Affiliate marketing is filled with success stories of average people, new to the internet, making loads of money.
These stories make affiliate marketing very attractive to those looking to make money online, and the internet makes it very easy for ordinary web users to become professional marketers.
Unfortunately, there are people that take advantage of this popularity by coming up with scams in hopes of making their own fortune by immoral means.
You can safely avoid these scams if you can detect one or more of these common signs.
Upfront Fees Any opportunity that asks for an upfront fee automatically becomes a candidate for scamming.
Not all programs with upfront fees are downright bad; there may be some legitimate reasons for the fees, such as processing or setup fees.
However, remember that it is very difficult to get your money back if you discover you made a bad decision.
Most affiliate companies do not ask for any upfront fees at all.
In fact, they may even have marketing aids such as free advertising materials or templates that you can use to quickly get started.
It is best to go for those types of companies, especially if you are trying affiliate marketing for the very first time.
Lack of Transparency The opportunity is more suspicious if there is not much information available about the company or its products.
Affiliate companies should be as informative as possible, so the marketer knows as much as possible about the products and services he or she will be selling.
If the company is selling some mystery vitamins that nobody has heard of, you might want to do some serious research before joining this potential scam.
Find the contact details on the website, and get in touch with the company about your concerns before you sign up.
Google the company to find out what others have said about the company.
Selling bad products will affect your image as an affiliate marketer.
Fake Screenshots and Graphics The worst affiliate companies may look good on the outside, but do the unthinkable by not paying the marketers that promote the company.
These types of scammers usually try to create hype on how lucrative their company is by posting scans of checks or screenshots of payment proofs to tempt people.
Once again, do a Google search for this company and their opportunity.
Others try to appear legitimate by associating themselves with familiar media companies, blogs, and publications.
Some sites may have those "As Seen on TV" labels which are very easy to put on a website.
Before proceeding, check those media sites and see if the sites really talked about the affiliate company or product.
A truthful site should even post the link to these publications for more credibility.
Avoiding these scams is not very hard.
You just need to be alert and do your homework every time you encounter a new company looking for affiliates.