There is seemingly no end to the growing number of options available to people or companies that wish to join the ranks of affiliate marketers. To name just a few that have emerged within the last few weeks: The FastPencil authoring and publishing service has introduced an affiliate marketing program for community sites or blogs focused on authoring and publishing; Guard Dog has opted to advertise through Commission Junction; and FieldJunky.com, a discounted hunting and fishing gear site has launched its new affiliate marketing program.
The Cons
Joining such a program is not to be taken lightly, though, as there are several potential pitfalls. The vast majority of affiliate marketers will generate very much money at all from their pursuit, if indeed they are successful in generating any, writes Helium. “This is chiefly because the competition is so vast and so fierce that to succeed as an affiliate marketer, one has to know a great deal of luck in finding an extremely specific and virtually untapped niche market.”
Other cons, according to Helium: it can take two months or more to be paid and the sales process is very unpredictable. “It is entirely possible for an affiliate marketer to generate high levels of sales one day, think they have the affiliate marketing process cracked, then proceed to generate no revenue whatsoever for the next two weeks.”
Legal Issues
There are also several legal landmines that need to be avoided from the company‘s side, writes Lori Weiman at SearchEngineLand. “Among other things, your affiliates might get you into trouble for bidding on competitors’ brand name trademarks or making false offers, claims or endorsements without complying with FTC guidelines.”
There are other trouble spots as well, she said. For example, when an affiliate uses your display URL in its ads, the destination URL is the affiliate tracking link, and the landing page is your on website. “Most affiliate programs prohibit direct linking, although that doesn’t mean affiliates aren’t going to do it. Programs that allow direct linking typically only prohibit the practice on a merchant’s own trademarks, but allow it on all other terms, including keywords that contain marks owned by competitors."
Basically you are tacitly saying that direct linking is OK on competitors trademarks, she concludes.
