This latest article was written by my husband, Glenn, about affiliate marketing….

“This article was born out of frustration and anger… anger aimed at affiliate program administrators who have very little concern for hard working affiliates.

I have had the rug pulled out from underneath me on several occasions, and frankly I am fed up. If you are considering joining a 2 tier affiliate program and the only payment option the administrator of the program has to offer you is PayPal, BEWARE!

By using PayPal as a processor for a 2 tier affiliate program, the merchant is in violation of PayPal’s terms of service and will eventually have to shut down the second tier. This creates a bit of a predicament for affiliates who put quite a bit of effort into recruiting other affiliates.

Advertising isn’t something you can simply pull the plug on at will, causing everything to come to a complete standstill. Ads you have placed in the past, some of them paid for out of your own pocket, can go on producing results for months or years.

This is the part that angers me the most!

By not offering affiliates an alternate payment method, merchants can go on reaping the rewards for quite some time without actually having to compensate their affiliates.

If you happen to own a web site you are also faced with the task and cost of making modifications. Either that, or continue to send free traffic and create affiliate signups for a merchant who is no longer willing to pay you for this service. Each new affiliate who signs up not only becomes a potential money earner for the merchant by making sales, they are immediately competing with the last affiliate to secure a sale.

This is one sweet deal for the affiliate program administrator… not so good for the affiliate who puts in the effort to recruit other affiliates and then fails to maximize their income potential.

Another very unfair practice is the merchant paying the affiliate directly, without the ability to pay their affiliates for the referral. This is also known as cash-based affiliate programs. Whether it is a physical or digital product, or the customer service is provided by the merchant, some form of commission must be paid to the affiliate before the merchant will release any commission to the affiliate.

If you are serious about affiliate marketing as an online business model, you must pay your affiliates what they are owed under the affiliate program terms.

Another important aspect is to watch what happens when payments are made. Do they hold back some of the money already paid to you and use this money to pay bonuses to affiliates who perform well? Do they simply release the money with little or no preceding notice?

These are all questions you and your affiliate program administrator need to have answered before joining any program.

When you are selected for an affiliate program, you signing on behalf of the merchant. This is not a personal endorsement of the merchant, only my recommendation based on experience with the merchant.

Obviously, if you believe in the merchant and respect their product and/or services, then sit back and wait for your affiliate recruitment efforts to begin. If you do not, you are potentially wasting your time and possibly setting yourself up for disappointment.

It is always better to find out early on what you can expect from the merchant before you commit to the affiliate program. Do they handle their accounts professionally? Do they pay on time? What happens if your recruitment efforts do not generate any sales or generate any sales? Do they pay you for new affiliate sign-ups? If you get no sales at all, this would be a reason not to join the merchant’s affiliate program.

If you are recruitable, an affiliate program with a merchant that has a bad reputation for honesty and integrity would be a bad decision if you went on to promote that merchant’s products.

It is a good idea to examine all the major merchants in your niche. If they are not well established, or if they are new, you should begin your research before you get started.

What are the products that your niche is interested in buying? When you have found these products, who will be your target market? You cannot sell the product that you yourself would not buy. Therefore, it is critical to know your audience, know if they are currently spending money in your same niche, and if they are buying the kind of products you are promising to promote.

If you are stuck with a merchant that does not seem to be headed in the right direction, ask for a refund. If they won’t give you a refund, then consider not signing up with them.

Take the above steps to find the right affiliate program for you. If you find that you are not accepted by one, then find another. There is no sense wasting your time with merchants that do not make an effort to treat you fairly when you ask for it.”

Glenn Riley