This post is so long overdue! To begin, I would like to thank Shawn Collins, and the entire team of Affiliate Summit. In the past I have hoped to attend this great conference however things were getting on the way- from health issues to a law suit, something seamed to always stand on the way. This year was no different, I had no plans to attend the Summit because I could not budget for it. After canceling my attendance in the past- it id not feel right to ask for a “press pass” again. I am however easy to persuade, if you don’t believe me – ask Shawn. So thank you guys!

Going there as an affiliate, coming back as an affiliate manager…

I wish to be able to to last through half of all the sessions at Affiliate Summit TrishaLyn is planing to attend, still I can hardly wait for August to be here!

Last two years I have been helping a dear friend of mine, and the owner of The Chocolate Belles, in Brick, NJ. Not only have we launched a successful online store, we are also just few months (I hope) away before launching an affiliate program.

The Chocolate Belles is a candy making and cake decorating supply store. In addition to selling hundreds of candy making and cake decorating tools they also make custom cakes and offer class decorating classes. They teach anything from making chocolate cowered strawberries to decorating elegant fondant cakes:

On one hand it is very easy to work with well established and very successful business. However, an affiliate program will be the next HUGE step for both, myself and The Chocolate Belles. If you plan to attend the Affiliate Summit, and have experience in managing affiliate programs, I would absolutely love to hear from you and to meet with you at the Summit. Feel free to drop me a line or two so we can plan.

There are still many things I do not understand about affiliate marketing. One of such things is the way many merchants choose to handle commissions that need to be reversed. Depending on the products or services you choose to promote, 5 or 6 reversals can very easily amount to over $1,000 in commissions. This may not be a huge deal for affiliates earning 5 figure a month, but it certainly is from me.

So if you are an affiliate manger I ask you these questions. How do you handle reversed commissions? Do you explain to your affiliates why?

I am a big man, I can handle bad news. I understand my referral could have canceled the service or returned the product. It does not take that much effort or time to explain why you are reversing my commission. But it can also can help me to improve my campaigns, which in the end is a good thing for you as well.

I imagine that all the legal mambo jumbo in the agreement between you and me may not require you to provide any explanation. If this is your approach, I don’t want to work with you.

LeadPress, the premier builder of search engine optimized Mortgage Lead Generation Websites for Mortgage Brokers, Loan Officers, Net Branches, and Lead Aggregators, just launched an affiliate program. If you are interested in promoting LeadPress and it’s products you have a chance to earn up to $249 per lead for life time license. The subscription options pay affiliate commissions in a form of a 50% of the plan’s price plus 10% of recurring monthly commissions.

Who is behind LeadPress?

LeadPress is the brain child of Trace Richardson, a well known blogger among real estate professionals. Trace is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the state of California. His experience in online marketing, social media and lead generating industry serves as assurance that if you join the LeadPress affiliate program, you will receive an unsurpassed attention from the founder himself should you join LeadPress’ affiliate program.

I would also like to to take this opportunity to congratulate Trace on the launch of the affiliate program. I very proud to consider him my friend and wish him and LeadPress much success! Well done!

Disclaimer: This post is entirely my personal opinion.

UPDATE May13, 2010: Things pertaining to LeapFish.com, their founders and management, along with related startups are no longer of interest to me, therefore no further comments are allowed on this post. There are also more reliable sources out there (such as Better Business Bureau) to help you make an informed decision about LeapFish.

Not so long ago LeapFish.com lunched their own affiliate program. LeapFish is a search aggregator that displays the results from Google, Yahoo, MSN and some other websites. They strip down the sponsored ads from the search results provided to them via APIs by Google, Yahoo and MSN while inserting their own ads instead. Ad can be purchased on LeapFish.com for a set price with 5% yearly renewal fee. According to LeapFish the average price per keyword is $1,499:

Is LeapFish Affiliate Program Promoting The Wrong Product?
It appears the LeapFish affiliate program is aimed at gaining traffic to their website and the sale of keywords is left to often overly aggressive sales executives- which in my opinion is a mistake. It sends the wrong signal, in my opinion, that LeapFish.com is really in desperate need of traffic and exposure (see my take on their linking payola below). According to their FQA an affiliate will make $0.05 for each search performed through a search widget provided by LeapFish. As I pointed out in my comment at 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums to LeapFish affiliate manager, I believe LeapFish should have linked their affiliate program to the sales of keywords instead, it would have helped them on the following levels:

• eliminate partially or completely the need of sales executives
• saving money spend on hiring and reimbursing the sales executives.
• finally at 5%-10% commission, it will automatically make LeapFish one of the most competitive affiliate programs out there, if they had a product worth buying that is.

LeapFish Affiliate Program Will Suffer From Bad Reviews
In my opinion, LeapFish.com did not go far enough nor were they sincere in apologizing for overly aggressive sales person who committed click fraud trying to “scare” potential client into advertising with LeapFish. While LeapFish reacted by firing the employee, the LeapFish blamed TechCrunch for misrepresenting the entire event and treating LeapFish unjustly. The problem with a such bad publicity is that many affiliates will pass the opportunity to make money with LeapFish once they learn about the above described click fraud fiasco. Many affiliate marketers use extensively the pay per click advertising across major search engines themselves and the click fraud episode will serve as a huge turn off for many of them.

The true irony about this is that, according to Spyfu, LeapFish started to run pay per click campaigns in June. It contradicts their sales pitch that “the prices on PPC have skyrocketed therefore you need to advertise with LeapFish”.

LeapFish Affiliate Program is Nothing More Than a “Linking Payola” scheme
Their affiliate program seams to be focused on “linking payola” as their search widget code contains a SEO friendly link back to their search engine. Since I am not an affiliate with LeapFish, I do not now if removing the link or at least adding a “nofollow” attribute to it is against their TOS. It is my opinion that the best way to gain incoming links is to provide services that your clients and/or users will rave about.

LapFish Search Widgets Might Be Misleading To Visitors
The search widget may confuse some of the visitors, . Many websites integrate search box for the purposes of searching their own website- one of the reason I have implemented Lijit on my blog. The LeapFish widget issues no warning before taking away the visitors to LeapFish.com search results page. If you have two search widgets one to search your own website and another is to search LeapFish it may get even more confusing.

LeapFish Affiliate Program’s Payout is To Small To Attract Affiliates. Will Mac Air Giveaways Do The Trick?
Considering the pay out of $0.05 (five cents) per search performed, I am skeptical that any average blogger will be able to make $500 or more per month. LeapFish is trying to get new affiliates by holding a contest at the end of each a winner will receive a Mac Air (note the amount of astroturfing done on Twitter by LeapFish management and employees). While this incentive may attract some affiliates, in my opinion LeapFish’s plan is rather shortsighted- I see many bloggers and website owners taking the search widget down after the contest is over. Unless of course giveaways become regular.

Leaders in “Make Money Online” Niche Will Never Endorse LeapFish Affiliate Program.
Not sue if I would ever get involved with an affiliate program offered by a meta search engine. But to be honest I have never heard of one before. Personally I am always excited to learn that a company’s marketing plan includes affiliate program. LeapFish, in my opinion, introduced their affiliate program too little too late and had been scarred beyond hope by the feedback resulting from high pressure sales methods- some of those contacted by LeapFish sales associates compared conversations to the episodes from the movie “Boiler Room”. I seriously doubt that Shoemoney, Problogger, Zac Johnson, Ian Fernando, John Chow, Jason Katzenback or any serious affiliate or internet marketer will start promoting LeapFish any time soon. The giveaways can generate some temporary interest, but much more is needed to keep their affiliate program afloat- a product worth investing into.

I am not the biggest fan of inhouse affiliate programs and prefer to work with merchants who list their programs with the major affiliate networks. Once in a while, however, I come across an affiliate program that picks my curiosity. Such was the case the other day when I received an invitation to join the ThinkHost’s affiliate program.

ThinkHost and Their “Green” Approach To Web Hosting.
There is not that many features that set aside Think Host for the technical point of view. Their hosting plan offers pretty much similar features that are offered by the dozens of leading web hosting providers. What sets ThinkHost apart is that their servers and, if you decide to host with them, your own website will be powered by 100% renewable energy- a combination of solar and wind energy.

Think Host’s Affiliate Program
As an affiliate you can earn commissions with ThinkHost’s affiliate program in two different ways. By referring new customers – $100 commission for each new account. You can also earn commissions with ThinkHost by referring new affiliates (aka second tear affiliate commissions)- you can earn up to $65 on each referral your second tear affiliates produce.

Think Host’s affiliate program offers several different ways to create affiliate banners and links. You can choose pre-made banners and affiliate links, or you can create your own links through their “Custom Dynamic Link” widget. This widget allows you to create “deep” affiliate links (to any page on their website).

While I am not new to promoting web hosting providers, ThinkHost and their “green” approach definitely sets them apart. As we grow more aware about many different ways we leave our carbon footprint on our planet we should applaud ThinkHost for their initiative- not only do they power their servers with renewable energy, they also plant a tree for every new hosting plan!