Keep off Affiliate Scams

BY admin ON December 3rd, 2009

Everybody hates scams and scammers, so here are some tips to avoid them.

Affiliate marketing can be a fun path to make money, but it can also be a nightmare if you fall into the traps of the internet. The key to successful affiliate marketing is to find the proper program. You might find a nice affiliate program, on the other hand find out that they don’t pay you on time, or at all! After all your hard work of promoting, the company won’t pay you. Now that will raise your blood pressure in a heart beat! So, how do you discover the programs that do not just take your money and run?

However to avoid scams: One of the main factors is to do your research well. Take a look at these questions before joining:

1. Does the company have effective support? Do they answer emails and have good contact information?

2. Do they have a real offline name and address?

3. Do they pay up a good commission %. Shoot for 40% – 50%. (I know of a program where you are able to sell an item for about 400 dollars, and you get 180 dollars for every sale. Now tell me that isn’t a great commission!!)

4. Make sure they have a very good, accurate tracking system. It needs to be in real time (so you can see how much you are making every hour you check it : D ).

5. The products need to be of good quality and they also need to be well targeted and particular.

So, now that you know what to look for, where do you do research?

1. Find a forum related to your industry. There are a lot of savvy people who use the forums for points of reference. You are able to ask advice of anybody in there and they will most likely be pleased to help you.

2. Check over the program very carefully. Inspect every facet.

3. Put the company name and the word “scam”, into the search engines and check what pops up. Apply your own judgment, as sometimes these critiques may not be all true. Some fake scam sites have been made just so they can promote their own product! Amazing what some people will do.

There is one pattern to these programs. Look before you join. Ask about it online. Ask other people’s opinions. Don’t rush yourself into an obligation. Select a good and reliable program that is of high quality. You want one that you can build off of and build into the future so your profits will increase for many years to come. You need a program that can help you flourish. The truth is, affiliate marketing is always changing and you need a flexible program.