The Epic Stupidity of Relying on One Revenue Stream

I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life. (Ask my wife—she will eagerly agree!)

One of them was relying one one revenue stream. Well, not entirely on one revenue stream, but one revenue stream for one small part of my business.

Aside from client work, we also run some niche websites that generate revenue primarily from Amazon’s Associate Program. The model I developed was dead simple and produced reliable income, month after month with little ongoing effort.

Until it stopped.

You see, I had unknowingly violated Amazon’s terms of service, and without any sort of warning, they closed my account. No phone call, email, or even a “Dear John” letter. All I got was this little gem when I logged in:

Thanks, Amazon. I love you too. I guess the fact that I’ve been promoting your products for over a decade means nothing. OK, lesson learned. I’ll just pour a nice glass of scotch and reminisce about all the good times we’ve had together.

You’re probably thinking “What did this evil bastard do to get Amazon to close his account?”

Not much, really. I hadn’t done anything nefarious like cookie stuffing; all I did “wrong” was redirect an old domain to my affiliate link.

Evidently, that’s comparable to harboring terrorists, kicking puppies, and eating live babies or something, according to Amazon.

Unfortunately, this is technically my fault for not knowing it was against Amazon’s terms of service, so there isn’t much I can do about it now. Not that it takes the sting out, but I’m not alone on this. Amazon has been closing associates accounts with no notice or warning over stupid things for years.

Oh, and they keep all of the commissions you’ve earned.

One of the more notable cases was when they closed Joel Comm’s account a few years back for something equally ridiculous. He was promoting his own book through an Amazon affiliate link. So far, no problem, but Amazon took issue with the fact that he was offering some of his own products as bonuses to visitors who purchased his book from Amazon.

The result? His account was closed for giving away his own products to encourage people to buy his book, Twitter Power. End of story.

I know that most sane people see how stupid this was on Amazon’s part; there was nothing fraudulent going on and it was driving legitimate sales, in fact, Amazon offers the same type of incentives, but I also know that it only matters what Amazon thinks, so that’s a moot point.

It’s also important to point out that you could have been in 100% compliance yesterday, but in violation today because of an updated terms of service agreement. Some affiliate programs rarely update their terms of service, but a few that we work with update theirs several times a year. A small change that you didn’t know about could put you at risk of losing a solid revenue stream.

And sometimes it may be no fault of your own, like when Amazon canned tens of thousands of affiliates in several states due to new sales tax legislation, when an advertiser decides to end their affiliate program, or an an entire affiliate network decides to shut down.

Any of these things can happen with any revenue stream, such as Google AdSense, Commission Junction, Click Bank, etc.

That’s why it’s so stupid to rely on any single source of revenue. Losing a revenue stream for our niche sites is only a minor hassle because it’s not our main source of income, but if you rely on revenue from your website and it disappears, that can put you in a really tough spot unless you don’t mind selling a kidney to pay your rent. But that will only buy you a few months.

No matter how much ass you’re kicking today, you need to diversify your revenue sources because of what may happen tomorrow. Affiliate programs are fine, especially when you’re just getting started, but there are loads of other options available as well. (And despite Amazon’s epic douchebaggery, I still recommend their affiliate program.)

I recommend using a few different types of revenue streams, and having backups for each ready in case you get canned by one, they go under, change their business model, or new legislation prevents you from utilizing them.

Here are some options to get you started.

Affiliate Programs

Contextual Advertising

Display Advertising

In House Products/Services

It’s hard to go wrong selling your own products and services. It helps retain the strength of your brand, keeps visitors on your website, and fosters a fierce loyalty, as long as your products or services don’t suck. Plus, you get to keep 100% of the profits rather than the meager 2-12% offered by most affiliate programs.

What do our clients say about Spartan Media?

We could talk all day about how awesome we are, but we know you’d rather hear what our clients think, so here’s what they have to say about what we’ve done for them and the impact it’s had on their businesses.

Kim Kiyosaki

Co-founder, Rich Dad Company

Jeremy’s strength is matching your message with the most effective media outlets and spot on audience demographics. He is very strategic, extremely diligent, does all the heavy lifting, and he makes you look good. If you want PR results that go above and beyond, then I’d definitely go with Spartan Media.

Matt Andrews

Entrepreneur, Investor, Venture Capitalist

I own multiple businesses in the real estate and marketing spaces and the only PR team that I’ll use is Spartan Media. It’s really important that I get exposure in the right media outlets and that’s exactly what Jeremy and the team at Spartan Media help me do. They are the best in the industry and I highly recommend working with them.

Christina Krause

Founder, Postal Impact

I can’t tell you how many times someone has said, “I saw an article about your company and it reminded me to circle back to you.” That has been a really interesting component of our relationship. We certainly have increased our presence, but it’s really interesting how many people we already know that have reached out to do business with us directly as a result of seeing us featured in the media.

Dr. David Phelps

CEO, Freedom Founders

Working with Spartan Media has been a real pleasure. They make the connections, craft talking points, and always make sure I’m prepared—and they do all the heavy lifting to make it easy for me. So we get it together, it’s efficient, it’s dialed in, and it makes me show up as an expert. Credibility and authority is everything in today’s space and Spartan Media does it better than anybody else.

Tatiana Zagorovski

Founder, Trio Realty Partners

Working with Spartan Media has completely transformed the way people see me and my business. They’ve helped me get in front of the right audiences and share my ideas and expertise across the nation—and the results have been incredible. I’m now being recognized as a trusted authority in my industry, and people are reaching out to me because of the exposure and status they’ve created for me.

Jason Keyz

CEO & Principal Broker, KEYZ Group

I don’t have the time to reach out to the media, and it’s one of those things where if you actually tried to reach out yourself, you’d be met upon deaf ears anyway. So working with the team at Spartan Media, that specializes in exactly this and does it on a daily basis, is the best way to go. Plus, their white glove treatment is exactly what you need because it let’s you focus on running your business.

Nicole Espinosa

CEO, The Short Sale Queen

My experience with Spartan Media has been amazing! I’ve been featured in Inman, Entrepreneur, Benzinga, Fox Business, and so many more because of them, and that’s opened a lot of doors for me. They do a great job of positioning you and helping you craft the perfect message. I totally appreciate that because I think as entrepreneurs, we often feel like we know everything.

Trey Taylor

Founder, Trinity Blue Consulting

I love that while I’m focusing on what I do best, Spartan Media is consistently getting me featured in the media. This helps give me more exposure, but more importantly, helps me to be seen as more authoritative in my industry, so more deals come my way and I close them faster and more easily. I feel that Spartan’s PR services are one of the best investments you can make as an entrepreneur.

Ready to get featured in the media?

If you’re already an expert, we think you deserve to be recognized as one—and to be blunt, your prospects deserve to find and work with you instead of your less qualified competitors who just happen to be better at promoting themselves. So get in touch to see if you qualify.