As some of you guys know, I’ve been playing around with affiliate marketing off and on this past year and I’ve had some good results and bad. I actually took an extended break from it only because there was so much to learn and I kept breaking even or slightly losing some money from the PPC marketing aspects. I decided that I would jump in it again but this post isn’t about that. It’s about some of the worst affiliated marketing networks and companies.

Before I continue, I’m not going to put any company or network on blast and bad mouth them. Although, I really want to for a couple of these companies, I rather not face the consequences that would arise from it.

Rather, I’m going to just list a few reasons why I think an affiliate marketing company/network is bad and you guys can feel free to point fingers at whoever you want.

So, what makes an affiliate marketing company bad exactly?

Lack/No Communication with Company

Well, as someone that would be working with them, you need some sort of communication, right? Well, what if I told you there are some companies that would never even e-mail, phone or instant message you at all? Why would I want to work with someone that won’t even be there to answer a simple question, if needed?

Last month, I applied for a new affiliate marketing company to work with them and all I got from them was a rejection e-mail saying I was declined. The e-mail was obviously just a generic notification because it never even told me why I was rejected and what I could do to fix that issues.

I took it like they just didn’t want random people applying so I replied to their e-mail asking why I was declined and what I could do to fix the problem. Of course, till this very day I have yet to receive a response.

Someone told me this company rejects people who don’t confirm on the telephone but based on my answering machine, it looks like I never received a message from them. Matter of fact, I probably never even received a phone call. I mean, what kind of company rep calls to confirm with you, yet, doesn’t want to leave a message?

My point exactly.

Customer Service Reps/Affiliate Managers Have No Idea What They Are Doing

I worked with a company in which my affiliate manager just had no clue. No offense, but if they are supposed to be there to try to help me and answer questions, I’m not exactly looking for a response like “I’m not sure. I’ll have to get back to you.” I can see once in a while but if it happens quite a lot of times, that’s a little strange to me.

If they are new and learning the ropes, fine. If I ask an extremely difficult question, fine. But if they don’t know what they are doing, that’s a representative for the company and I’m not sure if that’s going to help me much in the long run.

Terrible Payouts

A lot of companies run the same offers, some are higher payouts than others. But if the payouts are extremely low, that means the affiliate company is taking a larger percentage from it.

Some people don’t know this but you can actually ask your affiliate manager to increase the payouts on certain offers. Most of the time they will do it for you. And if they don’t, you can always just let them know another affiliate company is running the same offer and has a higher payout.

Then, I bet they’re change their mind about increasing your payouts.

They Rip You Off

Believe it or not but there are some who rip you off. That has never happened to me, personally, but I’ve heard stories. We all know the more money you make, the more money they make as well. What if they taking a little more from you than you’re realizing? Um, that’s call ripping you off and if you find out, I believe you can do something about it.

Just make sure you show proof to back yourself up or else you’re just be assuming. And you know what they say when people assume.

That’s all I can say without putting companies out there. I would like to warn you guys but at the same time, I can’t bad mouth big companies based on my personal experiences. But you guys can feel free to say anything you’d like in the comments!

Since the new fiscal year just started for us yesterday, there are a lot of tax increases 2009 that are taking place. If you’re in the states, a lot of people will be affected even more during this hard time in the economy. And I can guarantee that every online entrepreneur making money online will be affected by this in some way.

Let’s start with the tax increases in Massachusetts, since that’s where I currently reside. They will be raising sales tax from 5% to 6.25% which is the first time it has increased since I have lived here. (And I’ve been here most of my life).

That will affect a lot of spending I do because anything I purchase will be slightly higher. So, say I purchase a new computer, desk, chair or whatever for my mini office, the extra sales tax accumulates over time.

In addition, they are trying to increase gas taxes as well. That sucks even more with the high gas rates as is, now traveling to business meetings by car will be just a little more expensive than it usually is.

So, outside of my state, almost every other state is being affected in some way with the taxes. I believe Florida is increasing cigarette taxes, Hawaii is increasing hotel taxes, etc.

If you guys have more details on your state, please drop a line by commenting.  I would definitely like to know.

Many of these states have different tax increases but ultimately, all of us are affected. Below is a breakdown in states on who will be increasing taxes and fees. It’s from May so it’s a little old but you’ll get some rough idea for your state.

Now, as an online entrepreneur, we all have to pay taxes. Technically, you’re supposed to report everything you make to the IRS and if you work from home, that basically means you’ll be writing a check out every April. But next year, I believe you will be writing a bigger check.

I read that people making over $250,000 a year will have their taxes increase, but now, even those making less than that will have their taxes increases as well. So, in essence, everyone that pays taxes will be paying just a little more.

In addition, there might be a slight increase in taxes for health insurance which would drastically affect middle-income homes. But nothing has been confirmed about that just yet but as things are slowly having the snowball effect, I wouldn’t be surprised.

The reason why I am posting about the tax increases 2009 is simply the fact that it will affect all of us making money, buying things, or just living in the states during these hard economic times. I’m not a big fan of taxes but unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about this.

I guess we have to sit here and just watch us get dug into a deeper hole.