Affiliate Marketing Rule Interpretation
Sooner or later, you’ll run into a grey area when it comes to affiliate marketing. This calls for an affiliate marketing rule interpretation…or does it?
Writing the rules and regulations for an affiliate program is tough work. Why? Well, you have to sit there an imagine every possible marketing twist and technique creative affiliates can come up with. Some are creative and legal. Some are creative and not so legal. Many times the issue is not even legality, but what a merchant processor will allow a site to do and not do.
Regardless, the grey areas of any affiliate program are the areas where a tug of war happens between the affiliate and sponsor site. The affiliate wants to push things as much as possible in most cases so they can explore new money making techniques. The sponsor site, however, feels differently. It is usually much more wary about living on the edge because its name is obviously the one being presented.
So, who prevails? Well, it comes down to two issues. The first is the terminology used in the affiliate agreement. When an affiliate signs up, there is a lengthy form they must read before being accepted. Much like my car insurance policy, nobody actually reads the agreement. That doesn’t mean it isn’t binding on the affiliate and sponsor site. If there is a clause in the agreement that covers the issue, then it is the binding answer.
There is a second aspect to getting an affiliate marketing rule interpretation that you need to consider as an affiliate. Do you really want to get into a fight with your sponsor site? Unless you are bringing in big bucks, you face the prospect of being terminated outright. If this happens, you’ve lost the battle and the war while achieving absolutely nothing. Fortunately, there is another alternative.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs on the web. Instead of getting in a fight with your sponsor site, why not just find another program that definitely allows you to pursue the marketing technique in question? It’ll be a win-win for you.