The TopRanked.io Weekly Affiliate Marketing Digest [Mate Affiliates Program, Reddit + More]

Quick Disclosure: We’re about to tell you how Mate Affiliates is a great affiliate program to promote. And we really mean it. Just know that if you click on a Mate Affiliates link, we may earn a small commission. Your choice.

This week, we’ll be covering listicles and Gen Z (among other things). So in honor of that, let’s open up with the top-three things I found out about Gen Z this week.

#1 — Gen Z has a short attention span.

#2 — Gen Z is having less sex than any generation that came before.

#3 — Gen Z kids have no friends.

Now, if you’re a Zoomer reading this and you’re looking for answers, then I have good and bad news.

If you need solutions for the first two problems, I don’t have any easy answers for you.

But if you need a solution to the third one, then read on.

I have a new mate for you.

Topranked.io Affiliate Program of the Week — Mate Affiliates

Now, obviously, just because our affiliate program of the week happens to be called Mate Affiliates, that doesn’t mean Mate Affiliates is going to become your BFF.

You probably shouldn’t call them in the middle of the night when you’re depressed because someone dissed you on social media. And they’re probably not going to come to your barbeque this weekend.

Sorry if I got your hopes up before.

But, when it comes to being a good mate on the affiliate marketing front, Mate Affiliates are about as good a friend as you’re going to get.

Here’s why.

Mate Affiliates — Ready to Stand By You

First things first, let’s get the basic “getting to know you” bit out of the way. Mate Affiliates is a multi-casino affiliate program that pays killer commissions and is 100% worth your time and effort.

So with that introduction out of the way, I’ll stop wasting your time with what I think. Instead, I’m just going to copy-paste a handful of testimonials I dug up:

• “Mate Affiliates has been nothing short of extraordinary. Their team of dedicated professionals has gone above and beyond to help us grow our brand and boost our online presence.” (BettingTop10.com)
• “Collaborating with Mate Affiliates has been a rewarding experience for us at CasinoReviews. Their team has truly impressed us, offering top-notch support and professionalism.” (CasinoReviews.net)
• “There is not much else better to make a successful start to a collaboration than having a motivated and friendly affiliate team offering their full support. As such, it was smooth sailing from first contact to getting Mate Affiliates brands listed on our site.” (DemoSlot.com)

And yes, these are real Mate Affiliates testimonials.

And yes, there are another hundred more Mate Affiliates testimonials exactly like these if you look for them.

But if that’s not enough to convince you, then just check out the awards Mate Affiliates has collected.

Now, sure. Sometimes awards are down to nothing more than a little bit of luck and knowing how to grease the right palms.

But when a brand goes on to dominate across everything from AskGamblers to Sigma and AffPapa (as Mate Affiliates has), then there’s something a little more special going on here.

And that something a little bit special is precisely what you read about in the Mate Affiliates testimonials above.

And Did We Mention the Mate Affiliates Commissions?

Plenty of Casino programs out there like to boast about 45% commissions. But, when you really look into it, you soon realize that those 45% commissions are reserved for VIP-level affiliates.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Plenty of these brands still pay decent commissions. But, when you stack them up next to Mate Affiliates, most of them start to look a little paltry.

How paltry, you ask?

Well, for starters, Mate Affiliates pays out 45% rev share commissions on the bottom tier. That means that even if all you can only swing is a small handful of referrals per month, you’re still going to earn big with Mate Affiliates.

But this is just the beginning.

As with any other program, the more new clients you bring, the more Mate Affiliates pays you.

That means, if you work hard and drive the right traffic, Mate Affiliates could potentially pay you 60% commissions.

The only catch is, you’ll have to refer 50 depositors to Mate Affiliates a month.

Looking For an Affiliate Marketing Friend — Meet Mate Affiliates

That should just about cover it. But before we move on, here’s a quick reminder:

• Mate Affiliates is a multi-casino affiliate program.
• Mate Affiliates pays VIP affiliates 60% commissions.
• Mate Affiliate pays new affiliates 45% commissions.
• Client testimonials and industry awards all seem to love Mate Affiliates.
• We love Mate Affiliates, too.

That just leaves one thing for you to do… sign up here.

Affiliate News Takeaways — More on Reddit

For the third week in a row, we’re going to be circling around the topic of Reddit blackouts. But this week, we’re going to come at it from another perspective.

So, to kick things off, let’s start with a fun fact that’s going to seem unrelated at first.

Fun Fact #1: The founding year for the boomer generation is 1946.

Now, if you do the maths on that, then you should realize that means boomers at the upper end of the age range are 77 years old this year.

Now time for another fun fact.

Fun Fact #2: The average life expectancy in the US is 77 years old.

Now that you’re armed with these fun facts, let’s do some maths.

Question: What do you get when you add 77 and 77 together?

Answer: A “dying market”… literally.

Yes, that’s right. The most gullible, easily click-baited generation ever to grace the internet is about to cark it. 

Now, yes, I’m well aware that the new generations are more susceptible to fake news and phishing. But this is more a byproduct of being raised on the internet. Apparently, being comfortable with something also makes you careless. And let’s not get started on what those little algorithmic filter bubbles do to your exposure to differing points of view that are usually essential to thinking critically about something.

In any case, the internet is entering a transition phase.

Now we enter a land where adblockers are the new black, the kids are immune to overtly commercial content, and general dissatisfaction with SEO spam is shaping the ways young people use Google.

And with that out of the way, let’s get into our third installment in our coverage of the Reddit blackouts.

Reddit Blackouts Hit Google

Try as it might to convince people that it’s a wonderland of “helpful content”, everyone knows that Google is anything but for certain types of searches.

That’s why the whole Google “Reddit hack” thing has only continued to grow in popularity over the years.

Naturally, this means the Reddit blackouts should have hit Google, right?

Well, yes. They did. More on that in a moment.

But first, for those who don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “Reddit hack”, here’s a brief explainer.

Google Reddit Hack for Dummies

Step 1: Perform an arbitrary Google search. For the purposes of this example, let’s look for the “best ferret toys 2023”.

Step 2: Become disillusioned with the results as you quickly realize they’re nothing more than a bunch of listicles that randomly plucked stuff out of the Amazon catalog.

Step 3: Return to the Google search box to refine your search using the most popular continuation.

Step 4: Find actually useful content on Reddit.

So What’s Google Got to Say About the Reddit Blackouts?

Earlier this week, word leaked out of Google that the execs admit users are ‘not quite happy with the search experience after Reddit blackouts.’

Now, chances are, a part of this dissatisfaction is likely down to the fact that even non-Reddit-hacked results sometimes contain Reddit results.

But at the same time, you have to ask, if people accept the SERPs getting spammed with paywalled content, why are the Reddit blackouts any different?

Well, the answer to that is that more people are starting to depend on Reddit to make Google usable.

The unfortunate truth is that after years of us spamming the SERPs with well-meaning how-tos, listicles, and other miscellaneous sorts of thinly-veiled commercial content, people are increasingly returning to the dark ages of the internet. You know, the days when “authentic” user-generated content reined supreme.

Google seems to be aware of this, too, if its upcoming “Perspectives” product is anything to go by (we wrote about it in a previous edition of the TopRanked Weekly Digest).

What Does This Mean for Internet Marketing?

Immediately, this means two things.

First, it means nothing. SEO spam still works. After all, I doubt anyone’s just doing it as a hobby. So if it still exists, then that means it still pays.

Second, it means everything. If you want to go after a “competitive” niche that’s already dominated by the big boys, changing internet habits opens up opportunities for you.

This is where we get to the big “generational divide” insofar as it concerns Zoomers vs Boomers on the internet.

The fact of the matter is, Gen Z has a strong penchant for purveyors of “authentic” content. And yes, I air-quoted authentic for a reason. That’s because something doesn’t have to be “real” for it to be “authentic”.

In reality, the benchmark for “authentic” content is really pretty low. It just has to sound like it came from real people sharing real experiences, and be delivered in a way that looks like it’s real people sharing real experiences.

Whether or not any of those people or experiences actually existed or happened is up to you.

How to Rank “Authentic” Content on Google

As we’ve already mentioned, if you wanna market to the younger generations, then your content had better look “authentic”. So you’re going to have to start doing a bit better than the good ol’ listicle.

And while I’m about to tell you that making “authentic” content is actually pretty easy, you should also be aware that it’s maybe not as easy as you might think.

If you don’t know what I mean, try comparing these two threads on Reddit — Thread 1, and Thread 2.

How long did it take you to spot which one was spam?

Not long, right?

Even if the content itself didn’t give it away, the “aged Reddit accounts” in the comments certainly did.

Now, admittedly, this is still the sort of stuff that might slip by boomers who just learned the Reddit hack off their zoomer grandkids. But you can bet that 90% of Gen Z will spot it in 3 seconds flat. And I’m not even exaggerating here.

With that said, the spam thread (Thread 1 if you’re still struggling to spot it) also happened to be right at the top of Google search results.

That means maybe there’s something in this spamming Reddit method that’s worth looking into. The only question is, how do you make it look more “genuine”?

Well, there are a few things you can do here. Here’s one of them with a pretty low barrier to entry that’s ideal if you’re just getting started in this caper.

Step 1: Get two real-looking Reddit accounts. (You’re probably going to have to work on these a little bit — any reasonably priced “aged Reddit account” isn’t going to look anywhere near close to real out of the gate.)

Step 2: Post a “genuine” question as a “real” user on a reasonably active subreddit. Do not post an affiliate link yet — Redditors will sniff you out.

Step 3: As comments hopefully come in, fire up your second account and make a helpful comment on your own thread recommending whatever it is you’re hawking. Again, this has to look real, so don’t do anything stupid to blow your cover, like copy-pasting a listicle here.

Step 4: After a day or two, once the real users have stopped coming to your thread, it’s time to go back in as OP. This time, you’re going to edit your original post to “summarize the comments for people landing on this thread.” Obviously, this is when you drop your links.

Step 5: Finally, with a little luck, your thread will rank on Google. And, if anyone lands on it, it’s going to be extremely hard for anyone to tell it apart from a “real” thread at first glance.

This little “method” takes advantage of the fact that you can’t necrobump a post on Reddit. That means you theoretically won’t have any pesky real users coming back to call you out for those affiliate links that suddenly appeared.

Alternatively…

If SEO spamming with “authentic” content sounds like too much work for you, there is an alternative. 

If you look at my “best bluetooth speakers 2023” search results above, take a look at what’s in #2.

Yep, it’s a listicle. Only difference is, this time its product sourcing method isn’t throwing darts at printouts of Amazon searches. Instead, it’s Reddit.

Now, I know I know. I said this would be less work. Since when is researching Reddit threads and summarizing them not hard work?

The answer to that is ever since your mate Chat Jippity came along. Just do something like this.

Now, admittedly, the output of this leaves a lot to be desired.

But, with that said, all this would take is a little more “prompt” engineering” on your behalf. It would probably also be good to clean up the data instead of just copy-pasting straight off the page as I did. That might help with some of the confusions ChatGPT has about which comments belong to which card.

So maybe you should pay that 24 cents per 1000 queries to Reddit, and just get a developer to write you a little script to pull the data, present it in a more structured way, and send it to the ChatGPT API.

Automated, “authentic” content.

As for whether this passes the Gen Z “authentic content test”, I have no idea. My guess is that it will work on some, as long as you include quotes from users and provide something a little “extra” to show this wasn’t just an AI-generated hallucination.

Takeaway

The main takeaway here is really the generational shift. A generation that grew up doing things the meat-powered way is slowly being replaced by a generation suckled on algorithmic feeds and clickbait.

That generation is also now transitioning into adulthood, which means they’ve now got money of their own to spend (and let’s not forget the giant generational wealth transfer that’s happening).

The second main takeaway here is that if you want to market to Zoomers, some of the old tactics are going to be a whole lot less effective.

But, that doesn’t mean you have to throw out the playbook.

As I showed you above, it’s entirely possible to do SEO spam while still looking “authentic”. And if you think that’s the only way to create easy, authentic-looking content, then you just haven’t thought about it long enough.

Go think about it some more. And when you have some ideas, go and promote your new mate — Mate Affiliates.

Or just steal the Reddit two-step trick from above.

Closing Thought

Seeing as we’ve already broached the topic, let’s talk about authenticity a little more.

But this time, we’re not talking about “authentic” content. We’re talking about the authentic you.

Now, if you ask anyone about the importance of being your authentic self, you usually get some wishy-washy self-actualization fluff.

Here’s the Dr. Phil version.

Admittedly, on the surface, there’s nothing wrong with this advice. But, if you dig down deep into it, it’s also not that great.

After all, what’s wrong with a “social mask”, as Dr. Phil calls it?

If you think I’m flat-out wrong here, ask yourself this — do you really think it’s appropriate to behave the same way in front of your grandma as you do with your friends on a night out?

Yeah?

Alright, how about if you were pitching someone you wanted to invest in your business?

Or how about a client you were trying to get on board?

Still yes?

Alright, fine.

What about that little thing you have that involves cross-dressing and a latex-clad dominatrix? Do you really think making this public knowledge is going to help you out in life?

If you didn’t answer yes to all of the above (and 90% of you shouldn’t if you’re being “true to your true self”), then that begs the question — what does it mean to be the authentic you?

Now, sure. There’s always bound to be an authentic you deep down inside. Everyone has that little voice that says, “Hey, you really should do x with your life.”

But here’s the thing. What if the authentic you wants to land that investment for your business while still enjoying your time with your spandex-clad companion?

What do you do?

Of course, it’s right about here that the real true believers in authenticity are going to come out and say authenticity all the way. Eff the haters, right?

But I’m going to say, maybe there’s a time for “authenticity” and a time for “social masks”.

The reality is, sometimes being “authentic” will mean giving up on certain things you have in life. 

This is okay if that thing you give up is just a social group who are nothing but “a bunch of haters”. Haters gonna hate, right?

But if being authentic means you’ll potentially sacrifice something the “authentic” you also wants, then you’d probably better think twice.

In either case, the point I’m trying to make is you’re probably going to get a lot further if you stop looking at authenticity as being some sort of truth-affirming act you do 24/7. Instead, you should see it as the self-serving, highly-selective curation of your behavior that furthers your agenda.

After all, what’s more important — telling the world about your agenda, or actually achieving it?

Oh, and PS: if your agenda includes earning 60% commissions, then you might like to meet your new Mate (Affiliates, of course!).

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(Featured image by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS via Pexels)

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