Stop the Bullshit!

great article man, your site is rapidly becoming one i refer to more often than others for insights.

Interesting read.

Appreciate it! I've got a few others that have worked with me for the past 8 years working on some fresh articles. Hoping to have some great content in the coming months.

Bump for the morning crowd

Nice read, thanks for sharing, good points.

You should use 'wary' or 'leery' rather than 'weary' when describing how affiliates feel. We're suspicious of sponsors, not tired.

Grammer police comment aside, nice article. I agree fully with #1, and absolutely hate changes to terms by sponsor programs. I am not willing to promote a program if they change their terms and it applies to existing affiliate, not just new ones. And while I won't throw a tantrum and pull links, I just won't promote them anymore.

The problem with #2 and #3 is the bro-factor. So many people come to the boards and suck sponsor cock purely because their friend works there, or some rep bought them drinks at a show, or they were sent an iphone, etc. You can't even go with the larger companies, because look at what happened to WEG. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, or the bigger your asshole is after the fucking they give you? You decide.

Further to #3, I have always maintained that there are friends and there is business. Don't let friendship blur your vision. Friends don't pay your bills, your business does.

And while I love the tracking pixel, it isn't realistic for all programs. Can you imagine how many changes a program like AWE would have to make? Or TCG? or Topbucks? It can definitely work with smaller programs who want to work with you, not just want your business, but isn't realistic for larger ones.

Fair enough! I have a few writing traps I always fall into, heh. Appreciate it


I completely agree. When I personally do business - mainstream advertisers are very dirty...it's an unspoken truth - I have 3 people that I trust to ask to give me a valid opinion. If I ask them "Have you had experience with X program, or this one's run by Y company" - they'll tell me yes/no, and if no, who they've run with success (and minimal problems).

100% in cadence with you. When I mention relationship management, there's a VERY clear line between friendship and business relationships. Maybe this was my mistake by using the $20 from a friend example, but you are correct - never cross friendship with business...almost all of the times I have done this, it has ended up in the pooper.

Unfortunately you're right. When I work with Fortune 500 companies doing mainstream marketing, it's the same problem - I can't get them to place a tracking pixel for the life of me. The alternative is if they allow SubIDs, use SubIDs. However...if a percentage your sales aren't tracking in the first place on their program...it's useless for anything except figuring out what marketing method your leads are coming from.

Thanks for the comments!

well i gotta say i'm "tired" of some of the shit sponsors pull...just sayin

Unfortunately so are a lot of others. But that's not to say there aren't great sponsors...

interesting