So tell me… what bugs you most about affiliate programs? Is it…
- Chicken Scratch Commissions – How do you feel about making a $1.00 a lead when you know the merchant is ultimately earning hundreds, if not thousands, from the targetted customer you sent to their site?
- Rejection Notices – Are you tired of those “We regret to inform you that ____.com has chosen not to accept you into their affiliate program at this time” that don’t include any specific explanation or where it is obvious that the merchant didn’t bother to look at your FABULOUS site.
- Lack of Ability to Contact Merchants – So, you’re not a CJ performer. Is that any excuse to have to write several emails and make several telephone calls before you get a reply to a valid question?
- Lack of Information – What about those programs that do approve you and send you a welcome letter that doesn’t include a link to the site, the manager’s name or your affiliate details? I especially love those that send info from some obscure company name that you’ve never heard of — so you have no clue to which affiliate program they’re referring.
- Clunky Affiliate Interfaces – Surely you have some experience with an affiliate interface that is almost impossible to use. It takes forever to drill down and find a graphic or copy that you want and when you do find one, the interface bogs down and then crashes before it generates your link.
Oh, my list could go on – but I want to hear about your beefs.
Go on – get it off your chest. Leave a comment and tell it like you see it — the ultimate goal being that this information will help affiliate managers and merchants IMPROVE their programs and networks. 
About Rosalind Gardner
Hi Louis,
Sorry to hear that you have encountered your share of scams, but I can assure you that making money with affiliate programs is indeed possible. I’ve been doing it successfully since 1998, and know SO many other affiliates (both Super affiliates and regular) who make a good living from affiliate programs.
It takes a willingness to learn and work, but it IS absolutely possible.
Cheers,
Ros
Dear Ros,
I am very new to affiliate marketing. I have decided to approach this as another graduate thesis…! LOL!
Hence, I am reading every manual on the subject I can get my hands on, including your “Super Affiliate Handbook.” Anyway, I have almost finished it and I am so impressed–not only with all of your resources–it is quite a compendium of information–but, with your concern for the most infinitestimal details, like “ctrl T,” and simple commands. You leave no stone unturned, God bless you!
Now, of course, I want to promote YOU and your “Handbook” online, but Google nixed it, as they SAID your site had pop-ups! How can that be true, as I visited your site and it was free of any to my knowledge–and, you speak so negatively about most distracting pop-ups in your “Handbook;” is Google just messing with me?
Anyway, I was really disappointed; I just love your spirit, and wanted to help others–myself included–achieve what you’ve done!
Thank you again, for caring to share your knowledge and experiences to help others.
Sincerely,
Cheri
Dear Cheri - No, God bless you! You’ve actually read the book and appreciate the details.
But Google is right, there is a popup on the Super Affiliate Handbook homepage… for GOOD reason. I don’t want my affiliates direct-linking to my site from Google Adwords. I want them to write their own glowing reviews of the book on THEIR sites. REAL reviews convert better than direct-linking to a merchant page. Furthermore, that gives my affiliates the opportunity to have their visitors sign up for their newsletters before they visit my site. Building a list is SO important, that you should not for a moment even consider overlooking that step in the process. Hope that helps! – Ros
Hi Ros,
It certainly is good to be able to communicate with you. I guess I’ve been having a problem just promoting. We see you guys doing it and it seems so easy. There are so many promotion services with web site submission and all of that.
It can be overwhelming sometimes and that is so frustrating. Also some people have a fear of spamming their affiliate programs on blogs.
God Bless you Ros, There’s so much info on the same hot topics. When I see my emails; I just read yours to get the truth. (no flattery,just facts).
Best Regards,
T Lowery
Hi Thelma, Thanks kindly for the good word.
Promoting? Start with Microsoft AdCenter (join now and receive $100 in free PPC credits)
. Use that credit carefully to see what ad copy converts for you.
But… before you do that… I’m going to strongly recommend that you change from a black background on the body of your pages to a light color. A page like this is very difficult to read for those of us getting a little long in the tooth.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Ros
What bugs me most about affiliate or JV programs? (One is sibling to the other.) Lies. Lies implicit and lies explicit. Lies inadvertent and lies advertent. Lies of knowledge and lies of ingnorance.
Oh, pardon me … I guess I should call it copywriting … sorry … I tend to call a club a club and a spade a spade … most unpolitic of me.
And, yes: I’d have posted this even if I did not consider you to be one of the dozen or so exceptions … an amazingly honest affiliate provider (besides, I’m wearing my asbestos skivvies ).
Make a good day …
… barn
Hi Barn - I have to agree. Nothing bothers me more than dishonesty. .. so no need for the asbestos skivvies
– Ros
What bugs me most is applying to join a program on CJ only to be rejected out of hand, with no reason. (Probably because I’m in Mexico, right?)
Hi Jennifer – Mexico, Canada, the U.K. and more — yup, CJ seems to be blind to many of us. What I love is the fact that CJ won’t (maybe it’s changed, I dunno) allow non-U.S. publishers to earn a referal fee for sending other publishers to CJ, but they’ll pay U.S. publishers for doing so. Duh. BIG Duh. – Ros
Rosalind,
Robert spoke of your latest book update. When was it available and how do I get the update. I thought I had the current edition from early 2006.
Jim
Hello Jim - Thanks for asking. The update was done in May 2006 and more info is available here. – Ros
What, bugs me just a little… is sending an email about some question I have, only to have their virtual assistant answer it in a cut and paste F.A.Q sort of way. Or What really bugs me IS NOT GETTING AN ANSWER (jim edwards). Now that having been said I’ll blow some sunshine up someones butt now. Andy Williams of ezseonews.com always answers emails and provides answers above and beyond the question asked. Now thats service!!!
Hey Shaners - Absolutely. Spending your time for nought is a waste… and I’ve heard the same thing from Colin about Andy Williams. As for Jim, I’ve written him 3 emails in the last 2 months and haven’t had a reply… you really do need to use his support desk.
– Ros
Dear Ros
Reading “What bugs you” made realise that frustration is part of every industry no matter online offline. You have proved that none of it is insurmountable, or you wouldn’t still be here since 1998. I think it is very encouraging & shows that frustrations are no more than that – frustrations. Not to say it isn’t scary & costly at times but as the Black Knight from Monty Python says “It’s only a flesh wound”. Thank you.
Linda
Hey Linda – THANK YOU!!!!!!! While some reacted to the message/question by becoming discouraged, you honed in on and finely articulated the Main Point of this week’s message. .. that Problems are reality and to be EXPECTED, dealt with and overcome. Hoping for anything different is well — just a wish — and nothing much is accomplished by wishing. Thank you, again! – Ros
Hi Ros,
One things that disappoint me is that when I apply for the affiliate program, I had to wait a few weeks to get it approved. At times, no response at all.
John
Hi John – I hear ya. I applied to a CJ merchant before Christmas and it took 3 emails and 2 phone calls over 3 weeks to get approve. Once again, patience and persistence. Ros
Hi again, Ros!
Me from #9 comment. I should have mentioned I did, in fact, write to the vendor with my concerns about the “leaky” links. She replied that she would be keeping HER affiliate programs on the page because it helped her affiliates’ conversions! Yup, still scratching my head, too!
I thought of what you said in SAH of someone wanting you to become involved with his program and when you checked the page, found out he had Adsense on it!
Wow, I thought, whatever would Ros think about a program with the vendor’s affiliate products on the page?!!
Well, at least I learn something everyday. Thanks for all you do, Ros!
Karen
Hey Karen – Hmmmmmmmm…. sometimes they just don’t get it. If I got a message like that from a merchant and was feeling cranky , I might respond with something like “Tell me WHY I (or any other affiliate) would send traffic – for which they have PAID – to your site, when that traffic is almost immediately diverted through Google Adwords (or other program) that makes YOU money and WASTES mine? Good merchants don’t cheat their affiliates.” And if they were part of a network, I’d report them. (Hmmm… I must be feeling cranky this morning, that was TOO easy to write.)
Ros
Ros
My mom always told me that if i didn’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all-well I can only say that you are one of the true good people out there on the net. You always seem to want to help anyone succeed, and I really appreciate it.
Hi Michael - My pleasure always.
Ros
Well Ros,
The entire process is frustrating. There is a lot to learn in order to get a winning edge. I’ve had CJ drop me of course while i was still learning and working. There are companies that go out of business, suddenly disappear from the program, no longer stock merchandise you just set up on the site have a big 1-800 number to call direct and send catalogs after the sale is made. Quess we should stop dealing with those sites and move on. I was inspired last year when I actually made some sales. That was proof enough it is possible to succeed correctly.
Hi John – Yes, there’s a lot to learn. But like you said, the inspiration comes from making that first sale or first few sales. My first check for $10.99 has kept me inspired since 1998.
Ros
Hi, Ros. I too own your book and think it is fabulous!
What bugs me about affiliate programs are ones that have a very short cookie or even worse, a session cookie. Do they think that my time is only worth it if a customer makes a purchase at the time they visit. If they come back later, the affiliate is sometimes out of luck, even though they drove the traffic! I like to look for at least a 30 day cookie.
To everyone’s success,
Alena
Hi Alena - Yes, 30 to 45-day cookies are good, especially when your visitor has signed up for your newsletter so you can re-introduce him or her to the link within that timeframe.
Ros
Thanks alot.
its trully a moment to think of what i have missed. now as i thought over it i came to realise that i am missing the power to limit my activities and get time for other equally important ones. can one be there to help me out!
Like you had said its too bad many atimes we do not get a responce even to acknowledge your effort to communicate to them!
Hi David - Good point! Focusing on the important tasks at hand is absolutely essential and is sometimes hard to do when you are working on your own. You will figure it out though… here’s a hint. Put marketing first and foremost.
Ros
A couple of points. The comment about being declined to an affiliate program because of being Canadian..I had the opposite reason.. I was declined for a program because my site wasn’t “Canadian focused”. DOH! I would have thought that the .ca domain, the Canadian flag and the statements that I am Canadian and the perspective on the site would be as a Canadian might have given them a clue.
Also, on learning some HTML. It isn’t brain surgery to code HTML. I know there are a lot of resources on the web but the one book that I keep available is put out by Peachpit Press called “Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML”. Their entire Visual Quickstart Guide series is excellent.
Hi Patti - Maybe you needed a picture of yourself on the homepage swilling a brewski???
Thanks for the HTML tip! Cheers, Ros
Hello Ros,
I keep wondering if I am still registered as an affiliate and I suppose I could just register again?
Sorry, it is just that everytime I come to the computer I am usually dead tired my eyes hanging out just plain tired Like now
. I have a comfortable life really and I love it my house is beautiful and my family adorable but I do not have money to invest not any real money anyway and what I did invest I have wasted on Google adwords,damn hard I reckon to do Google adwords, and online information and books and software and Jim edwards and Marlon Sanders Jim Daniels SEO et al. they are good; like your book ( which is a great book but I still have to finish it * shame* ) anyway I paid $50 ist up on google adwords got two sales with SHARIS berries and they didn’nt even pay the commission.Then they dumped me and Junction wouldn’t let me in my password didn’t work.I think the trick is one must have lots of traffic( that buy) and then they want one badly… it’s a bit of a catch twenty two isn’t it?
I learned dreamweaver a great peice of software and I built my own website and I plan to do more and have single mini sites and learn copywriting and linking like Michael Campbell advocates .My Patsite website is I think really a sentimental attachment it is just full of stuff I like it grew like topsy and now I know it isn’t a great site for selling anything , how do I know? Because it is up 2 years now and no one has bought a thing. LOL but I am fond of it like an old friend I have spent a lot of time with and I don’t want to demolish it .*smile* the one thing that made me money was GDI they are really great they pay up and the thing runs smoothly . I blog ;and leave my link I even have almost 6000 hits per MONTH there but bloggers are not too luctrative , if thier blog chat is anything to go by. ( in fact a number of them are quite nuts,)
Also for God knows what reason Adsense banned me.( they are hard)! A dollar a day had only just started to come in “I was naively thrilled .then BANG with no explanation nothing. I was gobsmacked and innocent .Hell of a feeling.ONLY on the Internet is human effort held so cheap and faceless indifferent people rule..:(.!well I mean you just cannot confront anyone and I find that frustrating.)
I congratulate you Ros. You are pretty good. This is not an easy game by any means. it requires hours and hours of work : but I am just about to have another go at it I can pull it into shape now I think.I’ve learned who the good guys are and learned from them as soon as I finish your book,I’ll be rearing to go again.!
You’re tops Ros an amazing woman keep up the good work:).
Hi Patricia – Phew! I feel for you. I too was disappointed when the Shari’s Berries program went by the wayside, but I do recall that they sent out an annoucement that the program was to be discontinued.
You don’t need to kill PatSite – just keep working on it. I would recommend that you install a WordPress blog and a good template – and forgo the fancy elements that you now have. Decide what the site will be about and categorize it accordingly. Keep looking at it from a visitor’s point of view. Visit your potential competitor’s websites, find some that you really like and model your site after theirs. You’ll find that with an organized approach, your visitor’s will respond much more positively. – Ros
Joined an affiliate program who never bothered to tell his affiliates they were switching to new software system, new links, etc. On top of never giving their affiliates any training or support, their # was disconnected, changed affiliate managers, etc, all without bothering to notify their affiliates. Once I finally contacted them, it didn’t phase them that they did things that way. I wondered, if that’s how they treat their affiliates, how do they treat the customers?!?
Ultimately, I say thank you because it taught me how NOT to treat my affiliates. I strive to create personal relationships with my affiliates and am dedicated to training them and helping them succeed.
Live Your Dreams,
-Jill
Author, Coach, Motivational Speaker
http://www.GoalGuru.com
Good point, Jill. That which does not kill us makes us not only stronger, but smarter too.
The secret is truly in the ‘good relationships’ sauce. We appreciate and work for good managers like you. 
Ros
Thanks, Ros, for your incredibly quick and insightful answer to my question about Google’s banning me from directly marketing your handbook; makes sense.
Now, a “new” development: I have joined your recommended, if my memory serves me well, “Secrets to Their Success” web site…and applied for their mentoring program. I just want to do this right, right? In the meantime, I’ve been receiving emails from a marketing affiliate promoting something that really scares me; his methods sound dishonest, or bordering so…do you know who I mean? He’s just released a new book, and I read his former book thinking he was a really caring, sweet guy. So much so, I subscribed to his/now my own “free website” with my own domain name and a year’s hosting fee. Do you know who I am referring to? I hate to bad mouth someone here in a public forum…especially until I know the truth. What would YOU do, Ros? (WWJD)?
Anyway, thanks again for answering my question yesterday…how do you have the time? Bless you!
Sincerely,
Cheri
Hi again Cheri – YIKES! While I advocate spending $12.95 a month for some wonderful inspiration from STTS, please don’t ever interpret that I’m recommending an expensive mentoring program!
Re the ‘mystery affiliate trainer’… do you see me promoting the latest and greatest?
Lemme say this, if you don’t have Jeremy Palmer’s book – you should get that first.
Wow! What a great resource! I found great value in reading everybody’s post and Ros’ responses to each one. In response to one man, I have to say that I found a lot of value in the SAH and thought it was written at the appropriate level.
In addition to all the gripes mentioned, my biggest gripes are short cookies, 1-time commissions, and no deep linking to specific product or search results (not enough merchants offer this). Seems to me that too many merchants still don’t understand the value in affiliate marketing. I’d also like to see more affiliate for phone sales – I’ve only found a couple of folks that allow for this.
Hey Sherryl - Glad to hear that you appreciate the resource. Occasionally I come up with a good idea.
You certainly hit the nail on the head with ‘too many merchants still don’t understand the value in affiliate marketing’. They’ll get it sooner or later, or they’ll get out. 
– Ros
This may already have been covered but there are 2 really big bug bares of mine.
(1) US focussed companies that make it really hard to sign up to affiliate programs if you are based in the UK (or elsewhere I presume).
Why is it so hard to organise payment and acceptance of affiliates outside the US… I am not aware that the UK put up such irritating barriers as …’please fill in this ridiculously complicated tax form… that doesn’t apply to you… if you don’t then contact the Government to get alternative tax forms to prove that you aren’t a US citizen…..Ahhhhhh”
(2) I am afraid it is CJ yes Commission Junction that I would like to shout about…. they make getting links soooooo hard… you have to apply here there and everywhere to get links for companies that they represent… when you ask if you have been approved they tell you to contact the actual company that you want the link for… who then send you off to CJ saying that it is they who organise the links!!!
Come On Guys…. Get Your Acts together…
Sorry for the rant
Brian Cotsen
Hi Brian – No need to apologize – rants R us! I’ll see whether I can round someone/anyone up from CJ to take a look at comments like yours. It is SO true! – Ros
I just wanted to add…. Thanks for such a great read… Super Affiliate Handbook (contrary to what someone said a little way up this page) is fantastically clear… you even taught me what the word Macros means… though I’ve been using them for years (just didn’t know the technical term).
Ros thanks for your energy and as you and a few others have said….
Niggles happen in every business…THAT’S BUSINESS
If anyone is hoping to read a book that’ll do the job for them… then they will never succeed.
Anyone who wonders why they aren’t rich yet… YOU HAVE TO TAKE ACTION!
Just wishing won’t do.
Thanks Ros… bit of a ramble today
Brian
Hi again Brian - Ramling is a good thing from time to time and as to the energy – always a pleasure.
– Ros
Hi there, what I hate is when you do all the work to get people to the affiliates website to promote their product so that you can get a commission, and after a couple of weeks, when you’ve done all that hard work to bring them customers, then they go and start promoting a different ebook or product to the very customers you brought them, and because its a different product, you don’t get any commission. And the product that you are promoting for them, which was meant to be the only and main product that their website is promoting (and that made you join up with them in the first place, because that product looked to you like one that you could sell for them)gets mentioned at the middle or bottom of their promotions page. And the sneaky thing they do is when they send out the follow up emails to the people who YOU sent them, well in those follow up emails, they promote a different product, and then later on in the email they mention the product that you are selling for them, when YOU bought them the customer. Talk about unfair! I think that if you promote their product then they should at least have the decency to make all the follow up emails about that same product too- not about other fancy products that they decided to add on later. I mean why the heck should we promote for them if they are going to be sneaky like that?
Hi Christina – It sounds like you may be promoting another affiliate marketer’s web site rather than a ‘pure’ merchant. Is that possible? While you may want to promote their product(s), you need to make sure that folks sign up for YOUR newsletter first and foremost. Then they can promote all they want, but you also have a relationship with the people you send to their site. You may in fact end up promoting the same products. Who sells more? Who does a better job? The affiliate who has the best relationship with their readers. Work at creating that relationship – focus on your visitors – and then you won’t have to be so concerned about what other affiliate’s are doing.
– Ros
Dear Ros,
Thank you for addressing “Day Job Killer;” that was the book I was referring to yesterday. Ros, I want to do business with only ethical individuals, like yourself. His earlier book seemed a little on “the edge,” but not dishonest. His newest book, however, scares me.
I really appreciate your taking the time to answer my posts. You’re the real McCoy! God bless, Cheri
P.S. Do you have any experience participating in Web Traffic programs for cash? Are there any risks involved, like identity theft or computer viruses? Right now, you’re the only one I trust….
Hi Cheri - Nothing to be afraid of. The tactics are legit… just make sure that you read the terms and conditions supplied by each merchant first. As for Web Traffic programs for cash – nope, I don’t do anything like that. Seems to me just a diversion from actually doing business. Cheers, Ros.
Having just had one of those Webring notifications in my email that says I earned 0.02 cents, I suppose Chicken Scratch commissions might be on my list. No, honestly, I wasn’t promoting them.
But the rejection is one of my pet hates too. If Canada or the UK is bad, try being in Spain. We are, I swear, shot first – judged as spammers / undesirables – no questions asked. As Nat said above, “What part of the internet being a global marketplace don’t they understand?” This, again, is their loss, but it is absolutely ludicrous, because 85 – 90% of most of my sites’ visitors are from the US.
Hi Pamela – Woo Hoooooo! 0.02 whole cents! Congratulations! That’s more than I ever made with those webringthings.
Ros
Hi Rosalind
I have no gripe at all with affiliate programs.If one is persistent with advertising the money will come from affiliate programs.Too many people jump on board post a few ads in the free classifieds,and wonder what happened.It takes time,and patience one must be willing to devote time into their affiliate program to make it prosper. Well that’s about it.
rgds
Steven Wilson
Hi Steven, Thanks kindly for your words of wisdom — so nice to see someone has no gripes at all!
Ros