Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins

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I came across a problem I didn’t know existed on the CPAEmpire blog today.

Scott Richter, Chief Executive Officer of CPAEmpire, posted a message titled “An Open Letter to CPAEmpire Affiliates Regarding Stance on Affiliate Non-Compete Agreements,” where he stated…

It has come to our attention that some Affiliate Networks have recently began asking their Affiliates to consent to Non-Compete Agreements. These Agreements are an attempt to prevent their Affiliates from marketing similar offers on competitive Affiliate Networks. For the record, CPAEmpire.com does not support the use of Non-Compete Agreements to preclude Affiliates from marketing any offer they so desire.

I’m not sure which CPA networks are trying to push these non-compete agreements, but I would imagine affiliates are either laughing or demanding big raises. Anybody who would simply acquiesce to such a demand is making a mistake.

Don’t get me wrong - exclusivity clauses aren’t a totally bad thing. I think it’s reasonable for an affiliate program to demand exclusivity on certain pages, in the event the affiliate program is paying above their regular fees for such a premium right.

Also, if an affiliate program is providing some quality content to select affiliates, I think it’s fair to stipulate that competing affiliate programs should not be on those pages.

But if an affiliate program or network is demanding exclusivity just for the glorious right of promoting them, I’d urge affiliates to emancipate themselves from such network slavery.

It’s an open market - may the best performing offer win.

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