It's interesting to me that your statement obviously tips the power balance towards the affiliate mananger.

I say if Donald Trump walked in for the job, would you care if he was in sweats or not?

You should welcome someone who is willing to have your program on board at the design stage of their site, they will likely do a much better job of selling your products.

Jon:
Thanks for your thoughts. I think what Karen is getting at is "appearance is everything" in the business world.

This doesn't in-validate your point which is (IMO) "don't judge a book by its cover."

Each viewpoint has its merits but your closing statement leaves me (and I suggest most affiliate managers) asking, "how can I believe that to be true if you show up in sweats?"

Jon - what you don't understand is that affiliate managers have to have SOMETHING to go on to know whether to allow the applicant into their program. It would be foolish for a manager to allow someone in without seeing at least some work they've done. That's what Karen is getting at. Otherwise, why would you even review applications? Might as well just put admissions on auto pilot.

What upsets me is that affiliates are constantly telling managers that they need to understand where they're coming from, but affiliates rarely care where managers are coming from. We can't just let everyone in without having standards. It's not negotiable, and not advisable for such a small population as the Donald Trumps of affiliate marketing. Who would never "wear sweats".

Trying to over-control your affiliates is a waste in my opinion. I understand managing your brand...but this is the web here, if you can't accept the wild west nature of the beast that you're dealing with, then best to move offline.

I could easily put a great site that you'd love to see as an affiliate on my application and then never add your product to it and use your product to spam all over the place.

If you are going to be rigid in your entrance requirements then affiliate mangers should at least let affiliates see the inside of the program without having so sign up. Many pros in this business, use that kind of information to DECIDE whether or not that they will even create a site or enter a niche, if the affiliate program makes me sign up first then I have two options, move on or [if image is everything as you suggest] show them an image that they'll like to get through the door and then make my decisions.

"It's not negotiable, and not advisable for such a small population as the Donald Trumps of affiliate marketing. Who would never "wear sweats"."
..so you think it it would be impossible [not even worth consideration] that I could apply with an empty domain and build a great site that would make you a killing?

why would you slam a door closed like that...if you were managing my affiliate program, you would certainly be directed to be more open minded...how about a review 3 months later? Geez, don't you realize that I can just go to your competition [probably friendlier] and sell their products.

Jon, it's really less about slamming the door shut on a potential affiliate and more about having to have rules in place. What I'm trying to say is that if I were lax about having that rule, I would probably let in more affiliates I would never normally allow than I would get some quality Trump affiliates. And I would have to answer for that - while the affiliates in question would never be the wiser.

I think many times, affiliates don't always take into serious consideration that affiliate managers have things they have to do in order to maintain time and size constraints. The long and short of it is that there have to be rules in place, and if the applicant sees the rules and doesn't care, I'm not sure that the answer is for me to remove the rule.

And to answer your question, I absolutely think that an affiliate can apply with an empty domain and make me a killing. Just like a guy who shows up in sweats to an interview could be a phenomenal worker. But managers aren't mind readers. Unless I recognized the name on the application as a Trump-esque affiliate, if you come to me with an empty domain and no explanation, or even with an explanation and no proof, I don't know what I can necessarily do for you. I'd like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but that's just not feasible in this business...for you or for me.

And by the way, I am a friendly affiliate manager. Unfortunately, I just disagree with some of what you're writing. And even more unfortunately, you can't discern tone in written posts. Kind of like not being able to tell the affiliate's potential with an empty URL.

I don't see how having an established site is over control?

Without a guide how can a manager protect other affiliates from bad relationships?

Jon, thank you for your comments. The main point I was trying to get across is this: if affiliates want to get approved in most well-managed, manually reviewed programs, there is some initial effort that is expected on the part of the affiliate. Applying for a program with a "This domain parked at..." page will usually get an affiliate an automatic decline from a majority of affiliate managers out there, not just myself. This has nothing to do with your personal potential to build a great performing site, which I am sure you are capable of, it is simply an outgrowth of the way the industry is moving. Long gone are the days of affiliate programs with thousands upon thousands of affiliates left to their own devices. In their place are programs with much stricter acceptance guidelines, well defined channel sales goals, and managers who pay close attention to the minutia as the performance of the channel (or lack thereof) rests squarely on their shoulders.

On a more personal level, do I make exceptions for empty domains and unfinished sites? Sure, of course I do, as do many others. It isn't very often, but in cases where I have been contacted directly by the affiliate or where there is at least a landing page with a short explanation of their plans, I'm happy to take a second look. I am not an unreasonable ogre itching to decline applications, far from it in fact, but in order to hit that approve button, I have to have something to approve.

The industry is changing and the Wild West mentality is being transformed in favor of a more traditional, yet still very fast paced, business code of conduct. Time to trade the horses in for a Ferrari.