Find out which 5 red flags you need to spot before signing up for a brand affiliate program!

Affiliate referral programs are a dime a dozen nowadays, creating a fertile breeding ground for many an issue. The more programs there are, the easier it is for companies to offer whatever they deem appropriate. In some cases, newbies who aspire to become affiliate marketers find themselves falling victims to online scams looking for recruits. Why? Because trying to regulate each and every one of them is near impossible if we’re honest.

So, what’s an ambitious affiliate to do?

Your only fighting chance is to learn how to spot the biggest red flags and remain vigilant as you advance. These may seem overwhelming, but once you know how to identify them, we have no doubt that you will be able to make the right decision and kick companies with unfair practices to the curb.

Are you ready to hit the ground running?

Here are 5 of the most common issues affiliate marketers encounter with affiliate programs in the industry!

• • Biased Affiliate Managers
• • Lack of Transparency
• • Get Rich Quick Schemes
• • Fake Affiliate Training
• • Pay to Join Affiliate Programs

Biased Affiliate Managers

Usually, brand affiliate programs have their affiliate managers who the company employs. In some cases, the affiliate managers tend to be biased towards the company as they sign off on their paychecks.

Once one party in the equation has someone who knows the way of the land (or, in this case, the industry), this creates both tension and an unfair power balance where the brand has veto power over the affiliate’s performance.

While some brand affiliate managers are able to remain impartial, that’s not always the case, and these situations cause a lot of grief for the affiliate.

Lack of Transparency

Another thorn in your side is an all too well-known game of hide-and-seek. In other words, the brand you are collaborating with diminishes your campaign’s actual performance in order to pay you less than you deserve.

Not only does this practice hurt your pocket, but your reputation in the industry may get severely wounded, as well. 

Look up the brands you are thinking of working with on affiliate marketing program-related forums before signing any kind of work contract. A short stroll in these safe spaces where other affiliates discuss their personal experiences may reveal quite a few skeletons in those closets.

Get Rich Quick Schemes

You have probably stumbled across an ad (or several) on forums, Google, or even your preferred social media channels where an anonymous person claimed to join a specific affiliate program turned his or her life around.

Said person would then tell he could barely scrape a few dollars for a happy meal, being a broke college student, but then program X turned him into a millionaire overnight (Que massive eye-roll).

These ads are most likely targeting young, uninformed people who are looking for a way to cover rent, bills, or perhaps a huge student loan. The end game on the company’s side? To find low-rate employees who are stressed for cash and don’t know any better.

Fake Affiliate Training

Some affiliate marketing programs, on the other hand, offer professional training courses. Unless these web-based courses provide you with the vital tools for a successful business, this is probably just another scam.

An actual course would tell you about performance tracking tools, where and how to improve your website to increase your performance, and what you should be watching out for.

Once again, it’s up to you to check whether these kinds of programs are legitimate. Google the program or lecturer, ask on affiliate marketing forums, and make sure these guys are the real deal.

Pay to Join Affiliate Programs

Last but certainly not least, another common evil of the affiliate marketing programs is none other than the programs that place the mandatory condition of you paying them before you’ve made a single dollar.

Let us be painfully clear: As an affiliate marketer, you are not supposed to pay brands to work for them. Ever. Even if their sales teams’ conversion rates are through the mother-loving roof.

You are likely already investing time, energy, and money to make your campaigns or content platform of choice run smoothly. Those and tools that help you track or enhance your performance are the only places where you should be swiping that credit card.

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