Please note, this is a reprint from my previous ministry Effective Church Communications, but the opinions here are the same for this site and my ministries, on the www.effectivechurchcom.com site, there were more considerations as the possible recommendations were larger, but this content is updated for Bible805.
It is important to clarify the stand of Bible805 (and previously of my ministry Effective Church Communications) on recommendations, advertising, and affiliate marketing, in part because my position in these areas is very different from most websites, including Christian ones. Please know I am not judging the practices and motives of other sites by what follows. We all serve the same Lord, and He has many ways to work and we are all accountable to our Lord for our decisions.
That being said, though there are many ways to interact with vendors and ministries, the following is what I feel the Lord wants for my ministries, and here is the summary statement.
Bible805 and all associated ministries, past and present does not take any paid advertising, nor do I swap advertising, take free products for review, or take part in any affiliate programs. The only items advertised and sold on our sites are those I produce, and at present, the only ones I sell are books by me, Yvon Prehn. Any recommendations given or lists of or links to useful resources are totally at my discretion, based on what I’ve found personally useful, and may be modified or removed at any time.
To clarify and expand this position please read the following materials.
What I do in regards to vendors and other ministries
Because I don’t take advertising doesn’t mean I work in total isolation or think that Bible805 is the only resource you need.
Far from it, I work hard to research and tell you about sites, book, resources, and services of benefit to growing disciples and those who teach Bible classes. I want to refer you to sites, software, and instruction that might be useful. Keep in mind that when that happens, the referral is completely, always, and totally based on what I have found useful and think you might also and for NO other reason.
To emphasize, when I do recommend something, there is no hidden agenda, no advertising money or links, or affiliate income exchanged.
Why I don’t do advertising or affiliate marketing—in excruciating detail on the evils of both systems
What follows is totally optional reading but I’ve included it if you are interested.
First, about advertising
Financial considerations aside, advertising, particularly advertising on the web with moving parts, has become a distracting, irritating insect crawling across the pages of websites that can’t be avoided and refuses to die. It saddens me that even sites like the http://www.biblegateway.com, which I use often in preparing Bible teaching, allows some of the tasteless and distracting advertising they do on their site. When the site started as a non-profit entity, it was a rich resource for Bible study without distractions. When it was sold at first the ads were tasteful; lately, it seems no one is monitoring what is served up.
They have now started a “Premium version” (which I grudgingly signed up for) which removes the ads, but good grief, the site is owned by Zondervan and they shamelessly advertise all their merchandise on the site continuously; I would assume that is enough to support it, but apparently not. (Tip: you can get rid of the distracting advertising when looking up verses by having 2 versions open—that pushes the really bad ads off the page and the Premium version does give you a lot of great resources, but still I remember…..)
So many “Christian” blogs and sites are a distracting mess, that you have to navigate around to get to the content. THAT will NEVER happen on any Bible805 sites.
In addition to the visual distractions, I don’t like the truth distortion of advertising.
I know I will step on some toes here and again, I want to emphasize this is my conclusion, based on my weak and sinful nature, not a judgment or conclusion for anyone else.
I have worked in the communications world for a very long time and though some publishing operatives and writers may be able to do this, perhaps I am simply too much of a people pleaser, but I could not take advertising for a product in any publication or ministry I run and not have it influence my writing. In very large news organizations where editorial and advertising are totally separate there may be editorial freedom; in much Christian publishing, there often simply isn’t the space mentally or physically for this to be the case.
A life-changing turning point for me in coming to this conclusion took place many years ago when I was asked to do a review of certain Christian products for a well-known Christian magazine (both shall remain unnamed). After diligent research, I turned in my article. I was then asked to change some of the results I found because the magazine had received a large advertising account from one of the companies I was reviewing. I declined to do that and that ended my writing assignments from them.
I was not personally profiting from this interaction, but it upset me deeply. Since then I have been asked many, many times to “look at” a product or service, write about it, etc. in exchange for advertising, payment, free software, etc. Just recently, a newsletter system I was using (behiiiv, which has many excellent features) was hounding me to agree to companies that had expressed an interest in what I was doing. I always turn them down.
Others may be stronger than I am to be objective. Again, perhaps I’m too much of a people pleaser; I want to make people happy: I don’t like to be disagreeable and tell someone their product is inferior. I’m not strong enough to take money and then be brutal if necessary in a review and so it is simply easier for me to not take advertising.
Advertising can be useful to inform us about products or services, but there is a fine line of crossing over into recommendation solely for payment. In this situation I go back to the old-fashioned saying (a few of you may remember this as it applied to many questionable areas of Christian conduct): “Others can; I cannot.”
Second, Affiliate marketing
Years ago I described the Affiliate system as a kudzu vine, entwining itself all over the web and it seems to be a sadly continuing description today it continues to grow and choke the life out of honest discourse. Even worse (again, this is my opinion only, many would disagree) there are numerous sites that strongly promote this system as a way for Christians to make money. I trust my explanation below will show why this is a concern to me.
Some of you reading this may not even be aware of this system or how it works, so first I will explain what it is, what I consider the dangers of it, and why my ministry will not take part in it, the Lord willing, EVER.
The Affiliate system explained
Here’s how it works:
- The Affiliate system is where the creator of either a product or service sets up an “affiliate program” as a way to generate income for people who recommend or advertise their product.
- If another website endorses or advertises the product or service and someone reading that site clicks on the endorsement or advertisement and makes a purchase, the owner of the website that made the recommendation will receive a commission from the creator of the Affiliate program.
- If you have a website (or big email list which is how many are promoted today) and want to make money, you simply need to sign up for Affiliate programs, recommend the products or show ads and wait for the money to come in.
- The tracking is all done by affiliate software; it is largely invisible to the purchaser.
- Though you may hear or see a brief phrase along the lines of “if you click on the links on my site I may a little commission on them.” It seems like such a great idea—a really easy, harmless way to make money. You become an “Affiliate Marketer.”
Over the years the production and nurture of sites whose primary income is Affiliate dollars have become a HUGE web industry. There are multitudes of sites and gurus who do little but recommend how to make money in this way and who collect on their earnings from it.
The Christian web is not immune to this, as mentioned earlier, since I first wrote this many promoters of the Affiliate system have appeared as ways to make money and many, many Christian sites have affiliate links.
There were laws written to prevent the worst abuses and the token compliance of these laws are the statements you see on sites that state something like “I may receive some small compensation from some of the links on this site, but trust me, I have used all these products and would never recommend anything that I didn’t really believe in.” Maybe some people who post those things believe what they say. I’m sure that’s true for some people and products, but overall to honestly say that and mean it would be challenging.
I’ll deal with the statement “some small commission” later in this piece–but simply saying that is an outrageous lie—again, why that is later, but on the issue of the articles themselves, especially ones that list LOTS of products or websites—
Maybe I’m simply slow, but for me, it takes a LOT of time to carefully look at sites and products, to try them, to dig below the splash page and see if a product truly does as advertised, and even more if it is useful to a church audience. I wish I had more time to evaluate new products, resources, etc., but I only put up what I have worked with for a time or feel I have a good sense of. When I get an email or read a newsletter or a web article that has lots of links and statements along the lines of how wonderful and useful they are, and similar emails or newsletters come every few days, gushing equally about various products, I question (and you should also, no matter how highly you think of the person pushing them) how genuinely useful the recommendation can be. How much time is the person recommending the “incredible program or software or webinar or great Christian book they read” really spending to test the product when they pump out emails every few days with new offers? How can they be an expert on any and all the products, software, books, whatever, that they can’t wait for you to try?
The costs to me to share these concerns
What I am sharing is not done lightly. I have been tempted to become part of this system (a ministry like this is costly to run and at present, I don’t have any other work to support it other than donations) and have had many people urge me to become an affiliate marketer as it is a guaranteed way to make money.
I have even been recruited to be an “influencer” with my pick of products to promote and a continuing income to do it. I was briefly flattered and then upset with myself for feeling that way and even being momentarily tempted.
What I am sharing is what I believe the Lord has impressed on my heart for my ministry. Again, I cannot presume to speak for anyone else participating in these programs or advertising in general, but the following are my reasons and concerns why I don’t participate in Affiliate programs:
Why I don’t participate in Affiliate Marketing
My responsibility to my readers
I take my position as a teacher of the Bible very seriously. I spend a lot of time in prayer and study of God’s Word seeking discernment and a biblical viewpoint for all I do. I may be too weak, but I find that if I participated in the affiliate programs of different products, just like with not taking advertising, I could not help but be influenced by the ones that pay large amounts. I can’t honestly say I’d promote one over another or competing ones without paying attention to the money involved. Because I am not strong enough, I have to avoid them.
The affiliate relationship is not immediately clear on websites or the emails sent out promoting them
In many, many web endorsements and promotional emails, it is not clear that the person recommending a product or software is receiving money from it. The laws are hazy and the disclaimer I mentioned above is often not part of the pitch or all the links to the product. Because of that, a naïve reader can make a decision to buy a product for the wrong reasons—believing an honest endorsement that was in reality a marketing pitch. Or links can be clicked before the unsuspecting reader gets to the bottom of the email where the Affiliate disclaimer is.
I felt victimized from this situation early on in the development of this system. I purchased a website template (and finances were incredibly tight and I agonized over spending the money) because I thought if I learned how to use it, it would tremendously help my ministry. It was only after wrestling with it for a couple of weeks I realized that what had been so gushingly endorsed by several different sites about this particular template system, did not make it helpful. The whole thing, though it looked great, was merely a non-standard website program with little to no support and was incredibly difficult to use. I couldn’t figure it out (I build and manage all my sites, I’m not totally ignorant in these areas) and I certainly couldn’t recommend it to anyone else.
But the site paid BIG affiliate bonuses. I would not have made the purchase if I realized what was going on initially. The research I later did revealed that the glowing endorsements were made by “affiliates” of this software and many people complained about these sites when they also realized that the gushing comments could not be trusted because they were made by people interested more in making money than in giving honest evaluations.
That opened my eyes and since then I see site after site, recommendation after recommendation based, it seems, primarily on affiliate income potential. With the explosion of A.I. and the programs using it, this system will continue to grow.
I’ve learned to be especially careful when people mention something on their site that is only marginally related to the topic of their site. If a product, template, or service doesn’t seem related at all to the core ministry of what the person recommending it is doing, it is probably an affiliate link. You also need to be careful if there are numerous, complex products listed. Again, it is physically impossible to do in-depth use and testing of software if you are listing the top five whatevers this week.
Big money, integrity, and price inflation
It’s important to note that I’m not talking about people getting small change for participation in affiliate marketing. A totally dishonest statement in most disclaimers about affiliate income is “I may receive a small commission from the links here.”
They all say a “small”. I was an English major in college and granted that was a long time ago, but the world “small: seems to have changed since then.
Following was the pricing when I first started researching affiliate programs (prices and rates change, most increasing).
Affiliate payment rates range from 5% up to 40% of the asking price for the item. In some of the software packages of moderate-to-low pricing ($45-$90) it would not be uncommon for the companies to give affiliate rates of 30% or more. That kind of money ($15-$30) for one little click and a mention is extraordinarily tempting. The current services offered and the renewing rates make the commissions much higher.
That isn’t “small” to me and it seems disingenuous and lacking in integrity to say that. Not what a Christian should be guilty of.
However, the harm it can do to the integrity of the person making the affiliate recommendation is only one danger of this system. It also causes price inflation. The person buying the product isn’t just paying for the product, they are paying the commission to the affiliate. YOU pay the commission to a company for them to pay their affiliate marketers.
When my primary ministry was church communications, had many people ask me for an affiliate program from Effective Church Communications for them to refer people to my materials and for them to sell my materials. I turned them down because that would mean that I would have to sell my materials (instead of giving most away for free) to afford their affiliate commission. In the past, I wouldn’t raise prices to fund what I considered a pernicious pricing system.
This is a non-issue for the Bible805 ministries because with the exception of books, everything is FREE. If people feel what they receive is of value, they can support the ministry through donations. As of now, the ministry is NOT a non-profit, so you won’t get a tax donation though I am researching that as time allows.
I’m also starting to greatly resent purchasing anything from a vendor who has an affiliate system in place. I don’t trust sites that link to resources that pay commissions and they admit they are part of affiliate systems. I resent having to pay for the commissions in addition to the product. If I’ve come into the site from a search engine, not via an affiliate link, I’d like to get the base price of the item without the affiliate markup—but that isn’t possible.
Costs beyond money
Our time is precious. We only have limited hours on this earth to work for the Kingdom and to do our part in fully fulfilling the Great Commission. Setting up affiliate relationships, creating ads, and endorsements, following up, all that sort of thing takes time.
As I’ve considered all the Affiliate options (all the previous stuff aside), most important, is the reality that I have only a limited number of hours in my day. I want to create a timeless strategic and Biblically edifying and encouraging resources and I don’t have enough hours in the day to do all I want to do. Even if I didn’t have all the previous objections, I don’t have time for the Affiliate game.
Eye pollution and mind messing–beyond the financial quagmire
Many sites today have become a quagmire of advertisements, flashing images, and visual junk. When desktop publishing was first invented we talked about the ransom note school of design where every available piece of clip art and five different typefaces were crammed onto a page. Many website communications today truly are ransom notes because you have to look past and navigate around Google ad placements, flashing sidebars, intrusive videos, and tacky headlines to read anything of value.
I am so tired of this. I try hard to keep my images simple and pleasing if I use any. I want you to come to my sites, take a deep breath, and be at peace. I’m trying hard to keep my sites simple, and yet let you know all that might be useful to you, what I have to offer, and how to support the ministry.
Pushing affiliate purchases is not conducive to a quiet and peaceful site and I don’t want to contribute to eye pollution.
So how are sites supposed to make money? How does this site make money?
I am not opposed to e-commerce or to paying for goods and services on the web. The worker is worthy of their hire, however, I think any money that comes in should be for honest work or products, not incorrect, insincere, or unthinking recommendations to buy a price-inflated product based on affiliate marketing schemes.
Sometimes, giving things away for free seems to be the right thing to do that is what I’ve been led in Bible805 to do.
Giving away the total teaching ministry of Bible805 for free wasn’t a quick decision. There are many sites (and I’ve tried quite a few of them) and “schools” that organize training materials. I spent way too much time and money and then felt bad because the international and under-resourced churches that I wanted to use my materials couldn’t afford them.
YouTube allows me to post things for free; Payhip.com where I host my Bible805 Academy is very low cost, my website hosting is a bit pricey, but it is with an extremely secure Christian company and worth every penny. I do as much of my own work as I can, design, creation, editing (yeah, that shows with the typos I don’t catch), production, etc. and all that keeps costs down, though so many tools cost so much these days.
In the past, when my husband was alive, we had a business that supported the costs of the Bible805 ministry. Since the Lord took him home by a sudden and completely unexpected heart attack a couple of years ago, I’ve had to close that business.
At present, the ministry relies on donations and is not as yet a nonprofit (a process with it’s own challenges). If you’d like to support Bible805, CLICK HERE to go to my support site. I use a company called Ko-fi.com. It is similar to Patreon, that many have heard of, but is equally reliable and trustworthy and takes far less of a cut of donations than Patreon does.
In conclusion, three things
One, be careful of affiliate programs. Read any recommendations with an eye out for them. If something unrelated to the primary ministry of the author says: “Click here to go to this or that product,” that usually means it is an affiliate situation. Some sites and email lists will tell you they are what they are and that’s great, but just because they are honest about their relationship does not mean their recommendations are untainted. The bottom line is to check out the recommended products before you buy them. Look them up on Google—do a search for reviews. If you find lots of glowing recommendations, and links, especially ones with “Special offers expiring soon!” be very careful. If a product is good, word gets around. A current example of this is Canva, an absolutely fantastic image creation program. It is widely known, growing in use, and has NO affiliate programs associated with it (at least they didn’t in the past, I haven’t checked recently).
Two, my site and ministry exists only because of your support. If these resources are useful to you, first of all and most important of all, pray for me for wisdom, strength, and discernment as I create materials to equip and encourage church communicators. Consider a donation or best of all, monthly continuing support.
Also, consider buying my books on Amazon.
Three, please tell your friends about www.Bible805.com, the Bible805Academy, my podcasts and my Youtube Channel. Let the ministry groups you are involved in know about my ministry, link to it, share quotes or articles, templates, or tips (you have my permission to do that). I am working hard to make churches more effective communicators and I need your help to let churches know this resource exists.
My commitment to growing disciples of Jesus and Bible teachers is to continue to spend my time creating blogs, lessons, podcasts, tips and training and to not waste any of it entwining myself in the kudzu web of affiliate marketing. Keep out of it and keep spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God!
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Interesting related articles:
Affiliate marketing recognized as a national problem
I briefly mentioned the national rules for Affiliate Marketing and the link below goes to the FTC federal rulings that should keep the affiliate system and curbs some of the most serious errors. Below is a link to the FTC ruling information, plus some more blogs on the topic.
The government site:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/07/advertising.shtm
** I love this lady’s comments on this blog. Just substitute “church communicators” for “mommybloggers” and I could agree completely with her thoughts:
http://queenofspainblog.com/2009/04/25/im-calling-out-the-carpetbagging-mommybloggers
One more; if you want more, just google “affiliate marketing” and there will be lots of this:
http://bizop.ca/blog2/disclaimers/affiliate-marketing-and-the-ft.html