Why Bother?

In 'publishing' sooner or later one must deal with advertisers.

As you can see below, why bother?

Commission Junction have a great selection of advertisers.

Finding one enlightened enough to deal with non-USA residents is hard enough, even though my website is hosted in the US by US-owned hosting and aimed at the US market.

And when they reject a proposal for reasons clearly stated - well, it makes even less sense.

I recently snapped and replied to one. Bad policy, good copy.

Image of snarly email with text-version below it:

 

To: affiliate@performics.com

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to evaluate my application to advertise Performics on SheepOverboard.com.

While I understand you might select carefully the 'image' of a website in your desired market, I would nevertheless insist - with great emphasis - that NONE of the 10 points below apply to SheepOverboard.com.

In fact EACH of the ten points is CONTRARY to the ethics, editiorial, and aims, of SheepOverboard.

If you believe my website is incompatible with Performics demographic that would make sense, but broadly painting SheepOverboard as the worst of the web suggests your evaluation process is flawed.

But that's ok. There are tens of thousands of other eager advertisers.

Regards,
Phil
SheepOverboard.com

=============================================

-----Original Message-----
From: affiliate@performics.com [mailto:affiliate@performics.com]
Subject: Declined for Performics

Dear SheepOverboard,

Thank you for your interest in Performics. At this time we cannot approve your application. Your site may have been declined for one or more of the following reasons:

1. We were unable to access and review your site based on the URL provided.
2. Your site was under construction.
3. The information provided doesn't match registered domain information.
4. Submitting unsolicited commercial email (Spam) or trademark infringement.
5. Contains gambling information.
6. Publishing libel or defamation.
7. Promoting illegal substances.
8. Uses violence or hate-oriented speech.
9. Has extensive religious commentary or attempts to preach or solicit members for a particular church or faith.
10. Contains adult, obscene, or offensive content.

It is our policy to fully review each site before approval into our network. Please feel free to contact us after you have made the necessary adjustments to your site.

Sincerely,
Performics Affiliate Network...powered by ConnectCommerce www.performics.com

The final exchange:

Dear Phil,

You're quite possibly correct. CJ offers several options to automatically filter applicants based on pre-selected criteria. Many companies, like ours, use them to save time on manually reviewing requests.

However, they're not perfect, and from time to some legit applicants fall through the cracks. I'll ask my team to find your application and manually re-review it. It it meets our criteria we'll extend you an offer.

Regards,
Rick
Internet Manager
Maidenform Online Inc.
www.maidenform.com

===============================

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:01 AM
To: WebSupport
Subject: Affiliate request instantly declined - can you assist?

Hello

I manage a dozen websites and blogs whose purpose is to attract traffic and sales based only upon unique, original content.

These are all hosted in USA on US-owned servers and aimed at US markets.

Still I suspect the 8 out of 10 instant rejections from Commission Junction advertisers is based on my geographical residential address.

Can you kindly confirm the reason for declining my request to join your affiliate program. I have yet to receive any feedback from any advertiser, and desperately wish to know what advertisers are seeking.

The website wishing to carry advertisements is freshly created and rapidly expanded and may be viewed at this internet URL:

http://brabla.com/

Regards,
Phil


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Ah well ...