The following is what Ian Larsen of the PartnerCentric had to say in response the the question, What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved?
I believe improvements could be made with every aspect of affiliate marketing, but the first things that should be addressed are the most serious.
The unethical and crooked affiliate marketers AND merchants alike. As an affiliate manager I spend a great deal of time every day preventing fraud, and cleaning up after messes left from unethical affiliates.
I also spend a great deal of time talking to potential affiliates about how great our affiliate programs really are, trying to convince them that we WILL pay you, and we WILL help you.
On both sides of the coin, affiliates and merchants alike are spending to much time fighting off the bad press, reputations, and rumors that plague us from merchants that bail on their affiliates, and from affiliates that reek havok on our program.
The problem lies with the lack of regulation, procedures, rules, whatever you want to call them.
Merchants need to come together and build a pool of trustworthy standards, and affiliates need to join together and demand it. It’s the one bad apple cliché.
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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