Admin. Nightmare!!

The headaches of being an affiliate...

[litmania com]

In the last few months I just seem to be wasting all my time:

- adding affiliate links
- removing them a few weeks later when the affiliate program slashes its commissions to a third of what they were or closes down
- chasing up affiliate checks

blah blah blah...

How am I supposed to find the time to improve my websites? I'm already working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and I just seem to be running around in circles. Arrrghhhh!!!! :(

How do other people handle this administrative nightmare?

For example, I usually have to write about five emails over a period of several weeks to the likes of MagMall and DealTime UK before I get paid. It's such a pain...

Wish I had a secretary :)

Any advice?

[rcjordan]

First, I try to manage all of my affiliate links from some sort of "admin console." In my case it's CentralAd and/or Links 2. I use these scripts to insert (or delete) banners, buttons, and text links without recoding the pages. I have also used external javascript to do this in a few spots and plan to switch to SSI over the coming year. In a few, rare instances when the merchant seems to be very stable I will hand-code my highest traffic pages (about 50). Another very large site I have is dynamic, so I just change the code in the database templates. I did most of this setup to manage content but it has come in handy as a merchant-handler.

As for the merchants themselves, I concentrate my primary merchants in 3 major networks - CJ, Linkshare, and BeFree. I then pick up other merchants as "filler" in secondary networks. When reviewing a merchant, I look first for a business plan that seems reasonable. I'm also very aware of how much time and effort they've put into their site and the merchant plan. I do not chase the highest CPC, but will -and have- chosen the lowest paying merchant because they have a known brand or good reputation among affiliates. Finally, and most importantly, I rely on "buzz." If there's a WHIFF of a problem from a reputable source (opinions from either Drastic and Czar are highly regarded, but there are a few others), I don't bother with the program.

If you are terminated by a GOOD program, write them a "professional courtesy" letter asking that they review their decision. I have lost two and been reinstated by both.