Monitor Your Publishers

Your Affiliate Manager should regularly monitor Publishers' webpages, email campaigns, and other advertising ventures to check for spam and mischaracterizations that may tarnish your organization's reputation or negatively impact your cause.

Ensure your Affiliate Agreement specifies the types of advertising that are acceptable. Stress that Publishers may use only unaltered banners provided by you, that they may not advertise for your organization on inappropriate websites (e.g., porn and gambling websites), and that they are not permitted to send unsolicited emails.

If any Publishers are found to be misrepresenting your company or ignoring the rules of the Affiliate Agreement, end your relationship with them.

For early warning, your Affiliate Manager should frequently inspect tracking reports to check for suspicious activity. Compare each Publisher's click-thru rate and conversion rate against norms. For instance, if one Publisher's leads convert 60% of the time while all other Publishers' leads convert nearer your average rate of 10%, find out why. Other warning signs of Publisher shenanigans include: an unprecedented surge in click-thrus, an uncharacteristically high number of click-thrus coming from the same IP address, and a higher than average rate of bogus registrations.

Catching bad advertising early can save your non-profit organization from far more time-consuming damage control.