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In the adult industry we have a legion of workers known as affiliate reps. Affiliate reps are the helpful souls that you will find on the forums answering the cry for programs that offer certain types of payouts, tours or galleries. They are the first line of offense for affiliate programs. However, what is the role of most affiliate reps and what should it be?

Affiliate reps are generally required to troll the boards maintaining a presence in the various online communities to keep the programs name fresh on the minds of potential affiliates, they spend countless hours answering questions and providing support for affiliates and they attend trade shows to represent the sponsor programs and help spread the word to potential affiliates that may be looking for new programs to join. They also maintain a good working relationship with current affiliates to make sure they are happy with the sales and conversions. This seems like a lot of responsibility for one person. Some affiliate reps rise to the challenge and perform the above tasks with little effort but some affiliate reps seem to struggle with some of these responsibilities. There are exceptions and there are exceptional affiliate reps that seem to have been born to do nothing but assist Webmasters in cashing in on the lucrative affiliate game and some reps stumble from one program to the next as their inadequacies are discovered.

There are several things that can distinguish a good rep from a bad one. A good rep will always be able to maintain a professional demeanor both on the forums and at tradeshows. This doesn’t mean they can’t have fun and party and have pissing matches like the rest of the community but it does mean that they know where to draw the line to prevent harming the reputations of their employers and themselves. A good rep will also know their limitations and not promise anything that they cannot be 100% certain they can deliver. Often a rep will get excited over the possibility of landing a “whale” and promise them the sun and the moon and they just aren’t able to deliver. It could be something as small as advertising tools or something as large as bonus payouts or other financial incentives.

Often programs will ask an affiliate rep to take on more than they should for the position. Some affiliate reps are responsible for multiple positions even though they are still considered a rep. They take on the role of recruiter, support, marketing, liaison with the design department, confidant and advisor for strategic promotion. There are no courses that teach you how to be an affiliate rep it comes with experience and knowledge of the adult industry. But, some programs don’t take into account the knowledge or experience. The programs simply see a pretty girl to attract attention, a big name from the forums that can stir up controversy and attract attention or just a fun guy or gal that is the life of the party to attend Webmaster conventions. There isn’t anything wrong with hiring a person based upon these abilities but don’t insult the good affiliate reps by calling them such.

Affiliate reps can be vital to a sponsor program and an inexpensive way to get the name of the program into the public eye. But, programs should think long and hard about how much they expect of the reps and whether they are qualified to handle the demanding job of being the lifeline for affiliates. Experienced Webmasters that have been in the role of the successful affiliates typically are the better affiliate reps. The Webmasters already know the majority of the people that they would deal with as an affiliate rep and they are experienced with promotion of affiliate programs.

Affiliate reps aren’t going to be departing the adult industry any time soon. But, we should respect what they do and realize that they aren’t always in a decision making position and often their hands are tied by the programs they work for. There are fantastic reps that have been with their companies for years and there are floaters that shift from company to company. If you enjoy a particular persons company don’t necessarily think that they are going to be the best rep for you to deal with. Use your judgment and don’t expect more from your rep than they are capable of giving.