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Oh boy, I just looked at my 'to-do' list for today and suddenly it looks quite scary. There are only 11 items on it and at first I thought that was quite reasonable but I just realized that there's nothing on there that's going to take anything less than 30 minutes and now I'm worried.

Of course there's also going to be unexpected phone calls and we launched another online shop on Friday for a client so I'm sure he'll be calling in with questions so I had better jump into today's column before anymore time gets away from me.

How many other adult ... or mainstream ... affiliate marketers have you met in person? Oh I'm sure you've talked to many affiliate marketers in chat rooms, via message boards and through a variety of instant messaging clients but how many have you met face-to face?

I've got to tell you that in the 11 years that I've been in this business I've met less than 30 affiliate marketers and if I left out the one small convention that I attended I would probably be down to just four ... five if I count Steve. (Yes that convention was the first held here in Australia and it wasn't big.)

So seeing how other affiliate marketers operate ... other than what you see on the sites that they build ... and seeing how merchants and sponsors interact with us affiliates is not easy.

Of course we can learn a little from what is said on message boards etc. ... and sometimes we can become close friends with some affiliate marketers and they'll share their experiences with us ... but usually the only clear view we have of what goes on in affiliate marketing is gained from what happens to us as individuals. But is our experience common to everyone ... is every affiliate marketer treated in the same way by the sponsors? Are we even all paid the same amount per sale?

Until now that's been a very murky area because would you really want to talk about it to other affiliates if a sponsor was paying you more?

Well actually one or two big affiliates have talked to me over the years about how much they get paid and it's interesting to listen to them. Obviously they haven't given me a brain dump but when you talk to a few of them it is possible to connect the dots and come up with a much clearer picture of what goes on if you're an affiliate in the big traffic league.

Just recently what happens in the affiliate world has become even clearer with the release of a survey of over 450 mainstream affiliates. One of the interesting findings of the survey was that 58 per cent of affiliates weren't satisfied with the commissions they were receiving and were able to negotiate an increase in the amount they were paid.

Those numbers are probably higher than here in adult and that may well be because in mainstream the commissions are based on a very low percentage of each sale but the important thing is that what might have appeared to be a rate that was set in stone was really quite negotiable. And here in adult that fixed rate is also negotiable but you do need to have the traffic before sponsors will listen to you.

Here in adult you will also occasionally see mention of sponsors who are prepared to prepay for sales. That's probably not something that goes on in mainstream but here there certainly are some adult sponsors who are prepared to pay forward for large numbers of sales.

So if you're not happy with the commissions you're being paid then perhaps it's time to talk to your account manager to see if you can't negotiate a better rate ... or maybe even get your sponsor to pay in advance. At the very worst the answer you get will be in the negative but if you have the traffic numbers and you're traffic is converting well then you have a very good chance of improving your bottom line.

A note for affiliate managers
The affiliate survey wasn't all about how affiliates are making money, they were also given the opportunity to express some opinions about affiliate managers too and it seems you guys aren't all that popular with the people who are making the sales.

One of the biggest gripes for affiliates who responded to the survey was the lack of communication they have with their account managers. It seems that everyone is quick to send out information about new offers and invitations to new programs but few affiliate managers seem to reply in anything like a timely manner ... if they bother replying at all ... to questions that affiliates might have about those offers and invitations.

Sadly it seems that the smaller an affiliate is the less likely he or she is to get a response from their account manager and guys that's not good. One day that small affiliate that you didn't bother answering just might develop into a big affiliate whose ass you're going to have to kiss long and sloppily if you want to get their traffic and sales.