Affiliate marketing is a commission based system where affiliates are rewarded monetarily for driving traffic to specific websites that result in paid purchases. It has become a wildly popular way for freelance marketers to create a revenue stream and it can be done from anywhere at any time, worldwide.

This is done through posting links on websites as well as sending email blasts to hundreds if not thousands of purchased email addresses. Often clogging inboxes and populating search results with worthless ring tone advertisements, affiliate marketing has earned a reputation for not being forthright.

Furthermore, by using this method alone, affiliate marketers are often considered ‘spammers’ and are perceived as gullible for participating in what some call a marketing scheme.

More Bad News

Many bloggers have discontinued allowing comments on their websites. This is due in large part to the volume of pings and fake trackbacks. A trackback essentially allows website owners to keep track of their visitors by recording the origin of their entry into the site (referring articles, search engine, etc.).

Many feel that trackbacks are an abused feature especially by affiliate marketers. The original intended purpose of a trackback was to record information about the visitor to better serve them not to prey on them.

And Good News

Unfortunately negative press usually supersedes positive press. And although affiliate marketing has been somewhat abused, there are some legitimate affiliate marketing programs.

For example, Amazon.com has an affiliate program called Amazon Associates which it started in 1996. To date there are more than 900,000 participants. It is a simple program that gives affiliates various formatted links and/or photos that they can post to their site or blog and when used to facilitate a purchase, the affiliate is rewarded.

Another good example is the affiliate program offered by Match.com, a very well known online dating service. Their program is very careful about who they choose as affiliates since they are trying to reach specific niche audiences such as a particular ethnic group or people who enjoy mountain climbing.

A Match.com spokesperson claims they are able to prevent abuse by prohibiting marketing by email and by maintaining a long list of reasons an affiliate can be disqualified.

Legal Information

Unfortunately, not all affiliate programs have such strict rules. However, the Federal Trade Commission has seen a flurry of lawsuits recently in reference to anti-spamming. Offenders are subject to legal action against big companies like AOL and EarthLink.

Anti-spamming laws began in 2003 when the CAN-SPAM Act sought to make company’s liable for spam even if they did not send it themselves. In simple terms, a company can be held responsible for violating the CAN-SPAM act if they could have or should have known about it due to affiliate activity.

In Summary

Affiliate marketing while sometimes legitimate has earned itself a negative connotation overall. What was originally thought of to provide a win-win situation for an affiliate marketer and the companies using them has unfortunately resulted in website owners to discontinue certain features and has become the breeding ground for legal action.