David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Seat (the car people) have been running an advert for the Leon called "Who Owns Who?". The words read as follows:

Think about this. When you buy a car you buy a new piece of yourself. Something that's yours but not part of your body.

You buy the need to look after it, to maintain it, to use it even when you don't need to.

You buy the obligation to feed it, the job of having to clean it, the obsession of stopping people leaving beach sand in the car.

You buy the fear of losing it, of someone taking it from you.

You buy the obsession to keep it spotless, and worry about finding a safe place to park.

You buy the impulse to compare your car with other cars, but you buy it anyway. Because the best things in life are not the things you own, it's the things that own you.

This is remarkably similar to affiliate web design. Here's how.
 
When you set up a site, it becomes your baby. It's something that you own the copyright to. It becomes part of you.

You spend relentless hours updating it, tweaking it, optimising it.

You spend time adding fresh new content that helps you rank better in the search engines. You hope that it stays there, for you fear that it will be kicked out of the search engines and that you will lose that source of revenue.

You also compare your site to your competitors. You know there are hundreds of car insurance sites out there yet you go ahead and build another one.

This is remarkably similar to the advert so I've re-written the Leon advert just for the benefit of affiliates and web designers across the world.

Think about this. When you build a website, you are building a new piece of yourself. Something that's yours but not part of your body.

You create the need to look after it, to maintain it, to monitor it even when you don't need to.

You create the obligation to add new content, the job of keyword analysis, the obsession of optimising it beyond belief.

You develop a fear of losing PageRank, or of losing your entry in the search engines.

You create the obsession to worry about the tiny details, and worry about what others think of it.

You create the impulse to compare your site with other websites, but you build it anyway. Because the best things in life are not the things you own, it's the things that your create.

Enjoy!