Affiliate Programs to Avoid
 

• Disreputable companies
  - companies with poor commission tracking software and a poor history of payments
  - companies with no visible privacy policy and no certifications from respectable agencies such as Verisign and the Better Business Bureau
  - companies which do not have their contact information on their web sites
  
   

• Programs which demand you reach a minimum sales quota
  - some companies require you to reach a specified minimum in sales in a set period otherwise they will cancel the affiliate agreement and you will stop receiving commissions
  
   

• Programs which require the customer to remember the affiliates name
  - some programs expect the customer to remember either the affiliates name or web site and include it on the order form. If the customer forgets or simply couldn't care less the affiliate will lose the sale
  
   

• Programs with exclusivity agreements
  - some companies require exclusivity agreements. This can restrict your promotion strategy and can also give the company cause to stop paying you if you weren't aware of the agreement
  
   

• Programs which only pay for products that you link to
  - search for companies which give you commissions on all products on their sites and not just the ones which you specifically link to
  
   

• Programs which pay only on the first visit
  - some programs pay only on the first visit and some pay up to lifetime commissions. They accomplish this through the use of cookies and the time period for which you will receive commissions depends on how long the cookie is set
  - check to see if the the company offers multiple tracking features. If the company only uses cookies then you may not receive commissions from first time customers who don't have their cookies enabled or whose browsers do not recognize cookies
  
   

• Programs which do not pay often and have high minimum sales quotas
  - there are still many companies out there which pay quarterly or require you to have a ridiculous minimum sales balance in order to get paid.
  
   

• Some things which affiliates should avoid doing
  - not testing the product or service themselves
  - not experimenting with many programs and picking the best one
  - not asking for references
  - not reading the contract agreement
  - not checking if their contract with the affiliate company is up for renewal
  - cluttering up their site with a variety of affiliate programs
  - not targeting their market base properly
  - not using links in their content, between paragraphs etc
  - not getting their visitors contact information
  - joining a lot of programs and spamming through emails and newsgroups
  - using banners which have high download times

Webmaster Articles

Affiliate Strategies | What is an affiliate program | How to pick a good program | Affiliate programs to avoid

Merchant Articles

How to attract affiliates | Set up a successful program | Tracking techniques