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Affiliate Information
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Hey, Stop Stealing My Affiliate Commissions!
by: Anik Singal
Copyright 2010 Kurma Group
Don’t get offended, I was not speaking directly to
you. I was speaking to the horrible companies who are
stealing not only my affiliate commissions, but yours
too!
These companies are called “spyware.” They specialize
in invading a consumer’s computer through unethical
means and then literally replacing YOUR affiliate ID with
their own! It is almost as if you never even existed!
Not only that, they even steal your future affiliate commissions
by making sure that all future IDs are automatically replaced
with their own. Even more, they can make it so that if
the consumer goes to a website, a pop-up for a competing
website (with their own affiliate ID) pops up and makes
it impossible for you to get a sale.
As you likely agree, this is a major problem and it gets
bigger and bigger every day. The more we fight back, the
slicker these companies get.
How much are they really stealing?
Would you believe that studies have shown that these companies
could be stealing more than 50% of your affiliate commissions!
Some studies have shown that it may even be higher, but
50% has been a repeated number in more than a few studies.
That means, as an affiliate marketer, you could potentially
be making twice the money you are making now.
How does Spyware work?
Spyware is basically a program that consumers will download
onto their computer. They usually get it “along”
with another program that they download for free. Spyware
companies develop freebies for consumers to download so
they can invade their computers.
Then, the software pretty much takes over the consumer’s
computer. The software can replace affiliate IDs, create
new cookies, make pop-ups appear and even steal passwords
or other private information.
In other words, spyware companies are also the masters
of viral marketing – they spread their disease via
freebie information and programs that unsuspecting consumers
download.
Who pays the price? You and I.
What is being done to stop it?
In all honesty, not much. It is not because no one cares,
but more because the more we try to stop it, the more
technical these companies get. As always, human eyes are
being required to track down and stop these companies.
Affiliate managers and companies are becoming far more
active in monitoring their affiliates to catch spyware.
Affiliates are also becoming a bit more vigilant in reporting
these companies (although not near enough).
There has been a moving trend towards software products
that block these spyware agents. Consumers are slowly
becoming more aggressive in trying to stop their computers
from being invaded (they are tired of pop-ups).
How you can help in the fight against spyware?
The biggest area we need to work on is by applying pressure
to affiliate networks like LinkShare and Commission Junction
to be far more active. Although these companies have strictly
stated that they will immediately shut down spyware companies,
more and more cases always seem to slip through.
You cannot really blame them, since the more affiliate
sales, the more money they make. But, if enough genuine
affiliates apply pressure, these companies will be forced
to be even stricter.
Do not get me wrong, they ARE starting to become a lot
more active.
In all honesty, the next thing you can do, short of designing
a break-through program to stop this problem, is to be
more careful and report more actively. Any time you see
an uninvited pop-up on your computer that has an affiliate
ID in the link – you can be 98% sure that it is spyware.
Take the time to report it!
Other than that, for now, being educated about spyware
is enough – spread the word and make sure more affiliates
know.
About the Author
This article has been authored by Anik Singal, an extremely
successful and young internet entrepreneur and affiliate
marketing consultant. If you like to receive his coaching
for FREE, visit the following link:
http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com/free-course.html |
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