This was to be a later installment in my series of articles to help anyone new to affiliate marketing succeed, as well as reiterate practises old hands know they should be using but maybe forgot. However, I had to write a report for a client, CanLookUp.com, recommending how they should approach setting up an affiliate program of their own. I decided to edit the report to use it as installment three in this series, thus killing two birds with a single stone.
I have a few simple rules I follow faithfully when looking at developing a relationship with a merchant managing an affiliate program…
1. I email a merchant with an interesting affiliate program before signing up.
I will ask a generic question like, “Would your product/service sell well on my website Laughs4Free.com (or one of my more relevant blogs or websites)?” If they don’t respond, I try again. If they still aren’t responding I rethink my signing on as an affiliate. A lack of communication indicates there may be other problems to come, such as issues with my payments.
2. If the company website has what are called “traffic leaches” I’m gone.
Traffic leaches are links and banners to other websites that the merchant is being paid by. I never work with a merchant that has banners or links to other website, even Google Adsense ads.The merchant wants their affiliates to send traffic, but if they can’t sell prospective buyers their own products they send them to another ecommerce site. I know I’ll see none of the revenue from those sales, so I will not be sending my traffic there.
3. If I can’t see the product I want to sell where my affiliate referral link goes, I’m gone.
I probably promote one out of every 20 affiliate programs I sign up for and most I drop because of this single factor. If I am interested in a product and click on a banner or text link I expect to see the product photo, description and a buy button or link. I do not want to read about the company, nor do I want to watch a video. What I want right off the bat is to learn more about the product and the price… then, if I am interested, I want to learn about the company, who the payment processor is, what the return policies are, shipping cost, etc. etc. etc. I’m amazed at how many online merchants don’t get this, which probably means they’re amateurs.
I say amateurs because it’s a fundamentals of web marketing that it’s: 1st click is to reach the product, 2nd click is to learn about the product, 3rd click is to buy the product… and each page should have a trigger to bypass everything and buy now. A trigger is a button or text link that basically say “buy now”, and without seeing one, or worse seeing content that is irrelevant to making a product or service purchase, I know I’m dealing with an amateur merchant that is likely reducing their own conversion ratio by distracting a potential purchaser, so would do the same with my referrals.
Plan and simple, people shopping online want to buy something, but they do not want to be sold anything. A straight up merchant will make their product or service the focus. Then, if the buyer decides he or she wants additional information it’s either provided right there, on the purchase page, or linked to from it.
4. If the merchant’s website has broken links, I am gone.
I’ve visited many ecommerce websites that have broken links, but rarely seen them on the websites of serious, well known ecommerce merchants. Finding broken links is an indication to me that:
a ) The website has been abandoned, or that the online business isn’t taken seriously by the merchant.
b ) If links don’t work, there may be problems with the scripts used to take payments as well, meaning I lose sales.
c ) The merchant has cheaped out on website management, so is probably not to be trusted to pay me.
None of the reasons for there being broken links instills confidence, and with hundreds of alternative sites to shop at I’d be visiting one of them. I have to assume any potential customer I referred would do the same.
5. If I find outdated content on the merchant’s website or blog, I’m gone.
I love checking out merchants’ own blogs, about pages, press releases, etc. I will often learn more about the merchant’s webmarketing abilities from these sources they kindly provided first hand than any other research I do. Some things I have seen and recommend anyone look for are:
a ) websites with the most recent news update being about a past Christmas special, and I’m on their website in the summer. Not a good sign.
b ) content on websites that’s literally years out of dates. Cause for concern because it indicated to me I am looking at an abandoned venture.
c ) product descriptions, articles, posts, etc. that are full of typographical and grammerical errors. No way, I’m gone.
6. If a merchant’s website uses invasive scripting, I run for the exit.
I’ve visited dozens of ecommerce websites I was considering as possible affiliate programs to work with, only to have my anti-virus program alert me to the possible presence of spyware, trojans, malware, or adware. I have even visited sites my anti-virus program blocked from opening at all, and others Google had blocked. In my mind, even if the merchant is unaware of the existance of the malicious scripts, it being there is reason enough to walk away. I don’t agree with invasive scipting being used, so I will not work with anyone who uses them. Even if the merchant was unaware their site was hacked and someone embedded malicious code, I pass on by. To not know what is going on with their site indicates either disinterest or incompetance, neither of which are going to help me make sales.
7. If a merchant’s website or landing page is outdated, I pass.
If an ecommerce website appears to be an outdated design, is built for a lower browser resolution than is currently popular, or does not display properly no matter what browser I use, I’m gone. The same goes for website using templates the merchant either downloaded for free or paid a few dollars for.
I have a program that checks out a website using all popular browsers, as far back as IE6. I allow for some display issues with IE browsers because I know Google Chrome and Firefox will represent 70% of the browsers in use by the traffic I send. Also, any website built or updated recently will not display properly farther back than IE8, and this is actually a good thing. It indicates the merchant is updating their website. However, if a website does not display properly in Google Chrome or Firefox it means it is outdated or built by an amateur, so I pass. After all, almost 70% of the potential sales I refer will find a disfunctional website because they;re likely to be using Google Chrome or Firefox. A dysfunctional website will have them move on, costing me a potential sale.
If a website is using flash I will probably not promote it. The reason being Apple mobile products to not display flash, so right off the potential market for the particular merchant is reduced. Secondly, it’s common knowledge among website developers flash should not be used for this reason. It is also accepted among web marketers experienced in SEO that flash is a handicap when it comes to earning a decent search engine ranking. So, if I see flash I know…
a ) it is an old website no one is bothering to update, or knows enough about the media they are using to know their website needs to be.
b ) the merchant either doesn’t care that the website is limited or is not well verse enough in web marketing or website development to know any better.
Either way, I know I will lose out on potential sales if I send traffic to such a website, so I don’t.
The problem I have with templates is that they’re like wearing bargain store apparel, everyone is wearing the same thing. I use templates all the time, but never as the basis for an ecommerce websites. I use templates to quickly build we website to discuss a single topic and hopefully earn a good SE placement doing so. Then the traffic I pass on to an affiliate programs I’m promoting on that website is targeted and likely to purchase.
8. Merchants that are hiding I avoid like a plague.
Merchants that hide their location address from shoppers, leaving only the contact information of their payment processor to resolve issues with, I will not consider doing business with. Worse are those that hide their identities on their domain registration as well as their website. Who am I really dealing with? Why are they hiding? These are the questions I ask myself, and I assume any potential purchasers \would do the same, so I pass.
I don’t trust a merchant if the address is a post box either. I appreciate many legitimate businesses use post boxes, but it’s a red flag. If I want to deal with the company, I’ll email and ask the merchant directly to explain why they don’t make their location known. If they have a legitimate reason they’ll say so outright. If they are not on the up and up I’ll be ignored, given the runaround, or be given some evasive answer. Run from the latter, and apologize to the former for having to ask. It’s no problem asking, because the merchant will assume you’re a serious online marketer and that you were probably burned in the past so tread carefully now.
Nor do I trust what is listed as the domain registry contact information either. Information on websites and domain registrations can honestly be outdated, as can the contact information on a company’s own website. Even phone directories can get it wrong. None of the misinformation may be deliberate, but the fact it’s there and potentially costing the merchant sales, is another red flag.
I always try to communicate with a merchant before I commit to promote their product or service too, usually asking them generic things like what conversion ratio I can expect from my website or blog, and give them one of many URLs. I’ll maybe ask if they can suggest banner sizes, textual links, etc. If I get a response, no matter what the suggestions they make, I know I’m in contact with a professional merchant, and probably a successful affiliate program manager. Id I get no response, or evasiveness, it pretty much tells me all I need to know, and I don’t waste any more time.
Summary…
If you follow these few guidelines, you’ll most probably avoid poor performing or non-paying affiliate programs. To this day, I faithfully follow each step when considering a new affiliate program, and I started back in 1995. I don’t worry about missing out, because for every product or service there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of merchants with affiliate programs selling it. Take it from me, someone who’s lost more money dealing with bad affiliate programs than I care to remember, walking away from a question mark will have you sleeping better, and not out any money.






