Made Up Affiliate Details

[jaykhan]

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Can someone tell me why it is that some people have to lie about themselves, ie give a wrong address and website address, when it's absolutely free to become an affiliate?
They're obviously worried and fearful of something or the other, I just can't work out what.
Can someone clear the air for me please?

[Andrew Starr]

This blog entry makes interesting reading: Why Affiliate Marketing has a bad name

[jaykhan]

Thanx for the info T4xi.
I've just had a quick scan of the article and you're right, it does make an interesting read.
As soon as I've got five mins spare I'm gonna have a proper read of it.:tup

[kcheung]

Can someone tell me why it is that some people have to lie about themselves, ie give a wrong address and website address, when it's absolutely free to become an affiliate?
They're obviously worried and fearful of something or the other, I just can't work out what.
Can someone clear the air for me please?

Just the way the cards fall, although point to note, if you get an affiliate sign up with google as their domain, check that they are PPC affiliates before canning them.

[jaykhan]

I don't understand kcheung;
If someone has submitted an incorrect URL, Contact Phone etc, then how can we establish who they are and if they've got some PPC to their site too.
And if they are using Google as their domain, then how can we check to see if they've got a ppc campaign running for it?

As much as I hate to, I feel I'd have no choice but to can them.

[kcheung]

I don't understand kcheung;
If someone has submitted an incorrect URL, Contact Phone etc, then how can we establish who they are and if they've got some PPC to their site too.
And if they are using Google as their domain, then how can we check to see if they've got a ppc campaign running for it?

As much as I hate to, I feel I'd have no choice but to can them.

if all the details are dodgy then you're right, their probably a bit dodgy.

however, where the contact details are correct, a PPC affiliate who doesn't own a website (as can sometimes be the case), will put google as the domain (seen it a few times), some networks (US) will actually tell PPC affiliates to do this, so really assuming their contact details are correct you can call and verify that they are promoting via PPC.

I'm sure you already know this but you can use an affiliate link as a directory link in google PPC and use the display URL as the merchant site, so as an affiliate using PPC in this way you wouldn't need your own site.

[jaykhan]

Right, the penny has dropped!
I know what you mean now, people can use the Merchants URL as the display url and then have the the merchants website as the destination url.
Therefore maybe I will give an extra thought before canning new applications.
Nice one Ken!:tup

[The_Imp]

If you are accepting applications for Finance programs, you should seriously consider phoning all applicants as fraud is unfortunately very common, especially with applicants outside of the UK.

If the phone line is dead/unanswered and there is no response to several emails, you have your answer! Reject them. Even if they are not acting suspiciously, a lack of response suggests they are actually not that interested in the program they have applied to join.


Charlotte

[jaykhan]

Thanks for your comments Charlotte, I've taken them on board.:tup