I listened to Affiliate Thing with Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille live on WebMasterRadio.fm for the first time today. Normally, I listen to the podcast later (mainly to skip through the incredibly horrible commercials and intro’s… I’m sorry, but it’s true).

Today’s show was a little different in that Mark from 45n5.com was the interviewee, and based on the recent conversations arguments going on at places like Jim Kukral’s blog over the nature of spam and shady tactics, I figured it would be good to tune in for a few minutes.

It’s no secret that I’m good friends with Shawn and Jim and part of what has been called or labeled the “old bloods” or old timers (even though that name is taken by another group of internet professionals) in affiliate marketing. That’s sort of laughable to me since I’m only 28 and very young in my own head… but we all need to label and define other people in order to form our own identities, so I’m OK with that designation.

I’m OK with it primarily because the reason I get lumped into that old blood group is that I often say things like “write content for readers or users, and not for search engines” or “unique and valuable content is the most important thing you can produce in your affiliate marketing endeavors.” Today on the show, Mark hit on that topic and made the point that content doesn’t always rank higher than scraper sites or arbitrage sites who use a little shady or less-than-white-hat tactics to get those ratings. So, why not piss in the community well a little if it means that you can make more money?

In my mind, and in the mind of the clients I’ve worked for and made lots of money for, pissing in the town well (even just a trickle) is not worth the overall effect or the long term ramifications for everyone involved. It’s a really simple equation for me… I don’t really mind seeing someone who is trying to game the system pop up above me in the SERPS because I know I’m doing the right thing and making enough coin on it to be happy, keep my family healthy and wise, afford a couple of houses, a couple of cars, live on top of a mountain with a great view and have the best life imaginable.

I came from the email and CPA network side of things in the early part of this decade, so I’ve seen sketchy beyond what the current flock of SEO newbie’s claim to be “evil tricks” or blackhat. It wasn’t pretty and quite a few people made a mint gaming the various systems and producing lots of noise (spam) but no music (content). Those same people either went on to realize the error of their ways and founded legit companies, went to jail or ended up broke from lawsuits and “living the good life.” I don’t wish that on anyone.

I’d love to help some of them find their way and make a good life for themselves by staying clean, producing value and not falling to the temptation of quick and easy money… but that’s becoming an increasingly uphill battle with false prophets selling snake oil and dreams for just $97. As Lisa pointed out today, some of the newbie’s will make the same mistakes we all did years ago, learn from them and move on… it’s just tough when the newbie’s seek to tear down old bloods because they are trying to steer them in the right direction.

So, let’s get off this silly train towards an “old blood” versus “new blood” battle within the affiliate industry and realize that we can all learn from each other if we just drop our ego’s and our agenda’s and listen. We’ve got bigger fish to fry and more money to make as an industry.

Here’s the mp3 file of the show (right click to download)