What do you make of this email: ‘Hello, This is Mike from Monkey Digital,
I am contacting you to discuss a mutual business deal.
How would you like to feature our banners on your platform and link back via
your custom tracking link towards high-demand SEO solutions from our platform?
This way, you receive a recurring 35% residual income, month after month from
any purchases that generate from your audience.
Think about it, most website owners need SEO, so this is a huge opportunity.
We already have thousands of affiliates and our commissions are sent monthly.
Last month, we distributed over $27,000 in commissions to our affiliates.
If this sounds good, kindly message us here:
https://monkeydigital.co/affiliates-whatsapp
Or sign up today:
https://www.monkeydigital.co/join-our-affiliate-program
Best Regards,
Mike Joseph Johnson
Phone/whatsapp: +1 (775) 314-7914′
Analyzing the Email from Monkey Digital
This email from Mike at Monkey Digital is a business proposal for an affiliate partnership. They’re looking for you to feature their banners and link to their SEO solutions, offering a 35% recurring commission on sales generated from your audience.
Here’s a breakdown of what to make of it:
The Offer
- Product: High-demand SEO solutions.
- Your Role: Display banners and use a custom tracking link.
- Compensation: 35% recurring residual income from any purchases made through your link.
- Target Audience (implied): Your website or platform’s audience, as “most website owners need SEO.”
The “Sales Pitch”
- Claim of Opportunity: “Huge opportunity” because “most website owners need SEO.”
- Proof Points: “Thousands of affiliates” and “Last month, we distributed over $27,000 in commissions.”
- Call to Action: Message them on WhatsApp or sign up for their affiliate program directly.
Initial Impressions
- Legitimate Business Model: Affiliate marketing is a very common and legitimate business model. Companies pay commissions to individuals or businesses who refer customers to them.
- Attractive Commission Rate: 35% recurring commission is quite generous and could be lucrative if their SEO solutions are popular and your audience is a good fit.
- Clear Call to Action: The email provides direct links to learn more and sign up.
- Transparency (to a degree): They state their name, company, and provide contact information.
What to Consider and Investigate
Before jumping in, here are some key things you should consider and investigate:
- Relevance to Your Platform/Audience:
- Does your website or platform naturally attract an audience interested in SEO solutions?
- Would promoting Monkey Digital feel authentic and valuable to your users, or would it seem out of place?
- Reputation of Monkey Digital:
- Do some independent research on “Monkey Digital.” Look for reviews, testimonials, and any information about their SEO services. Are they reputable? Do their services deliver results?
- Are there any complaints about their affiliate program or payment practices?
- Quality of Their SEO Solutions:
- While you’d be earning a commission, you’re also putting your reputation on the line by promoting them. You’ll want to ensure their SEO solutions are high-quality and genuinely beneficial.
- Affiliate Program Details:
- Thoroughly review their affiliate program terms and conditions. What are the payout thresholds? How often are commissions paid? What’s their cookie duration (how long a lead is tracked after clicking your link)?
- What kind of support do they offer affiliates?
- Tracking and Reporting:
- How transparent is their tracking system? Will you have access to a dashboard to see clicks, conversions, and earnings in real-time?
- Comparison:
- Are there other, potentially better, SEO affiliate programs out there that might be a better fit or offer better terms?
Next Steps
If you’re interested, your next steps would be:
- Do your due diligence: Research Monkey Digital and their SEO services thoroughly.
- Review the affiliate program: Go through the details on their “join our affiliate program” page.
- Consider contacting them: If you have specific questions not answered on their website, use the WhatsApp link to get more information.
This email presents a potentially interesting affiliate opportunity, but as with any business deal, it’s crucial to do your research before committing.
But that’s not what it is at all – even if someone did ever click on their ad, which would be one in ten thousand readers, that is not their aim. They want backlinks because they are so poor at SEO they think backlinks are what matters and are incapable of getting them honestly, so they try to tempt people into adding backlinks to their site for free, so that they can pretend they can do SEO properly and then charge people for SEO they cannot actually do.
It’s insightful that you’re looking beyond the surface of the offer and considering the underlying motivations and potential risks. You’ve raised some very valid and critical points that shift the interpretation of this email from a straightforward affiliate offer to something potentially more exploitative or less beneficial than it appears.
Let’s break down your concerns:
Your Core Argument: It’s About Backlinks, Not Genuine Affiliate Revenue
You’re suggesting their primary motivation isn’t a true, mutually beneficial affiliate partnership where you earn commissions. Instead, you believe their aim is to:
- Acquire Backlinks for SEO: You posit that they are “rubbish at SEO” and mistakenly believe that simply accumulating backlinks, even low-quality ones, is the key to improving their search engine ranking. They are seeking these links because they “are incapable of getting them honestly.”
- Exploit Your Platform for Free SEO Value: By offering a seemingly attractive commission structure (which you believe they have no intention of paying or that will be impossibly difficult to earn), they are trying to incentivize you to place links to their site on your platform. These links, regardless of clicks or sales, provide SEO value to them.
- Deceptive Practice: They are “tempting people to add backlinks to their site for free” under the guise of an affiliate program, effectively trying to get something for nothing (or at least, for a promise they won’t keep).
Why Your Interpretation Holds Weight
- Focus on “Link Back”: While they mention banners and tracking, the phrase “link back via your custom tracking link” heavily emphasizes the “link back” aspect. For pure affiliate marketing, the conversion through the link is paramount, not just the existence of the link itself.
- SEO Obsession with Backlinks (Misguided): You’re right that many less scrupulous or less knowledgeable SEO outfits might focus almost exclusively on backlink quantity over quality or relevance, often resorting to methods like this to build links. Google’s algorithms have evolved to value high-quality, natural, and contextually relevant backlinks, not just sheer volume.
- Low Conversion Likelihood for “SEO Solutions”: As you noted, “one in ten thousand readers” might click, and even fewer would convert for a “high-demand SEO solution” from a cold link. This makes the promised “recurring 35% residual income” sound appealing but practically unattainable, especially if their services aren’t genuinely good or well-known.
- The “Rubbish” Hypothesis: If their core business (SEO) isn’t strong, it would be difficult for them to generate sales, which in turn makes the affiliate commission promise hollow. If they truly excel at SEO, they should be able to attract clients and partnerships more organically.
- “Free” Labor/Value: From your perspective, they’re attempting to leverage your website’s authority and content for their own SEO benefit without fair compensation for that specific value.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Given your astute observation, your interpretation is highly plausible and represents a significant red flag.
If your primary goal is to monetize your platform ethically and effectively, and you believe this offer is primarily a ploy for backlinks rather than a genuine revenue-sharing partnership, then:
- Do Not Proceed: Engaging with this offer would likely be a waste of your time and effort, and could even dilute the quality of your website’s content by associating with a potentially low-quality service or deceptive practice.
- Protect Your Site’s SEO: Unnatural or low-quality outbound links can sometimes negatively impact your own site’s SEO if Google perceives you as participating in link schemes.
- Prioritize Value for Your Audience: If the service isn’t genuinely good, promoting it harms your credibility with your readers.
In summary, you’ve identified a common tactic used by some entities seeking to manipulate search engine rankings. Your skepticism is well-founded, and it would be wise to avoid engaging with this offer.
That is Why SEO Has Such a Bad Name. There Are a Lot of Scammers Around..
You are absolutely right. Your observation hits the nail on the head as to why SEO, as an industry, often gets a bad rap. The tactics you described are unfortunately common and contribute significantly to a perception of SEO as a murky, scam-ridden field.
Here’s why your point about scammers and the “bad name” for SEO is so accurate:
The Allure of Quick Fixes and “Secret” Algorithms
- Exploiting Lack of Knowledge: Many business owners understand they need an online presence but don’t fully grasp how search engines work. Scammers capitalize on this by promising “guaranteed” top rankings or “secret” methods that will deliver immediate results.
- Impatience for Results: Real, ethical SEO is a long-term strategy. It takes time to build authority, create valuable content, and earn natural backlinks. Scammers know businesses want quick wins and offer seemingly easy shortcuts.
- Focus on Metrics over Value: As you highlighted, some focus purely on metrics like the number of backlinks, rather than the quality or relevance of those links. This leads to practices like mass link buying or spamming, which Google actively penalizes.
Common “Black Hat” or Unethical SEO Tactics
The practices you described fall under what’s known as “black hat SEO” – tactics that aim to manipulate search engine algorithms rather than genuinely provide value to users. These include:
- Link Schemes/Buying Links: Intentionally creating links that aren’t natural, often through paid placements, link exchanges, or private blog networks (PBNs). This is precisely what you suspect Monkey Digital is attempting to do.
- Keyword Stuffing: Overloading content with keywords in an attempt to rank, making the content unreadable and providing a poor user experience.
- Cloaking: Presenting different content to search engine bots than to human users.
- Hidden Text/Links: Placing text or links on a page that are invisible to users but visible to search engine crawlers.
- Doorway Pages: Creating multiple pages optimized for slightly different keywords that all funnel users to a single destination, offering little unique value.
- Content Spinning/Duplication: Creating low-quality, rephrased versions of existing content.
The Consequences
When businesses fall victim to these scams:
- Wasted Money: They often pay for services that yield no real, sustainable results.
- Reputational Damage: Associating with low-quality, spammy sites or engaging in deceptive practices can harm their own brand’s reputation.
- Google Penalties: Search engines like Google are constantly evolving their algorithms to detect and penalize black hat tactics. Sites engaging in these practices can be demoted or even removed from search results, which is devastating for a business.
- Erosion of Trust: The prevalence of these scams makes it harder for legitimate, ethical SEO professionals to gain trust and demonstrate the true value of their work.
The Importance of “White Hat” SEO
Ethical, or “white hat,” SEO focuses on:
- Creating High-Quality Content: Content that genuinely helps, informs, or entertains the user.
- Excellent User Experience: Ensuring a website is fast, mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, and secure.
- Natural Link Building: Earning backlinks because other reputable sites genuinely find your content valuable enough to link to.
- Transparency: Being open and honest about SEO strategies and reporting.
- Adhering to Search Engine Guidelines: Playing by the rules set by Google and other search engines.
It’s a shame that the actions of a few unscrupulous players taint an entire industry. Your skepticism is completely justified, and it’s precisely this kind of critical thinking that helps users and businesses avoid becoming victims of such manipulative tactics.