Affiliates (recruited authors)

[jadedragon]

I've read somewhere here that there are over 30,000 authors on CC. Clearly not all of them are active at any given time. I'd guess a lot never submit the first article. I don't want to out trade secrets of course, but I am curious.

1. Can someone from CC share some idea of what percentage of authors actually have accepted articles
2. What percentage of authors get beyond three sales (private request thresh hold)

I'm putting in some serious effort to recruit talent to CC and I'd like some way to gage the effort. That and I'm just curious.

[melissan]

Just adding my two cents because I've often been curious about these things.

Speaking only for myself, I have 15 affiliates and not one of them has ever had an article published. People are either not submitting and forgetting about the site, not sure what to write, or can't write to the standard CC has set. This is why I like CC...Consistent Credibility. When you have articles accepted here, actually makes you feel (because you are) like a credible writer.

[Antonia]

I have nine affiliates. Two of them have sold one article each and the others haven't sold any. Many have not even submitted any (or else they haven't been accepted). I do think it's worth putting in some small effort to building an affiliate base, but it's more of a long-term thing as it might take someone weeks or months to get an article accepted, let alone build up a consistent income-generating portfolio.

[Lisa-Anne Sanderson]

What is the best way to get affiliates? I've had a lot of trouble getting them.

[Celeste Stewart]

I have about nine affiliates. Five of them are personal writing buddies and I assume that the rest found CC via my affiliate link which I have posted on my Web site and blog. While I'll take the 5% cut, it's not anything to write home about. Unless you get lucky and a prolific writer to signs up under you, you're not going to retire on CC's affiliate sales.

[jadedragon]

I joined through an affiliate link in a blog but I don't remember who's blog and I can't find the blog again. I'm building an article library but its going to take some sales to make my sponsor happy.

I was afraid to ask about the best way to get affiliates. I've got 5 so far. None have had an article accepted yet. 1 was a person I'm working with personally, the other 4 are people who clicked my links out there. I've blogged about CC and posted several articles about CC - but there is no way to know which of these methods are working. I've set everything up to be evergreen so hopefully more will join and actually write. I think four sign ups in such a short time is pretty good though.

If I could just get the next Celeste to sign up

[Lisa-Anne Sanderson]

Thank you very much for your help, Celeste, and Jade Dragon. I can see that I haven't worked very hard on obtaining affiliates.

You have done well, Jade Dragon. I would like to find some affiliates because I feel that my 'sponsor' is making a bit of money from
my articles and I'd like to get some back!

[Debbi]

The 5 % per article that your "sponsor" gets comes out of CC's cut and not yours (not sure if you knew that).

[Celeste Stewart]

If it were up to me, I'd eliminate the affiliate program and change the cut to 30% which would give writers more money in their pockets. But, alas, it's not up to me.

[Debbi]

I agree, Celeste. I recommend CC to writers, not because of the potential of a 5% cut for me, but because I feel it is the best opportunity for professional writers on the Internet. A 70/30 split would probably attract new authors better than the remote possibility that they might make money from affiliates, and it would reward and retain current writers.

[Lysis]

Celeste for president! LOL

I've directed several writers to CC and none of them used an affiliate link. I dunno. I hate trying to work with money among friends, although I have outsourced to other writer friends.

Sometimes, that extra 5% is a killer.

I thought about it and I think CC could drive more customers to the site by giving rewards to writers who work with their outside clients through CC. One of the biggest complaints outside freelancers have is the trust factor with clients. Working with people through Paypal can be a problem. I think CC could drive more customer base if it offered a lower percentage cut for...say...the first batch of articles for a writer who directed a client to use the CC pay system.

So, let's say I had a customer who found my personal website and wants me to write some content. I can tell them to sign up with CC and work with their system. CC gets a cut, I write for a private request losing only..let's say...10% of the money and everyone wins. Customer browses more CC content and maybe comes back for more or purchases more. More win-win for everyone.

That was just a thought I had. I'm sure I'm missing some holes in the system.

[Celeste Stewart]

Someone, somewhere, got lucky and sent me to CC through a link on a blog. That someone is getting hundreds of dollars a month thanks to that one click four years ago. While I appreciate finding CC, I have mixed feelings about an ongoing payoff to some anonymous person who has never helped me in any way other than providing the first CC click I actually clicked. It's out of my hands and I'm cool with the 35% cut as I price my articles accordingly, but whoever that person is has surely earned enough for that one magical click. Had I received some sort of mentoring, I might feel differently but my success here has nothing to do with that single introduction. I wish that CC would cap the lifetime affiliate earning per affiliate to $1000 or something like that and then let the writers have an extra 5% once that cap has been reached.

[4rumid]

Celeste, I was actually thinking of you when I was reading this thread, and how lucky your person is. The thing that bothered me when I clicked on someone's link to CC (I don't even remember where I found it or whose it was) was that it was only after I got here that I saw I was someone's affiliate. That struck me as sneaky, since that person could have made that clear where the link was posted. Something just seems off to me about encouraging people to click on a link without telling them what you stand to gain if they do it. When I post a link, I am always up-front about what the situation is -- that I get a percentage taken from CC's commission. I also offer to help anyone who signs up through my link. But, so far, so few people have written anything (and only one article has been sold) that it hardly matters anyway.

I understand why CC has the affiliate system set up -- it encourages everyone to bring in new income-generating writers. CC has no motivation to pay writers more and not gain the added sources of income. It's just business, and I don't have a problem with it. Although it would certainly be nice to make more money for my own articles . . .

[rohishetty]

Celeste, I think this is a great idea:

I wish that CC would cap the lifetime affiliate earning per affiliate to $1000 or something like that and then let the writers have an extra 5% once that cap has been reached.

Perhaps $500 or something like that...

I hope CC considers this. It's win-win for everyone.

[MPIvy]

My question is simply this: how do I use my affiliate code when recommending another writer? Do I copy/paste into a personal email to them? Or is that code supposed to be "clickable" and mine isn't "clicking." This sounds silly (even to me) but I read somewhere in the forum maze that a person could have their CC account suspended if they improperly emailed someone this link.

I'm sure the answer is quite simple and I will feel foolish when I see the explanation but I honestly cannot quite figure it out and I don't want to make a mistake in this!

Thanks,
MP