Affiliate Marketing – Playing Fair

Appearances can be deceptive and more in case of the virtual world. In many discussion forms I have read comments about webmasters being duped by merchants and networks.

Affiliate marketing can be a promising job for you and generate the money from your web site. For that you must be sure to join hands with the right merchant or network.

Before signing up with a network, try to have a discussion with someone onboard. Affiliate networks and service providers do provide their contact numbers and e-mail address. If you have a query, it is better to send it before joining. If there are doubts try to communicate with the authorities.

An affiliate program puts nicely the figures and the presentation catches the webmaster attention straightaway. However, it is helpful to be little skeptical and enquire more about the details of the services.

Networks are more reliable than merchants. That of course is an opinion, rather a personal experience. A few days ago I heard about an affiliate being duped by the merchant claiming more reversal rates. That is one thing a webmaster can do nothing about. Reversal rate is the money deducted by canceling the affiliate leads on the pretext that the customer returned the product.

However, it would be wrong to say that it is always the merchant who cheats. Some affiliates have also been engaged in unethical practices like click frauds and giving misleading information. Because of these nuisances or unscrupulous acts, a lot of web site owners have to suffer.

Advanced tracking solutions may prove as good resources to counter the false practices in the industry. After all we are all into this business and we must play fair. Unless we do something about it today, we won’t be any better than hackers or software piracy agents tomorrow.