世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com, in conjuction with JR Tokai Express Research, looked at the use of affiliate schemes by bloggers and web page maintainers. They surveyed 330 people employed in public or private businesses; 86.1% of the sample was male, 10.6% were in their twenties, 33.3% in their thirties, 38.2% in their forties, 15.2% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties. Note that perhaps people who are ranking in vast sums of money from blogging wouldn’t be wasting their time filling in surveys for the chance of a few yen off a Green Car seat!

The survey did not mention how “affiliate” was defined; obviously sponsored links like with Amazon Associates would fall under this category, but as to whether AdSense (click that button on the left to find out more!) is also included, this survey does not clarify. Just for the sake of disclosure, at the rate I’m going at, my target for the year is in the 5,000 to 10,000 yen range (yes, just one hundred bucks!) although I had a bumper month last month where I managed to raise more than my hosting fee!

Q1: Do you manage a personal blog or other web site? (Sample size=330)

Yes (to Q2)	24.2%
No	75.8%

Next, people were asked if they knew what “affiliate” meant; only 68 of the 80 who answered Yes in Q1 knew the term.

Q2: Do you participate in an affiliate program on your blog or other web site? (Sample size=68)

Yes (to Q3)	33.8%
No	66.2%

Q3: Up to now, about how much profit have you made from your affiliate programs? (Sample size=23)

Almost nothing	52.3%
Less than 100 yen per year	4.3%
Between 100 and 1,000 yen per year	26.1%
Between 1,000 and 5,000 yen per year	0.0%
Between 5,000 and 10,000 yen per year	4.3%
Between 10,000 and 60,000 yen per year	13.0%
More than 60,000 yen per year	0.0%