ou've probably heard it a of the web merchant via his own
hundred times...affiliate website, ezine, pay per click
marketing is a great way to search engines or other
make money online. advertising means.
What if I told you affiliate The affiliate's role, then, is to
marketing was basically unethical introduce the potential buyer to
or that the field is dominated by the seller acting as a kind of
shady practices? middleman.
You disagree? In return he is paid a commission
of any sales resulting from
Well let's explore affiliate referrals.
marketing from the merchant,
affiliate and customer But haven't we always been taught
viewpoints. to cut out the middleman where
possible?
Affiliate marketing is a revenue
sharing partnership between a web Well, yes, but in affiliate
merchant and one or more marketing the customer pays the
affiliates, where the affiliate same price regardless of whether
is paid a commission for he arrives at the web merchant's
referring clicks, leads or, most site directly or via the
often, sales to the merchant. affiliate's link.
The affiliate signs up to the Or at least that's how it should
affiliate program via an online be.
application form, receives an
affiliate link, and can then How does the web merchant benefit
promote the products and services from running an affiliate
program?
So it's a win-win situation for
The main advantage to the web everyone involved.
merchant is that via his
affiliate program he can recruit Or at least it is in principle.
a large sales team of affiliates
at zero cost and make many more However in the real world both
sales in a way that his website affiliates and affiliate program
alone could never hope to do. owners can be involved in some
shady practices.
How does the affiliate benefit?
Shady Practice #1
The advantages to the affiliate
are that he can make money in a Unscrupulous merchants close down
business where he doesn't have programs without warning and
the upfront costs of creating his without paying commissions or
own product, and doesn't have to tempt new affiliates with high
worry about ecommerce, commissions then drop those
bookkeeping, or customer support commission rates dramatically a
because that's all handled week later.
by the merchant.
Affiliates - protect yourselves
How does the customer benefit? from this situation by selecting
the affiliate program carefully.
The customer gets a solution to
his problem (provided the product Ask yourself these questions.
or service does what it says it
does) that he may not have found Has the site existed for more
without the affiliate's help and than a year? Is it clear what the
does not have to pay extra. site is providing and are the
terms and conditions of the Spamming.
affiliate program explained
clearly and comprehensively in While legitimate affiliates are
simple language? Are there good jumping through hoops to comply
online reviews of the program in with the can-spam laws, the shady
websites or discussion forums? characters continue to find their
Does the program provide realtime way around it.
commission stats online? Are
ready-to-use affiliate marketing Shady Practice #5
tools available?
Affiliate link hijacking is the
Shady Practice #2 replacement of your affiliate id
with the hijacker's in the
Affiliates are sometimes guilty affiliate link.
of misleading or false
advertising - making claims or You don't get your rightful
promises about the product or commission - the hijacker gets it
services which are totally untrue instead by buying through his own
or greatly exaggerated. affiliate link.
Shady Practice #3 It's best if you can avoid
displaying your affiliate link
Illegal use of logos, trademarks and affiliate ID in the browser
or other branding. This includes address bar.
infringement of intellectual
property rights and violation of One technique uses a zero-frame
copyrights. or invisible frame to make it
appear you are sending visitors
Shady Practice #4 to a page on your website when,
in fact, you are really sending
them to your affiliate link. people who try to cheat, exploit
the gullible and do harm.
To prevent the hijacker from
viewing the web page's source The proper way to engage in
code to see that you've loaded an affiliate marketing is to act
affiliate link, use javascript ethically, build a relationship
encryption to scramble the page of trust with your prospects and
code or software to prevent the customers then provide value by
source code from being viewed. consistently exceeding your
customers expectations.
Make no mistake about it...
And this applies to any business
In any area of human activity, either online or offline.
particularly where there is money
to be made, there will always be
About the Author:
Keith Rougvie is an ethical marketer. To get the free ebook "How To Pick And Promote Affiliate Programs" and other free resources, advice and recommendations visit http://www.make-money-online-website.com
Read more articles by:
Keith Rougvie
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
