Right after Andre and me were philosophising about PPC affiliates in the UK Keith Bond, earning his income from PPC marketing, stated his point of view today.
Not surprisingly he’s convinced that there are advantages for the merchant in giving the whole SEM subject to their affiliates instead of doing it on their own. He concludes:

Basically the PPC Affiliate does the majority of the work involved in PPC advertising but only makes money if it’s done right, thus minimising the financial risk for the merchant. Leaving the merchant free to use the budget saved in other areas of the business.

Yeah, well. Sure there’s a smaller financial risk. However if you’re certain that your products can generate a profit and you hire someone who knows his business (or is capable of learning it) there’s almost no risk at all. If this is settled what do I need a budget for when I actually earn money with every click I pay for? At Spreadshirt we’re running our campaigns based on CPO restrictions and I adapted that philosophy as I think it makes perfect sense. An affiliate wouldn’t do anything else. For every Dollar he spends he needs to get more than a Dollar in return. However I think that they should be able to run additional campaigns. No problem with that.