[Razor]

From a stand point of being new in the whole industry as far as marleting goes, I break it down like they do in the real world on this very topic. Affiliates to me are salesmen. No different than car, home, insurance or any other commisioned salesmen out there. I knew guys that could sell cars and then move onto home sales and then to ATV's. They were so good, they bounced around as the markets fluctuated on whatever was hot at the time and raked in.

On the other end, of course you need the folks with the goods to sell. If the sponsors product isnt as good as what the salesmen told you it would be, then its the sponsors fault not keeping the sale recurring and building a loyal fan willing to stay with them. We all blame salesmen when the product sucks, but the bottomline is, we know they are there to make some cash and show you the "good" points of a product in hopes to make a buck. And thats the game, making a buck.

The trouble and great problem to overcome is all the free content out there. Why should anyone have to pay when you can grab 20,000 pics for free in an hours time? You need a great salesman to pitch the goods, but a good sponsor to keep the sales given to them to make it sweet for both. And giving some tools to those who sell, certainly builds a nice partnership as well. If selling was that easy, sponsors wouldnt have affiliates and sharing the revenue made.

This is just me talking aloud to be sure I get it right. Have a great day as I am off to research some more.
R