Affiliate Marketing is riddled with scams, looking to prey on the vulnerable. This is simply because affiliating as an incredibly profitable business that so many people are getting involved with from both sides of the market. It is unfortunate, but it is still possible to affiliate successfully, if you take all of the relevant precautions when joining affiliate schemes.
Any reputable company would never ask you to pay upfront to join their scheme. This is because they earn their money out of the adverts that you place on your website. Therefore, if they are asking you to pay what may be called a “sign up” fee, or if you are asked to pay for the information regarding their scheme, then walk away, they are almost certainly a scam.
If you are unsure whether a website is for real, consider searching for contact information for the company. This should be a registered address, telephone number and registered number, and should be situated somewhere that is quite obvious. Do your research, and see if this information really corresponds with the company that they claim to be. If you can not find this information, or if things don’t seem to correlate, suspect strongly that they have something to hide.
Look up reviews on other websites from people who have joined the affiliate scheme. Quite often, dodgy websites will be brought to light by people who desperately want to stop others falling into the trap that they did. So, make sure you check up on their reputation.
If the website tells you that you have to meet a specified quota (for example selling twenty of a particular product in a month), then it is likely that this is a scam. A trustworthy company will not need quotas to sell their products; their products should be selling themselves.
If a website offering an affiliate scheme looks “dodgy” for whatever reason (this could be layout or a lack of contact information), use your gut instinct. If your intuition has gone into overdrive, listen to yourself and don’t do it. Also, if the scheme seems too good to be true (for example, the commission you would receive seems remarkably high), then it probably is too good to be true.
Another way of potentially avoiding scams is by only joining affiliate schemes that have been recommended to you by friends, colleagues or other people who have joined schemes and have rated them very highly.
But don’t let these precautions put you off. There are many great Affiliate Schemes out there that can be great for your business, but it is important to play it safe, use your initiative and don’t be afraid to ask questions and/or walk away if you feel that something does not seem right.