Q: Why is there no U.S. National or International Affiliate Marketing Association? It seems clear that affiliate marketers need to speak with one voice about issues such as commission theft, improved reporting and tracking, and a wide-range of other common issues. An Affiliate Marketing Association could easily charge a reasonable annual membership fee, which would provide access to an association website. The web site could facilitate online surveys and other information gathering activities. It also could facilitate ‘official’ position statements of the association and other news.

A: Once upon a time, there was an effort underway to do just as you have described. The group was called IAFMA, which stood for the International Affiliate Marketing Association.

The group was headed by Herby Olschewski, who also ran the Affiliate Force conferences from 2000-2003.

Unfortunately, the group didn’t ultimately live up to its tagline of ‘Keeping it Fair in Revenue Share,’ as the whole thing ended up vaporizing in 2004 after lots of people and companies had put money out for memberships.

However, there was a buzz at Affiliate Summit 2005 for a rebirth of this sort of group. Stay tuned for more information.