probably because they offer stability. Some of these might be single moms I guess who can't afford to take the risk. Other than the single mom category, I wish there were more ladies in the biz.

I am 27 yrs old, femaled, married, 2 kids...but I feel I am in the perfect position to take risks because I am not the primary breadwinner of the family. Instead of shopping for shoes or jewelry, I would rather blow it on adwords or something but I know I'm in the minority. I think a lot of women could take the risk more easily than some guys, but they don't. Women have a stronger need for security than men and jobs provide security.

I might not agree with the techie comment though since more and more women are graduating with technical degrees and such, but technology in general is a male dominated field so affiliate marketing just falls under that somewhere.

I'm new here, and some parts of this post may seem sexist to some, so no offence plz! just adding my 2 cents.
 
from my limited experience,

it seems a majority of independent affiliates / publishers are guys.

it also seems a majority of foot soldier level affiliate managers / ad reps (including cpa networks and advertising networks like google) are girls.

the ecomxpo ad highlights it the best :)
 
The biggest affiliate I personally have met is a woman - making 7 figures (and has been doing so for several years).
 
charles said:
from my limited experience,

it seems a majority of independent affiliates / publishers are guys.

it also seems a majority of foot soldier level affiliate managers / ad reps (including cpa networks and advertising networks like google) are girls.

the ecomxpo ad highlights it the best :)
Click to expand...

So... I mean, just to be a sexist douchebag... But... wouldn't it stand to reason that perhaps those women (and for the record I'm playing the MF devil's advocate here) are brought on board because the men that have founded the company want to have WOMEN around them? Cute chicks to work with that they can delegate work to?

I think about a company like Performics, founded by Linda Woods. She is a dominant player in the Affiliate marketing industry. Another Linda - Linda Bouquet, runs 5StarAffiliatePrograms. Another mainstay of the AM industry. Missy Ward is the other half of the Affiliate Summit. Yet... When it comes to publishers... it seems like there just are not that many of the fairer sex.

I'm really not trying to be an asshole here, I'm just trying to understand why it is that affiliates are assumed to be dudes.

And let's face it, that ecomXpo banner is just perpetuating the sterotype... "Hey cute affiliate man, do you ever DO IT online?"... "I'll be waiting for YOU." ... "Wanna NETWORK with me without leaving your desk?"

I love the eComXpo (in fact, you'll find me at the adfinity booth, on the "Gold" level - come track me down). But still. WTF. Is the internet assumed to be a dude's domain?

Done with my rant. I really couldn't give a flying F if dudes have more power in online publishing. I just find these sorts of things interesting. Yay. gay forum.
 
Its true everyone assumes an affiliate to be male before they actually know but sometimes it just might be a female :)
 
First off, you can't read affiliate marketing in college or anything right?
So everyone into affiliate marketing comes from other places. Like offline marketing, copywriting, webdesigners/coders etc. Everything you can hire some freelancer to do for you. Then these guys eventually understand that they can make more money by not being anyone's slaves.
Well and most of these people are usually men.
 
Men are the only ones bragging about it. Women for the most part make their money and move on. Being the head honcho super bad ass affiliate is not a woman's M.O. for the most part...

Aside from the fact that a lot of markerters are couples even though the guy takes most of the credit.
 
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