Affiliate programs

In an effort to monetize my blog, I was recently looking at affiliate programs. In an affiliate program, I link to products, sites, or services that I like or think others would, and for every person who signs up or buys something at my recommendation, I get a cut of the profit.

Unfortunately, the two I was looking at don’t seem to want me.

I first looked into ThinkGeek’s. I love TG and have spent nearly half a grand with them over the past couple of years. However, I was formerly a member of their affiliate program (which is provided through Commission Junction) and had my account canceled because I went too long without a referral, losing the money I already had earned. Needless to say, I think this is bullshit enough, but I am also now barred from registering again using my same email address. So that one is out.

(Quick note: this is in no way the fault of ThinkGeek, and I continue to shop with them and will continue to recommend them for free. It would just be nice to be paid for it.)

I also tried to sign up as an Amazon affiliate. I first created an Amazon ID, as I have never shopped at Amazon. Then I tried to get my affiliate code, and found that I had to re-register. I tried to and could not use the same password as my normal Amazon ID. Since I use a password generator based on domain, I am not eager to remember a second password, or create a one-off sub-domain rule just for this site. Amazon lost an affiliate with this “security” decision, not to mention whatever I would have spent on my own.

If you are going to try to get your users to sign up other users, don’t make it a chore. You just might alienate your current user base, rather than expanding it.