The following is what Chris Park of Blair.com had to say in response the the question, What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved?
No need to touch on the standards. You know… the topics on every board and in every e-zine. I’m talking about spyware, BHO’s, spam, cookie stuffing and commission stealing.
All can easily be considered problems in affiliate marketing. But, I feel there’s an even bigger problem. A problem that is often fueled by, and even a contributor to, the problems mentioned above.
I’m talking about the adversarial relationship between affiliates and merchants — two groups that prefer to call each other “partners”.
Too often, a merchant will immediately suspend an affiliate for activities that haven’t been witnessed… only read about on a message board. And… how many times has an affiliate posted that a merchant “needs” them as an affiliate and threatens to replace links with those of a competitor if he doesn’t get what he’s asking for?
Accusations. Threats. Flames. Promises of lawsuits. Definitely not the best ways for business partners to work together toward a common goal. And yes! There is one common goal – the payable action the partnership is based on.
How has this happened, and what can be done? How it happened is easy. Email and IM’ing have robbed us of the personal relationships and leave us with one website dealing with another. It’s much harder to respect and admire a dot com than it is a human being.
For change to happen, we need to get back to dealing with each other as individuals. Pick up the phone. Attend conferences and make a point to find and meet those people you have partnerships with.
And finally… go back to one of the first lessons we all learned in grade school… “Treat others the way you wish to be treated!â€
How would you answer the question, What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved? There are no right or wrong answers – just opinions that can help improve the industry.
The author of any response that is published at affiliatetip.com or affiliatesummit.com will receive a limited edition “It’s an affiliate thing, you wouldn’t understand.” t-shirt.
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