Forum Moderators: skibum
I'm new to the affiliate marketing world and I'm trying to do a lot of research before jumping in.
I've already gotten my accounts with cj&linkshare, been accepted to various affilate programs, have set up my AdWords and YSM accounts, have a good page with good content, have begun doing my keyword research to map out areas where I can be competitive... have about 80 different ad groups with different keyword or concept themes that I'll be running through the google adwords estimation tool to start figuring out how to launch.
So, one area that is out of my control that I want more info on-----
What practices have people on this forum seen used by existing affiliates trying to protect their market share from new affilates?
I can imagine a few...
1) Perpetrate some sort of click fraud so the new site sees no profit and the newcomers budget gets eaten quickly.
2) Report the newcomer to Google or Yahoo for some imagined infraction that causes the newcomer to be suspended until investigated.
3)? what else? My imagination fails me and I'd rather hear real life experiences as well as recommended ways of avoiding these things up front.
I've heard stories of people "stealing" credit for affiliate sales... but haven't heard how to prevent that (or even how it's accomplished in a general way).
Thanks
I'll be running through the google adwords estimation tool to start figuring out how to launch
What practices have people on this forum seen used by existing affiliates trying to protect their market share from new affilates?
I have never seen any evidence of established affiliates trying to protect themselves by using underhand methods. I'm sure it does happen but I think it is more likely to be a result of a dispute between existing affs.
As far as 'stealing' goes, it is a rare thing from where I am sat. Hijacking of pages does happen but if you can prove it has happened to you, you can report it to the aff network who should, in theory, be on your side as this type of behaviour is frowned upon. They 'should' throw the aff in question off the network but sometimes that doesn't happen as the offending aff may turn over huge amounts of money.
You don't need to avoid these things from the start as it is unlikely to happen in the first place. Concentrate on building your site and getting decent traffic before worrying about things that may never happen. If they do happen, deal with it then.
Best of luck
Ska
Good advice. I'll worry about it after I have traffic worth stealing. :) One thing... how did you know pages were being stolen from you?
Thanks.
The same basically holds true for search results, although if you use spammy techniques to get close to #1 you can probably expect to be reported to Google by others who legitimately feel they should be ahead of you.
The one place where I can imagine some cutthroat competition is in the PPC marketplace. That's one area where you can take money out of another person's pocket quite directly, and there are quite straightforward ways to defend one's territory. I've heard a number of stories but don't have much experience in that particular field. Since you're going that route, there are several PPC forums here at WW you might want to lurk at for a while, and read some past threads.
The web is so vast and varied that there is very little actual competition between affiliates. To put it another way, getting you kicked out of a program would only have the most microscopic effect on another site's sales.So very true. Don't let such thoughts stop you from working on affiliate marketing.
Wish you good luck!
cheers!
-nish
