“Coupon sites are border line in my opinion. Affiliate marketing was meant as a customer acquisition tool. It can be leveraged as customer retention tool, but that is rarely what advertisers have in mind when their launch their affiliate program.”

You should start another post on that. The reality is there is no such thing as an acquired customer.

Thank you for adding this part, I see it too often go unsaid, or worse, twisted into partial truths. Sometimes that twisting is intentional, sometimes its just a lack of understanding – either way, and whether others agree now or not, in the long run, value IS what gets rewarded and is the thing affiliates should be focusing their time and efforts.

This era of less than full understanding will come to an end slowly, but it will come. If you want to be strong later, focus on adding value (bringing new customers) now.

Randy