We need a new word for affiliate spam. Flam (as in flim flam)?

I’ve gotten a couple of unsolicited affiliate program invites like this. Unless you’re really drawn to their products, I say “DELETE!”

If it looks like spam and tastes like spam…

Along the same lines, I’ve been approached to have paid links on my posts and blogs. We’ve gone back and forth and even negotiated price. Then they disappeared when it was time to email the copy, so the deal never happened. I almost suspected that it was someone at Google looking to lower my PageRank (which happened on one of my blogs). But why bother with a little blogger like me?

It does sound suspicious. Are you going to communicate with them or just delete it?

Hi JoLynn

I am thinking about deleting it.

What do you think?

Hmm, did you already sign up with them? If not, you could respond to them to find out more, possibly writing a follow up post on this. If it is a bad deal, a follow up post could help more bloggers avoid the pitfall of signing up with them.

I haven’t signed up, and I wasn’t planning to do that either. But it might be a good idea to find out more about them.

Not sure what questions to ask, but I might figure out something

Interesting and timely post Sly.

I received an email la couple of weeks ago from a guy asking would I be interested in a good offer to advertise on my site. I replied that I would be interested in considering his offer if the ads were for products that were appropriate for my market.

Never heard from him again.

Hi Jens,

It looks like you can access the forums after you sign up, then you could learn more about it. However you might be better off by not going further with it….spend your time on creating content for your blog instead.

Hi Karen

There seems to be many people asking for ads lately. I have had a few people approaching me the same way, they all wanted permanent ads on my blog for $5 or so.

Yes, I agree with you JoLynn. It’s usually not worth the effort. They didn’t do anyting other than send me an e-mail, and I think my time is better spent creating content

Pretty spammy in my mind. I have had a few similar approaches as well. One by a firm that promotes a service providing “humorous linkbait”

I agree with you Jens. For many of us, spending time on content creation is the right thing to focus on.

Hi Mark,

I am lucky, I haven’t received any similar approaches lately. But it’s always interesting to see how they do it, how they write their emails in order not to try to spam, and how they try to convince us to join.

I am looking at it to learn, because it’s really all about marketing…

I agree with you JoLynn

I was just wondering how come they can offer $4800 to my blog per month when I am not making more than $1500 per month. LOL!

[...] ContactThem and their Marketing Trick [...]

It appears to be a scam. Their email is nicely worded “pay you up to $4,800/month”. What it means that they can even pay you 0$ per month and abide by their promise. A cleverly worded affiliate program which borders on scam.

I wouldn’t touch this with a ten foot pole!

Other than the fact YOU’D be sending spam to people (and added to their junk folders… permanently)…

They are using a bait and switch technique.

They’re presenting it like they’re paying you for placing their link on your website.

But, if you read the small print (and, you HAVE to read the small print to find this out), you’re actually only paid for purchases of their mailing system (or should I say “spamming system”) made by your referrals.

It’s an underhanded, unethical, and probably illegal method to promote a multi-level program.

I recommend you STAY AWAY.

I got this email too. I was actually excited to get it and joined the affiliate program right away. After adding the banner to my website and 4 weeks into the program, I earned over $700. Not nearly the $4800 but I really don’t have enough traffic to pull those kind of numbers. However, for a free opportunity to earn from the contactthem network, I say it was worth it. Also, if I choose, I can remove tha banner at any time and still earn the revenue of that first month…not planning to take it down but it’s an option readily available.

On the issue of spam, I understand that partnership emails are non-commercial…not to say some won’t be annoyed.

Needless to say, I also joined the membership and use the sotware of the contactthem network daily too. 982 websites are now affiliated with my banner and building more traffic than I could ever imagine building for myself and making me even more commissions.

I think it’s great!
Crystal

Hi,

I received the same email with the $4,800 offering. I investigated the site, but didn’t go any further with it.

In 99.9% of cases, if an offer looks too good to be true, you can bet it is too good to be true!

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t dream and set large goals for yourself. I simply mean that rather than falling for get-rich schemes, we are better off working on our own products, services, websites, blogs, or whatever, and growing a strong foundation from which we can realize our dreams.

My best regards,
Laurie

I have received the same kind of mail several times, but each time i try to visit their website i get error message. May be they have gotten the require number of magas? But if they are really true they should have done something.

I have not seen anybody that says they are ok!

Flam, scam, spam. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here was my response to them

“Thank you for your email. I checked out your site and i love it. We would be happy to provide a link for you. We will take it to another level and provide an entire page. However, we will require a $4800 payment up front. Contact us for payment arrangements”.

Needless to say, they went away

I recently got an email from this company. Exact same format as yours but with my site name and alexa rank changed.
I sent it to the trash straight away.

The only part that worries is how they got my private email address and sent it to that. I keep my site emails and personal email separate.

Stay Away from them at all costs I reckon. Spam!