With the launch of any new affiliate program you get inundated with affiliate applications in the first week. It is both one of the most exciting times for an affiliate manager as well as a frustrating time. It’s exciting to watch outstanding affiliates that you know join the program but it is frustrating when you wake up to 200 applications on a Monday morning.
Along with the known affiliates applying to your program, there are hundreds and thousands of applications that come through that are either suspect, fraudulent or simply incomplete. If you are an affiliate manager reading this, you’ll probably be nodding your head and maybe even have a chuckle. If you are an affiliate that seems to receive more denials than approvals when you apply to programs, this article is just for you. I’d like to highlight some of the things that managers see every day that you may be doing and need to avoid in order to get your applications approved. So let’s get started…
- “Make A Million” Shopping Malls – These are sites that someone purchases from companies that supply them an entire mall that will make them millions of dollars. These sites are relatively cheap to buy and provide the purchaser with a complete website, they only need to reach out and join affiliate programs. While these sites look good, I have never seen one of these make any sales for any of the programs I have run and I have managed over 35 across industries. Most program managers recognize these with very little effort and deny these applications. Like all things, successful endeavors take, hard work and initiative. These sites sound too good to be true because they are. My advice to anyone who has purchased this already, find a niche you know a lot about and start over. I’ll write more about this in a future post.
- Blogs with no content – This is a sure way to get your application rejected. I am sure that your new blog and your new theme hold within them your hopes and dreams, but having not one single post on your site does nothing to show affiliate managers who you are and what your site is about. My recommendation – get ten posts on your blog, fill that first page. After you have that done, I would make sure any customization or unique plugins that you plan to use are on the site. Make it look unique. We see hundreds of applications with the WordPress default theme and no content. Many times fraudulent affiliates use this method to get approved without raising flags. Post your content, design it then apply to the affiliate programs.
- Different language sites – I see 20 or so applications a week for sites that are in Japaneze or other languages. I am sure that they are great sites, but with no description in english I am not able to effectively review the site. Most affiliate programs are no longer accept everyone and anyone, if it is too hard to evaluate your application it just gets denied. In your affiliate account, be sure to outline your site and how you plan to promote merchants as thoroughly as possible.
- Geocities and other free sites – Sites that are hosted at Geocities, Tripod, Members.AOL.com or Freewebs will undoubtedly be denied in many programs. Why? Well, first off, I can’t remember when one of these sites generated any sales for any program and I can’t recall any of my colleagues saying that either. Secondly, if an affiliate isn’t serious enough to register a domain name aren’t going to be serious enough to become a successful partner. Some may not like me saying that, but it’s true.
- Modeling and Real Estate Sites – This seems like a pretty odd combination, but I have seen more applications from these two categories than any other. If you are planning to do something outside of these areas but use those sites in your application, I would make sure the affiliate manager knows about it.
- No URLs – When your application shows no urls in your account, affiliate managers have no way at all to eveluate your application. Merchants are getting much more sensitive to who they partner with, and not knowing who you are will surely lead to a rejection in quality programs.
- Google Adwords – Applications that list Adwords as the url for the applicant and only that url can be tough to approve for programs that do not allow paid search. So if you do something else, make sure you list that too.
- Under Construction and Parked pages – If your site is still under construction, that is a tough sell. Merchants don’t want to partner with someone when they don’t know what their site will look like. Maybe I have said that already :). I have seen affiliates post a simple htlm page on their new domain that addressed the affiliate managers directly and gave a brief description of what they were doing. I highly recommend this and I believe I have approved everyone of those applications. The more we know, the more likely we’ll approve you.
(http://jebcommerce NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/banner_farm NULL.jpg)Banner Farms – These are almost 100% rejected. What is a banner farm? These are sites that have, pretty much, only affiliate banners. They have no other content and no real benefit to the user other than a list of ads for merchants. These are rarely approved and rarely generate sales for merchants’ programs. They offer very little in terms of value add to the merchant as well as the consumer. My recommendation is to spend more time developing your idea. What consumer target are you trying to reach? What value are you going to add to their shopping journey? What are you going to offer that no one else does? Answer those question then find a designer that can work with you.- Get Rich Quick Sites – The same way you feel as a consumer when you see these sites are they same way affiliate managers do as well. I haven’t seen these perform well.
- International Applications – This probably only goes for programs that is 99% domestic traffic. Applications from third world countries, some Asian countries, Nigeria and some eastern block countries are suspect. Why? Past behavior and experience. Many of the fraudulent affiliates have, in the past, originated from these countries. If you are a legitimate affiliate, and don’t get me wrong, there are many from those countries, you may experience more rejections because of your location. But don’t fret too much. You may be getting refused by a lot of affiliate programs but there are ways to get noticed. You need to show affiliate managers that you aren’t interested in scamming, fraudulent behavior or abusing the program. You have to establish trust as much as you can from your application. Here are a few things you can do: 1. Use your company name, if you don’t have one create one. 2. Email the manager of the program you just applied to and let them know who you are and what your plans are. 3. Use an email account associated with your website. Don’t use yahoo.com, gmail, hotmail or other free services. Having a email@yourwebsite.com email address is typical of legitimate affiliates and will help you get approved.
By no means is that list 100% complete, but it gives you a good idea of things to avoid in your applications and a few reasons why your applications would be rejected. Let me share some things I recommend that you do do in order to get approved (I included some of them above):
- Complete Account Information – don’t leave any fields blank in CJ, LS, ShareASale, Google and others. Fill out all the information. The more complete the application, the more likely you’ll get approved. Just the effort involved in filling out all the fields shows you are serious.
- Contact Info – A little contact info goes a long way. Include your email address and your phone number when possible. Affiliate programs view affiliates as partners, if you can’t contact your partner, they aren’t really a partner are they?
- Email the manager – You’d be surprised, but one of the number one things managers wish they got more of was contact from their affiliates. If you are really interested in working with someone, reach out to them, share your ideas and your plans and include your contact info.
- Good Site Design – this goes a long long way. With themes and WordPress anyone can put together a pretty decent site. Here are some themes I would look into: One Theme (http://one-theme NULL.com), Woo Themes (http://www NULL.woothemes NULL.com/), Citrus Themes (http://www NULL.citrustheme NULL.com/), Revolution (http://www NULL.revolutiontheme NULL.com/). Getting a good designer involved will lead to sales, but those themes and WordPress will get you started with little cost. If you need design let us know, we can help.
- If your site is under construction, put up a simple html page that says what you are planning to do. Affiliate managers love this and it will help you get approved and get insight and advice on your new idea.
Hope that helps! What do you think? Affiliate managers, did I miss anything. Do you think I’m off on any of these items? I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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what i like in your article is your excellent writing skill.
Thanks
Our Company Multimedia Owns Several High Traffic Website Like Mounts Direct.com (http://Direct NULL.com),
LAPlasma.com (http://LAPlasma NULL.com). If You Punch In Some Tv mounts and Televisions model number our site pops on the top. Try to google Solid Mounts or Omnimounts to see we are #1.
Please let me know if there is any other info Missing.
You say I can sign up to sell DOBA products for $49.95 a month membership fee.But you say you dont want me to be one of your affiliates sending customers to you to buy your products. I did say in the e-meilI I sent to you,I can create the style of web site DOBA prefers to display there products for there Affiliates to use.I have experience in sales.Its this web site sales thats new to me.You see as a Affiliate you only get paid whenyou sell something and it doesnt cost a company anymoney to have a Affiliate on the Affiliate list.Its like a refferal program,If I refer someone to your company and they buy something then I would get paid a commission .If I dont refer some one to DOBA then I dont get paid.It seems to me that the more Affiliates one has the more opportunity forthat company to make more sales, make more money. So whats the difference in being one of your Affiliates versus being a member at $49.95 a onth?Is it better to be a member or a Affiliate of DOBA?And then why is that?Thank You
Pretty pointless blog posting. Most of all that is common sense.
Ok here is my take on this. You have your affiliate programs
that tell you banner ads are the best way to get attention then you have those that think banner ads are Ok but not a really good way to do business I wish some one would make my mind up.I don’t have thousands of dollars laying around to spend on high cost developers I am just a small town guy trying to make a little extra money not millions. so I feel that if I could send traffic to your site what difference does it matter how many banner ads I have on my site.As long as I represent your company properly.I belong to link share,click bank,commission junction,Just to name a few. My real hopes are that some day I can roll out my New Company by learning and utilizing my data form my present site, this will tell me what I need to stock in business number 2
Ok That is all for now Thank you
akakingfish@docksidetackleshop.com (akakingfish null@null docksidetackleshop NULL.com)
http://wwwdocksidetackleshop.com (http://wwwdocksidetackleshop NULL.com)
Thomas,
Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you, I’m not sure how I missed it. The difference between a Doba member and a Doba affiliate is that a Doba affiliate promotes the Doba membership and the Doba members sell products on their sites or on eBay.
As far as your application, because Doba is a lead generation affiliate program, we do not let everyone in. Letting everyone in exposes you to a lot of fraud, and we don’t do that. We also protect our brand aggressively, as we do with all the programs we manage. Not everyone is the right partner for us. As I state in this article, there are many reasons why your application was not approved. You can contact me directly at jamie AT jebcommerce.com if you have more questions. I’d love to explain and review your site more.
Mayoor – I’m sorry you found this pointless. I would agree with you that it is common sense, or at least most of it. But, we, as affiliate managers, spend countless hours reviewing applications and our hope is that this article provides some guidelines for affiliates to make it easier on them and us.
Kingfish, thanks for stopping by but I’m not sure I understand.
We meet all of your criteria and you’re still refusing affiliate status. I am absolutely confused not to mention a little ticked off. A significant part of our business plan included not only referrals to DOBA but education and promotion of our clients DOBA sites.
What the heck am I missing?
Greg,
Sometimes even we make mistakes :) I’ve looked over your site personally and instructed my team to approve your account.
Thanks for the info. After reading it I am going to assume I was denied by Roots(American) because of low traffic – have had site(my own) for 10 days. It does have content and it does have some banners but I would not call it a banner site by any means. I have been complimented more than once on my unique way of marketing. I’ll go through the list again, see what else you may have spotted and reapply when site is a bit more established.
Susan,
You can always email the affiliate manager directly to get more information on why you were denied. Even when sites are new, if they show promise and the affiliate is communicative, we generally want to help them out! So email Maryellen at maryellen AT jebcommerce.com and she’ll review your app again.
- Jamie
The Flip Side:
Here’s something that as an affiliate can be frustrating: you have a new traffic source you want to offer advertisers or help them take advantage of and you explain this in your initial email to the advertiser’s affiliate manager.
The affiliate manager does not fully read your email and instead replies back “You’ve just applied, wait and see if you get approved or some other such nonsense, instead of taking the time to read and comprehend the email and opportunity presented to them. Or they send you a canned email from a rep who obviously did not read or answer your questions.
Persistence will win out in most cases but I have to say sitting on this side of the fence affiliate managers need some training in how to read and properly reply to the email they receive instead of looking for the fastest way to disregard and push back people who want to do business with them.
- Adam
Adam,
First, thank you for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate your thoughts. I agree 100%. Affiliate managers have to communicate, and more than half of communication is listening, at least my wife is quite sure of that :). Unfortunately, not every affiliate manager knows that the prime directive, of sorts anyway, is to build relationships with your affiliates. Listening and communicating, reading and responding to emails, well that is foundational stuff that when handled correctly, consistently, will lead to a successful program and relationships.
And there hasn’t been a lot of training. That is one reason why we developed MyAffiliateCoach training and mentoring. Our entire staff has either gone through this training or is going through it right now. We speak quite extensively about this subject. We strive to make sure that we do read each email, and I think we do a pretty good job of that.
Thanks again Adam for stopping by!
We were rejected because, among other things:
inability to access Web site
* Web site not yet live
* traffic levels too low
* inappropriate material on site
Our website has been accessed and is accessed by our members and the general community on a regular basis. Our website has been live for several years. We get at least 500 hits per month. And we are a 501(c)(3) youth organization that promotes fitness, wellness, character development, provides leadership training, tutoring and academic support, requires its youth to participate in charitable community service, and has only photographs of the team on its website. What part of it is “inappropriate?”
Neither your rejection e-mail nor your blog explains exactly what, if anything, our website failed to provide or did inappropriately provide which would result in rejection. What I can tell you is that we have over 100 youth athletes all looking to purchase athletic wares and clothing, and most of whom would gladly navigate to your site when requested through our club. This does not include, of course, all of their parents and other supporters who would like to purchase Christmas items on line and also support the club.
Now, it appears we should “navigate” our members elsewhere.
Brent,
Thanks for coming here and commenting. Have you reached out to the particular affiliate managers on that account you were not approved for? They are very responsive and will tell you exactly the reason for your rejection. If after that you don’t receive an adequate answer, please feel free to email me directly through the contact us page on this site and I’ll get you a definitive answer.
Thanks!