For over 6 years I’ve watched new affiliate programs launch and then fail. I’ve talked to dozens of Affiliate Program Managers and Professional Webmasters about this issue. I’ve read thousand of posts on Affiliate programs and my advice is generally treated as on target and truthful. It’s time to clear the slate and talk about the realities of a new Affiliate Program. Since this site does not run advertising and I’m no longer engaged in the sale of Advertising to affiliate networks, I suggest you fasten your hard disk before your read the rest of this article.
Do you have a real business plan and a long term goal!
Most of you don’t so forget the launch. You aren’t going to attract real producers without the necessary capital to pay your affiliates, an advertising budget, a real office, a business phone and FAX number, and a written plan. You will attract cheaters and sub standard sites in large numbers. Within hours of your launch, most of your new sign ups will be cheaters looking for a new target and or undesirable sites. Although this may seem strange to some of you, a real business should plan on operating at a loss for at least 6 months to one year.
Does your site work?
Spend the money to have it professionally designed and then recruit some knowledgeable Webmasters to test it before you launch. Your Contact Us page must include your street address, your phone numbers, and email addresses. If it doesn’t have all of this data your painting yourself as a short term “fraudster” and you will fail. Your whois data must be accurate and complete. You can count on someone like me calling the phone number. Don’t use a “proxy” whois. Everyone who does is a criminal and belongs in jail. Use a real domain name for your email address in whois and not a free email provider like Yahoo or Gmail. Your About Us page should be truthful and direct. Use complete real names. Many aren’t and it’s a trivial task to determine who is lying and who is not.
You must force your affiliates to read and approve your TOS as a condition of the sign up procedure. These TOS must be prepared by your attorney and then reviewed to insure they are effective. If you don’t, all you will attract is cheaters and low quality sites. Ask for the Affiliates Social Security number or EIN number in your sign up form. Make it very difficult to change this payee data and address. Does your Admin log IPs and perform a trace to see exactly where the prospective affiliate is located and how this data compares with the Whois data for the site. Reject all affiliates who use a “Proxy” whois since you have lost your ability to audit their actions.
Each Affiliate application to join your network must be manually reviewed by a human. Your acceptance is on a site by site basis. If you don’t do this then here is what will happen: Fraudster Webmaster signs up with a quality and compliant mainstream site. As soon as he gets the code, he inserts same on other sites which you would never approve. Have you anticipated your procedures for the sale of a Website. FastClick does a great job on this issue and requires the new owner to submit the site for approval. If you don’t do this you will be abused. If your Affiliate can’t produce sales in 6 months, then terminate the relationship and require a manual review procedure if they ever wish to join again.
Tell your prospective Affiliates the kinds of sites you may accept and the kinds of sites you won’t accept. Don’t mince words and be very detailed in your descriptions. Tell them this data in the sign up page and force them to read it as a condition of the Form submission. If they still try and submit their site which you clearly state your aren’t interested in, ban the domain and affiliate for 6 months. If you don’t do this, you will spin your weal’s.
None of your shortcuts to riches will work
Inflated Alexa rankings are easy to catch. Spam in Forums or using “shills” and or associates to drum up the buzz are easy for a Forum Admin to catch. You aren’t going to trick the real producers. Maybe you have a skeleton in your desk. Better plan on exactly how you will answer the question about this. Conduct yourself in a civil and respectful manner in Forums. Don’t curse, don’t attack your Competition, don’t use street slang, always use language which is appropriate for a quality business relationship, and don’t tell bold face lies and or half truths. Those of you who choose to not head this advice have and will always fail.
Additional reading
I rarely point to other sources on this issue, since so much of what has been written is utter dribble, self serving, full of lies, and not worth your time. An exception to this rule is a great article titled “Do You Cater to Flunkies?” which I strongly suggest you read.