Spot The Dying Programs

[twinkerbell]

It seems that more and more affiliate programs are closing down. Leaving the poor affiliates unpaid.
Can anyone give tips on how to spot a dying program? It may be helpful for most - they/we can avoid that kind of program as early as possible.

Thanks so much.
Peace

[jIgG]

usually missed payments or trouble paying out
at least to me that's one thing that's sticking out as happening most often trough the years

[attis]

I regularly watch the websites they in their program. Serious sites should give some content update information to their visitors. If they used to do that and the updates become irregular, they stop giving update information at all or the quality of the updates goes down, it's most likely a sure sign that there's something wrong in the state of Denmark.

Hard to tell for sites that don't give update information or promotional content at all. After two bad experiences with such programs in the past months I tend to stay away from smaller programs now. Same goes for programs/sites without update infos and/or promo material. You usually don't get paid for the time you are investing in them.

A good example that should get your alarm bells ringing are sites like those promoted by gaypay. They just sounded too good to last and if you looked at their content right from the start, it was quite obvious from the quality that their sites were just built to shave off customers and affiliates. You either stay away from those programs completely or you play along for a year or so when they are new and still keep paying their affiliates. Just find the right time to jump off the train. But that's an ethical question you have to answer for yourself.

Actually after closely following the programs/websites you are promoting and with some knowledge and experience in your niche(s), you'll get a pretty good feeling if there are some hickups and you need to keep your fingers crossed if the next payment will be arriving or not. However, there are no hundred percent telltale signs and it's always some kind of gamble, especially with smaller programs.

[B2BwithJoeD]

Anyone with abnormally high PPS payouts or engaged in serious cross selling is a likely target for shutting down right now.

The most interesting aspect to the whole trend is that the affiliate payout is being shut down, but I haven't seen a single site taken off the Web. Anybody seen a program or sites taken down?