Let’s forget about the ethics as far as whether or not you’re doing something bad to another marketer, merchant or consumer. If you market affiliate products in an unethical manner and the merchant or marketplace finds out about it, you can get your account closed and ultimately, your income shut down. So, given that fact, isn’t it smart to market ethically if for no other reason than your own selfish gains? Good, at least we agree on this much. If nothing else, you should know what activities could get you in deep trouble. I’m going to cover a few here.

The first one, off the top of my head, is cookie stuffing. This is where you stuff a cookie on the visitors PC for the product you’re promoting regardless of whether or not they actually clicked on your link. Forgetting that this is purely unethical as you’re getting a sale that you didn’t earn if the prospect goes on to buy, almost every affiliate marketplace bans cookie stuffing. It is against their TOS and if you are caught doing it, you WILL get your account shut down. It’s that simple. So think twice before you cookie stuff.

Another unethical affiliate marketing practice is writing false reviews of products. I’m talking about reviews where you never really tried or read the product and are just making things up to make a sale. This might not get your account shut by the marketplace, but this is what it WILL do. The customer will see it was a bogus review after they buy the product and in most cases, will refund it. Not only that, they’re going to start spreading the word that you’re a liar, plain and simple. So before you start making up reviews, think about what you’re doing to your reputation.

Finally, there are the kinds of ads that you run. There is a rash of “scam” ads being run all over the Internet, especially with pay per click, that has a lot of people in an uproar. These are purely deceptive ads and a lot of merchants are dropping affiliates like flies for running them. So if you think running an ad like “Product X Is A Scam” you better think twice about it. It could cost you your account.

I realize that I’m either preaching to the choir (those who would never do this) or those that don’t care, but my hope is that I am reaching somebody new who doesn’t know how harmful these things are and will take my words to heart.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.