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Affiliate Fraud
August 8, 2001

By Cynthia Arko

For more information about affiliate programs, check out these other articles from Cynthia Arko's ongoing weekly series: Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing Revenue Sharing 101 In this first in a series of weekly articles, Cynthia Arko, Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com affiliate directory, presents a no-nonsense approach to generating revenue from your Web site. How to Indentify Quality Affiliate Programs With literally thousands of affiliate programs available on the Internet, it could be difficult to determine which ones are high quality. However, the process could be made easier when using some basic criteria. Understanding Affiliate Commission Structures If you want to get paid, you need to understand affiliate commission payments and the many different commission structures that exist. Content Sells Making money with affiliate programs requires much hard work and continued attention to developing and retaining visitor traffic. Search Engine Tips, Part I For affiliates, it is important to be listed with the major search engines because they can potentially generate much needed traffic. Search Engine Tips, Part II Cynthia Arko explores the impact search engines have on affiliate programs in this second article of a two-part series. Develop an Opt-in E-mail List Mailing lists are a very popular way to create traffic and generate repeat visitors to a Web site, often leading to additional affiliate sales and referrals. How to Achieve Super Affiliate Status How to take your affiliate program from "ordinary" to "extraordinary." Common Mistakes of Affiliates If you're not generating much revenue from your affiliates, it could be due to some common errors. Profiting from Seasonal Coupons and Hot Deals! Now is a great time to increase affiliate commissions by offering your visitors seasonal coupons, special offers and deals available exclusively to the Internet bargain hunter. Helpful Affiliate Terms: Part One It's not easy to understand the many terms associated with doing business online. We've put together a list of terms to help guide your affiliate marketing efforts. Helpful Affiliate Terms: Part Two To be a pro, you have to sound like a pro. Cynthia Arko concludes her glossary for affiliate marketers. Exploring Affiliate Product Links Cynthia Arko discusses how the various linking options can lead to affiliate success. Analyzing Site Traffic How do you gauge the success of your site? Well, a brick-and-mortar business would count cash at the end of the day. Aside from running to your mailbox to collect commission checks, analyzing site traffic can help achieve your goal of boosting affiliate sales and commissions. Affiliate Fraud Most merchants, especially those using Commission Junction technology, have taken a proactive approach to the practice of fraud; and most, if not all, of these "cheaters" will eventually be caught.

Affiliate fraud is on the rise and merchants and affiliate solution providers alike are serious about fighting fraud. Many merchant programs have moved from an automatic affiliate approval process to a manual review of all affiliate applications. Although time consuming, Affiliate Managers are finding that many previously approved affiliates are fraudulent, don't exist, or display material of inappropriate nature. Proper pre-screening of affiliates helps to foster a more efficient affiliate environment for merchants and affiliates.

"Affiliate Solution Provider Commission Junction recently eliminated cost-per-click (CPC) programs because they were not delivering the results advertisers were seeking. The elimination of CPC programs freed up the Compliance Department at CJ, composed of four people working full-time, to focus more on pay-per-lead fraud and compliance with the CJ Publisher Agreement and Privacy Policy." says Todd Crawford, vice president, strategic alliances for Commission Junction.

As a guest expert in the Cashpile Discussion Board, Be Free founder,Tom Gerace addressed fraud associated with BeFree CPC programs:

"CPC programs: We have developed and are continuing to enhance robust fraud detection technologies that significantly reduce fraud in both CPC and CPL programs. These are both legitimate ways to measure and compensate companies for marketing on a performance basis once this issue is in-check. We continue to sign customers (merchants) in this space, their programs continue to drive traffic and leads very successfully, and we will continue to extend programs in this space going forward."

Merchant Fraud
The ongoing dot-com shake-out has left many affiliates feeling cheated. Be sure to keep a pulse on what's happening in the affiliate world. Read your e-mail and occasionally click on your affiliate links to make sure the merchant site is still in business. We've seen some big players (eToys, Pets.com, Garden.com, CyberRebate — to name a few) unexpectedly close up shop. Unfortunately, many of these companies may not have the funds needed to pay hard-earned affiliate commissions. Frequently, goodbye e-mails are overlooked and traffic is lost every hour of every day the now defunct merchant banners are not removed from your site. Although it's sometimes hard to weed through the junk, we've developed some tips on how to identify quality affiliate programs.

Resources
Allan Gardyne of Associate Programs runs a Discussion Forum where you can read about some of the most recent complaints, criticisms and problems affiliates are having with merchant programs.

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. IFCC offers a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data of current fraud trends.

Honestly is the best policy
It's no secret hackers are out there, and merchants are taking aggressive steps to fight affiliate fraud. Note to affiliates: Run a legitimate Web business and you will be compensated accordingly. Run a fraudulent operation and you will be caught.

Cynthia A. Arko is the Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com (Refer-it.com) affiliate directory. She coordinates advertising, site development, and conference planning. Cynthia helped grow Refer-it.com from a small directory of Affiliate Programs to the Web's leading resource for information about affiliate programs. She also currently maintains KidsTown Direct, a shopping portal for parents and young families. Cynthia can be reached at carko@internet.com.