The concept of internet affiliate marketing was conceived by William J. Tobin, founder of PC Flowers & Gifts, and launched on the Prodigy Network in 1989. Wow. Seems like forever. I was still in high school, caring nothing about sharing what I made amongst affiliates – I had a paper route while I was a sophomore in high school in that year. After applying for a patent on affiliate marketing and tracking, U.S. Patent #6,141,666 was granted to Mr. Tobin in 2000. And one of the first innovators of the affiliate marketing strategy was put into play by Cybererotica. Short to follow the new marketing regime were CDNow and Amazon, with the latter putting together an associate program in 1996.

The overall schema of affiliate marketing has grown to dramatic lengths since beginning over a decade and a half before today. Concepts of the business-for-profit store front, had become an integrated part of the overall business plan and in some cases grew to a bigger business than the existing offline business. It is a rarity to see more offline marketing efforts than on in this day in 2010. We have gone from bare-bones linking to organic, deep and contextual linking. We have gone from the old school, ‘ugly’ 5 or 6 color ad banner to flash banners that are interactive. And, we have gone from emailing folks on a permission basis, to invoking a pay-per-call program that will soon take the place of spending loads of money on search marketing and banner ads.

Much like it is hard to believe that a color television set (in the US, at least) is only roughly 60 years old, it is even more jaw dropping how viral the various forms of affiliate marketing have become.

Consider this statement of fact: Now that we are heading into the mobile age, with Kindles, IPads, Droids and the likes, it is hard not to assume that the marketing flow will follow where the technology leads. Which means, sadly, the older ways of marketing your product or service will be phased out (banners, email marketing and newsletters getting the axe first), making way for mobile SMS broadcasts, WAP-enabled websites that offer interactive capabilities, and pay per call platforms that can easily be broadcast using any of those methods mentioned. Search engines will become ‘archives’ as the very reason for searching will appear right before your eyes – through means I’m sure that are in the making as we speak.

What Should I Do?

If you have a high traffic website, now it is time to consider making it WAP-friendly, create an app that can be placed on iPad or iPhone screens, make Kindle links (which can textify your website into a readable ‘article’ for Kindle users) and begin to research your options through the mobile platform. Consider pulling back on the search engine spending frenzy (because we all know that, with proper meta tags and site content, you’ll be listed high enough) and put some of those dollars towards a future marketing ‘nest egg’; if you are, also, an affiliate marketer, you may consider switching to the Pay-Per-Call platform as not only will you generate real, interested leads – but you will have greater income potential. More and more advertisers will switch to this platform once they see it is a full-proof way to cut down dramatically on affiliate fraud.

Give up on the MLM’s. There will be no place in the technological future for them; logic, if followed, will tell you this. Also, you may consider buying ‘.mobi’ domains. The .com era is still alive and, much like a Buffalo Nickel or a Silver Certificate 2 Dollar bill, it will have high value to collectors down the road, so I would suggest paying continually for that coveted extension.

And finally, don’t fight the change – embrace it. In 2012, I truly believe that affiliate marketing professionals will either be made or broken by their ability to adapt and accept the new waves of doing business. I have already begun the process of ‘applifying’ my websites and soon will come on board with mobile sms marketing. I already run a successful Pay Per Call program, so things are well there. Because the future of affiliate marketing is happening now.

Greg Henderson, a California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. His current projects include a background checks website Easy Background Checks as well as a marriage records website Genealinks.