When I started this blog I was on a high, finally earning some decent affiliate income. It grew quickly and in the last two months started to look shakey, next month I expect it will have bottomed out.

The problem was partly my own and partly the affiliate’s.

I had most of my income coming from one source which is never a good idea, spread your eggs and diversify.

The program was always going to end, the fact is the product had already been sold for the most part, I just negotiated my offer with the affiliate and it got me a small cut of the sales. My ability to send them genuine referrals with this method was limited and they were always going to realise that at some point.

Oddly enough though that was not what killed the program, it was the affiliate undercutting their own partners. If there is an unwritten etiquette of affiliate programs they surely broke it. Even if I send them genuine referrals now there is a good chance the customer will search for and find their offer undercutting me,which means they actually steal back the commission I would otherwise have been paid. They are completely within their rights to do what they have done but it is really really poor form for a company that otherwise seems to do a good job of building community and managing the social media side.

All they have really done is piss off their partners and their program still has the same flaw.

Further, I’ve not received a single payment from them, I don’t expect they will try to avoid paying me as they are well known and respected company but the total owing is quite considerable and I have been waiting months now for payment. Regardless April was a record month thanks to some link sales, May is nowhere near April but still enough to keep me confident.

So I’m back to the drawing board and will start developing some new sites, I’ve got to get this moving if it is to become my main income source.