I was just reading a post on Mike Filsaime’s blog about the kind of offers he will no longer promote to his list. I have been getting upto 10 emails per day for different products from different JV’s who want me to promote it on my blog and network of sites and the reality of it is, is there is not much new coming out in the internet marketing marketplace in 2010. There is however, heaps, and I mean heaps of rehashed, shinny new products that “YOU NEED” to buy right now or your head is going to explode. These type of products are sold for a few weeks/months and then dissappear forever. Most of them making their way to the ClickBank.com market place. So when I started reading this blog post from Mike Filsaime, it sort of blew me away to see that its not just me that is noticing the internet marketing landscape is starting to change.

Check out the full blog post below:

I will no longer be promoting affiliate offers that have the following things going on with the product or website:

#1 – “A Hidden Method that is only revealed when they buy” ie.  This has nothing to do with list of 15 items… but does not say what it is. Vague.. we are out.

#2 – Out right lies.

#3 – Income, proof, screenshots, or income claimed from method shown as proof was not actually made from method.

#4 – False Scarcity – ie. Only 500 units will ever be sold. When they plan to sell thousands. I understand the use of urgency and scarcity, or a count down time etc.. but lies that make the customer look stupid, hurt the affiliate, and are not needed will not be promoted.

#5 – If I feel your sales letter hype will have a refund rate of 20% or more. If your refund rate is that high, then you are not providing the value you promised. In my 8 years online, I have never had a refund rate over 20%.

#6 – Poor customer support

#7 – A product that is not complete at the time you sell it. You promise it. It should be ready

#8 – Not honoring refunds. (You must honor refund requests within refund period) Or refund claims like “$500 cash over your refund.” If this is done to simply improve conversions yet you have NO INTENTION of ever providing that and it is cool to just say it to increase conversions… shame on you.

#9 – Positioning – Anti/ Guru , all the guru’s have lied to you. All other products except this one are crap. You have been lied to. Are you sick and tired of the guru’s shoving crap down your throat etc… if that is said or implied, I will not participate in the mud slinging.

#10 – More than 1 exit Pop. OMG some of you guys really think someone will buy in exit 11? What is wrong with these guys.

#11 – UpSells – Any UpSells that make the buyer feel unhappy about the original purchase we will not support. (i.e. To really make this work you will need this.)

#12 – You don’t have your ducks lined up. Your site and technology will work. The days of crashed servers are over. We should all be ready to handle the traffic. A few hiccups are to be expected

#13 – If you have a reputation of not paying your affiliates, don’t bother to ask. You are making the industry look bad. You should not spend money that is not yours. You may think people don’t know who you are but people are talking. Communicate the issue and make sure it gets paid. Put the money aside and pay your affiliates. Commissions due should be paid within 30 days after the refund period is over. (60 days.)

#14 – You should be FTC compliant. Income claims, testimonials, and privacy etc. If you are not, don’t expect a promotion.

#15 – Your reputation online should be solid. Poor products in the past will not get a reply from us. We would appreciate a review of the product or if it will be live coaching etc, we need full details on the product. “It will crush it and you get paid 50%” is not the details we want. We want to make sure that your product will help the customer. Anything else hurts us and your other affiliates.

#16 – Common sense. Put the customer first. Not your affiliates. Money is a by-product of value. A 50% refund rate is a crying shame. And the trend for a good converting sales letter and an attitude of “Who cares man, this is not my real name anyway” and “Churn and Burn” has no room in this business.

It’s time to clean things up. I have learned from my mistakes over the past. I have shared my experience with others. But this is not 2004. We have come a long way. This is not a short term game. If you can’t put your name on your product with class, then don’t look for support from us.

I understand that even with this, things may go wrong. Your software may have bugs. The world may turn on you. If that is the case, communicate with your customers and refund them. If I ever have to email my customers to apologize for promoting an affiliate product, you can rest assure I will never do business with you. Again, if the signs start to show, make sure to communicate and make it right with the customer and refund and close your doors until you can fix the issue. Customers come before affiliates.

The customers in this industry deserve the best we can do. Anything less, we let them down.

I am hoping to create a “BEST PRACTICES” model. I encourage you to follow the same guidelines for your JV Partners. It’s time we stand up and let people know this stuff is not acceptable. If more people follow this lead, we can start to clean up the industry. There are a lot of hate blogs out there and it is seemingly getting hard to know the good from the bad. Time to separate from the trash. Get your act together or get out of this arena.  There is just no room for it.

Speaking of “Hate Blogs” – I will be releasing a personal response about the “Jones’s” real soon. Time to set the record straight

Thanks,

Mike Filsaime

PS – To my customers reading this. This is our new policy going forward. We will do our best to hold our affiliates and vendors we promote products for to a higher standard as well as we strive to on our products. We are not perfect. We do not expect them to be. We only wish they have your best interests in mind. Most of our partners do. This message is to warn a few bad apples from a trend we are seeing.

But please, if we ever let you down from here forward, let us know. We will pass your experience over to our partners. We need your feedback to know if you are happy with what we promote.

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