A few months ago a marketing rep from one of the large online photo retailers called to sell me on the idea of joining their affiliate program. This would involve me posting a banner ad for his company and providing links to their website whenever I wrote about equipment they sold. I would then get a percentage of any sales this generated. Apparently I've attracted a large enough following that companies like his were seeing an opportunity to profit from my readership.
As wonderful as this sounds in theory, I was reluctant. Other bloggers I know had advised me that any revenue from affiliate links would be minimal, especially because my posts are more about photography than photo equipment. Readers like you are more interested in using the equipment you already have than buying more. You're even less interested in arguing over whether some camera or lens you don't own is better than some other camera or lens you don't own. I also suspected that adding a banner ad to Shutterfinger would generate more brand attention for his store than dollars for me. Although I initially made a half-hearted effort to link a few equipment references to his store, no one bought anything through the links and I eventually stopped doing even that.
So imagine my amusement when I received an e-mail announcement from him two days ago that because the Pennsylvania state legislature had passed a law that would tax them for any affiliate sales in Pennsylvania (I live just outside of Philadelphia), this New York state retailer was cancelling all of its PA affiliate contracts. Gee, I'm sure glad I didn't waste hours of my time trying to scrape pennies out of that program.
Forgive me if this bores you. My main point is simply that you're in no imminent danger of seeing Shutterfinger flooded with affiliate ads and product links. I don't depend on blogging to make ends meet and God help me if I did. Instead, I write for the pleasure it brings and the comments you share. If you're occasionally moved to drop a few bucks in my tip jar to show your appreciation, well, that's just icing on the cake--delightful, but not essential.
"especially because my posts are more about photography than photo equipment."
And PLEASE keep it that way. I'm sooooo tired of equipment reviews.
Anyway those reviews are better suited to YouTube.
Now if you started doing YouTude videos . . .
Posted by: John Krill | February 17, 2012 at 03:03 PM
Me too, I really appreciate that you waste little time on equipment reviews, discussions and rumors and the "clean" look of Shutterfinger! And I think it is much better to blog (or do just about anything) because you love to than because you have to make ends meet.
I really like your blog.
Posted by: Florian Freimoser | February 18, 2012 at 03:30 PM
Ditto the previous comments. It is amazing how many articles in magazines and online just describe the benefits of the latest equipment or software that was sent to the authors by hopeful vendors. I suppose it is a cheap form of advertising but since almost all of those articles are uniformly positive, they do tend lose any impact. I'd much rather read your insights behind a photograph or a bit of advice than the attributes of the latest commercial printer or one-click photo improvement software. Your blog I can relate to; the latter have as much relevance to my photography as the auto magazines' review of the Bentley Continental GT have to my daily commute.
Posted by: George P. | February 21, 2012 at 03:44 PM
Good to know, keep it that way!
But when I read this, I had to giggle: "Readers like you are more interested in using the equipment you already have than buying more." Are you sure? For me it's a close call ;-) But I buy mostly used, and settled down on rangefinders and "normal" lenses. So that minimizes the distraction which comes from changing equipment frequently.
But lately I have seen that Voigt 40/2 Ultron for SLRs, and ponder how that would be on a classic 5D with the EF-S screen. Now that's sick, because I don't like SLRs at all, am not good at focussing manually on a matte screen, I hate it when the mirror goes black etc. Still I can't get it out of my head.
Posted by: Andreas | February 27, 2012 at 03:47 PM
Andreas,
I'm not entirely immune to Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) myself. What keeps the disease in check is the knowledge that even if I had five times as much equipment as I own now--which is already a lot--I would have no more time to use it than I have now, which isn't nearly as much as I would like. It's time we need, Andreas. After all, pictures don't take themselves... yet.
Posted by: Gordon Lewis | February 27, 2012 at 05:40 PM