Affiliate Marketing Point Twenty-two

Affiliate Marketing Point 22: Avoid Bad Programs

Affiliate Marketing: Caveats To Watch For

If you are an old hand at affiliate marketing, you probably know what all of the pitfalls are. However, if you are new, you may not know where those pitfalls are until you fall into them. Here are some common problems that you can avoid in your affiliate marketing endeavors

People who are new to affiliate programs don’t generally know how to recognize a bad program. In order to figure out which programs are good, and which are bad, you have to be paying attention from the very beginning.

First, consider how you found out about the program. Did you learn about it from a piece of spam email you received? If so, it may be a bad program. Even if it is not a bad program, it is about to quickly become one, because if you were spammed, you can bet others were. This can literally ruin a program for everyone involved, including the owner of the product.

Is the information, such as the terms and conditions, the affiliate agreement, and the commission structure made available to you either before or during the sign up process? If so, continue on, after reading that information of course. Next, do you receive an email immediately upon sign up?

You should receive an email – even if the email is just to inform you that the company has a manual selection process for affiliates (which would be good for you if you are selected). If there is no manual selection, and the whole thing is automated, you should immediately receive your affiliate link information, as well as login information for the affiliate area of the company’s website.

In the affiliates area you should again find your affiliate link, as well as a way to edit your contact or payment information, and a way to see how many sales you have made, and possibly how many clicks or leads came through your affiliate link. Of course, you should also see records concerning commissions that are owed to you, as well as commissions that have been paid to you.

A good program will provide you with creatives to use, even if you opt not to use them. These include banners, text ads, articles, sales letters, ebooks, and other promotional materials. If these things are not provided, it does not necessarily mean that it isn’t a good program – but the best programs do provide these things.

The biggest test, of course, will come when it is time to receive your commission check. If the check comes on time, and in the right amount, and all of the above conditions apply, you’ve found a winning program.