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| Taken from theCHIVE, see last link. |
ON MY MIND IS RENAMED JUST FOR TODAY:
ANOTHER ONE GOES THE CREDIT CARD AFFILIATE LINK ROUTE
Extremely disappointed that The Flight Deal is going this route! I have featured this site here before and I receive their tweets as texts. Even when they refuse to add Detroit! (hint). Today they posted this “Our 3,000th Post & Future Plans“. First, congratulations on a great accomplishment! And near the end this excerpt:
In order to do the above, we will need to monetize the site because costs are becoming more than just beer money. Since our launch in August 2011, we’ve had minimal monetization elements on our site. We’ve had Google adSense for a short amount of time and occasionally, we throw a TopCashBack link into our deals. But we haven’t had a real monetization plan for the site. To provide better uptime, deals, and content, we will need to bring:
- Display ads
- Affiliate booking links for airfare / hotels
- Limited credit cards affiliate links (and we do mean very limited)
- What started as a joke on Twitter might become a reality – The Flight Deal Logo T-Shirts! Our creative team is on it.
- The monetization elements will roll out slowly in the 2nd quarter.
I guess we should be around to judge what “limited” means. Look, I understand about all this and believe me I know about the money side of the equation. And I really have no problems with what TFD is trying to do but the credit card angle sure surprised me! It just does not fit this site and leaves a bad taste. If TBB ever thought about monetization (after so many things that need to be done first…which are happening in a pace slower than a turtle) it would likely be done the way Frequent Miler does it. Concentrate on the content and content alone and throw them babies in a separate tab. Hopefully my wife and family/friends can click them and recoup some of the costs and endless hours of labor producing this site. Maybe next year…if I am still blogging:-)
MILES/POINTS
Four Seasons hotels will finally start a loyalty program! Rumors are running rampant that members will get free Internet, woohoo!
Avis balks at the free weekend rental deal. From PointsHoarder. Shocked, just shocked that this happened! (HT to The Wandering Aramean). The reaction after these deals get canned is amusing. “How can Avis cancel my $0 rental, I have the confirmation number” blah blah. Did I go for this deal? No, I drive a free Mercedes remember:-)
There appears to be a little bit of a discussion going on in the miles/points blogosphere about traveling to controversial places. Here is a different take on the matter by Adam at You Went Where “Why There Are Some Places I ‘ll Never Go: Human Rights, Social Responsibility and Travel“. I would not go to the Maldives after reading up on it. I had no idea about Singapore but I do have family there and like it (besides I am not so sure these laws are enforced!). Arab Gulf countries I think are a little bit different. Almost every worker there is there because they want to be there! Darn economics again. When I asked a cousin why she went there to work, she replied “Money is really good”…Not much happening in Greece these days as far as jobs go you know. Regarding the LGBT matter, I always supported whatever the individual wants to do. If they do not want to disclose it anywhere on their blogs, well it’s their blog! But I do find it a bit odd hiding it! As far as I am concerned, we are all people and hell yes I hope the Supreme Court rules for equal rights for ALL soon! I think by 2020 we will all look back and laugh that we were even talking whether gays should legally marry! My 2 cents.
TRAVEL
You ‘ve never seen water like this. From Matador Network. Must see super awesome pics!
Photos of Planes Flying Directly Overhead. From Twisted Sifter. WOW! Aviation geeks will love this!
Tet: The Craziness of Lunar New Year in Vietnam. From Legal Nomads. Wow, what a beautiful post!
City in the Clouds: Dubai from the 85th Floor. From Bored Panda.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Crazy Mother Nature. Unbelieavable pics! From theCHIVE.
Video of a baby giraffe standing just after 30 minutes after being born. One of the cutest things I have ever seen. Mommy giraffe is a good mommy!
Ok George enough is enough baby. It is pretty darn obvious you will stick up your own card links eventually. And then what happens when you are under pressure from the affiliate to actually market them or lose them? You know I have been a fan, but kind of getting tired of the “oh my god so and so is putting up card links… when I do it, it will be so different”.
Rant over
Second that
Amen. Nearly every post of yours seems to have something to the effect of “…when I will get my own affiliate links…just kidding”. That shit gets old, quick.
Valid points. Would you like me to do a survey before I do it perhaps? 🙂
I am so far away from that point…I don’t even have an About Me page guys, come on, give me a break. This remains a hobby, a very time consuming hobby. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment, I sure appreciate it.
I don’t give a monkeys about a survey 🙂 So far away, but getting there. And as I say unless you can get a hall-pass the way FM does by being part of the BA bandwagon, you are going to need huge volume to have enough sway with the promoters to pimp things the way you want. MMS is the only guy that does this right, and that’s because a) he pushes back on the “compliance” guys in terms of pointing out better offers, and b) he has enough volume and readership to justify (a). That is exactly why guys like MileValue say they are going to do the right thing, but very quickly find out that they can’t. George you mention it almost daily, so don’t try to kid yourself it’s “just a hobby”, let alone me! You know and I know you have your eye on it. Regards, Phil. PS please update the site to something more pro… I’d be happy to set you up with a proper dedicated WP site. All this Anonymous comments posting sucks. Or maybe it appeals to the “angry at bloggers” crowd which seems to be a big part of the readership
Okay, I agree with those guys that the joke about putting up links is now a little worn out. But please keep up the calling out of the other guys who are “converting”!
Are you going to ever start the BEST BLOG series? I have a feeling you are a little nervous because you dont want to alienate anyone. Maybe ask your readers? I nominate MMS because he doesn’t push (as much) his own stuff just to make a buck.
@MilesAbound, woke up on the wrong side of bed? It’s sunny in the RDU area.
Milesabound, I don’t know where you get your info but flexoffers does not prohibit the affiliates from listing other offers. I push many offers that are better than my links and I don’t have to “push back” against anyone to do it. And I definitely don’t have the size readership MMS does.
Obviously, this topic is controversial. I have been trying to keep it real here, pouring my soul out to you guys. In addition, watch what I do and not what I say as I tend to keep making fun of things in general, it’s in my blood. Like I said many times, I embarked on this journey last November because I was bored. I needed a challege in my life. I just crossed 45 and had it too easy in the past several years cruising along. I do not need the money and have not given serious thought to monetizing the site. I have no time to make an About Me page and you guys are jumping all over me for keep mentioning affiliate cards which I have not even looked into at all as I find the subject entirely confusing and feels like selling out to the devil. Seeing the Flight Deal going that route sure made an impact at me. I admire the bloggers who have resisted the very lucrative option and they will always have a priority here in my site.
I also admire how Frequent Miler (yes BA sure helps!) and MMS are monetizing. I guess there is a way of doing it and being able to see yourself in the mirror. The key point is they are both full timers. I have no intention of making this a full time endeavour, I like my real job enough. But this has been a passion of mine for many years so I wanted to have a voice and this is what I am doing.
One day I will think of monetizing in a humane decent way when I get around to it. At this pace that will likely be…never:-)
My two cents, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.
I ain’t mad at TFD for posting affiliate links. Then again, reading them has usually made me less likely to book a cheap airfare, simply by their “good” versus “very good” rating. I recommend their site to friends who are curious but don’t have the time for Flyertalk, and I think that reading TFD reveals just how tedious a lot of the “work” people put into this hobby is. Lotta wasted time waiting.
I praised Daraius for his words of caution with regards to credit card sign-ups. I do note that his advice directly undermines FTG’s promotional link-fest posts of “Go to Cleveland for free! Go to Siberia for only $300 out of pocket!” I can imagine that the number of “rookies” ensnared in serious “oops” moments due to those latter posts is nonzero, which is unfortunate.
I agree on not needing to go to the Maldives. We’re not going because it’s just a beach (note: this is also why I roll my eyes at Nusa Dua in Bali and French Polynesia, which in Daraius’s descriptions sounded pricey and boring), and there are awesome beaches in California and Florida with cities with interesting attractions and restaurants attached. Imagine that! There’s also better diving elsewhere, and more sustainably-built tourist destinations. We also have zero interest in the Gulf city-state mini-Vegases.
I think one of the major under-discussed issues in this hobby is the environmental ethics of hopping on a plane needlessly. We have twice bought carbon credits from a friend-of-a-friend’s start-up, but I had no idea whether they made a difference and the start-up has since closed. I thought of posting a question on the boards for recommendations as to the most effective carbon credits purchasing site (note that all the airlines offer you the option when purchasing a ticket). I have yet to post the question, however, because I don’t have time to put up with some inevitable ignorant or angry replies. I have high enough blood pressure as is. In the end, though, this hobby isn’t helping the planet, no matter how many eyes are opened by seeing new cultures.
Oh, goody, now I’m in a grumpy mood again. Have a good Thursday, George.
harvson3
What? Isn’t “your credit is your most important asset?” enough caution? 🙂 I think an IB staffer just pastes the same text in the challenges and just replaces the city and the “prices”. Come on, I need another gift card, where are you? 😉
I never had the patience to figure out the carbon credits stuff. I am guilty of doing mileage runs with immediate turnarounds, no more…I am over that phase of my life now. Older and wiser.
The only reason we went to French Polynesia was because I won a sweepstakes from Starwood. Hard to turn it down when flights and hotels are free! It was fun. If it was not for the free airfare/hotels we would not be going, so many other more reasonable places to visit in the world!
I hope TFD does not start posting about them awesome Chase credit card offers soon!
Have a great day too!
“Did I go for this (free Avis rental) deal? No, I drive a free Mercedes, remember?”
Priceless, absolutely priceless.
Thank you.
Thanks for the link, George (as well as your support of equality). To clarify, I hardly think the gulf states are the worst human rights abusers on the wage front, and agree that plenty of people are there because its good for them. I used the UAE as an example just because thats what Lucky did, and he used the term “modern day slavery”. My understanding of the gulf states is that there’s a huge range of working conditions for foreigners.
You are very welcome! I loved your post and that is why I chose it, I am “eclectic” you know:-) My cousin works for an oil company and she loves it there!
Please get an About page 😉
One day…
Affiliate links for fireplace installations!! TBB has sold out!!!
Lol. I delete this spam crap non stop. I actually read them first and laugh uncontrollably…some are so ridicilously stupid!