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What do you do when you sign up with a new sponsor? Obviously you hit the front page of their affiliate site, you take a quick glance at what their payouts are, you might even spare a moment to run your eye over their promotional tools and then what do you do?

Well if you're like most new affiliates you look for the link to the sign up page and you start filling in the form. It's a bit of a drag filling in forms isn't it? I mean you really want to grab the linking codes and start promoting the great sites the sponsor has don't you?

You probably don't even stop to read the sponsor's terms and conditions before hitting the sign up button do you? That's understandable, you're in a hurry, time is money and the terms and conditions are pretty much the same right across the industry aren't they?

Sorry, these days there are some very important differences in some sponsors' terms and conditions. Those differences can have a major impact on your bottom line and if you don't take the time to at least read the terms and conditions you could be giving away some of your hard-earned traffic for free.

Actually, it's just not 'these days' that there are differences in the terms and conditions between various sponsors. There have been differences for years and if you haven't read the terms and conditions for some of your old sponsors you could be in for quite a surprise. Even if you read them when you first signed up perhaps you should go back and read them again.

Am I really being serious when I suggest that you go back and check the terms and conditions for sponsors you signed up with years ago? I certainly am seriously suggesting that you do that from time to time because just about every set of terms out there on sponsors' websites includes a little clause that says something like: 'We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time without notifying affiliates.'

Now you may not have noticed it but it's there and it's usually just about the last thing in the terms so go and have a look for it ... and while you're there spend some time reading the rest of the terms to make sure that you really are in compliance with them.

But why should you have to read the terms, these sponsors are all good stand-up guys who wouldn't intentionally screw anyone.

Yeah right! If you believe that one then you still believe Google's little con about doing no evil.

I'm certainly not saying that all the sponsors out there are crooked but there are some who definitely have some very different terms and conditions that may have an adverse impact on your business if you deal with them. Actually, if they list all their funny little quirks then they're being quite open about it and it's up to you to read those terms.

Even quite honest and upright sponsors can have some terms that can adversely affect you if you don't take the time to read the fine print. Steve and I are no different to anyone else, we haven't always read the terms and conditions for each sponsor we signed up with. If we had we wouldn't have been caught sending traffic to one particular sponsor.

This sponsor is quite well-known and offers a big range of great sites that should convert really well. It was the same years ago when we first signed up and started sending them traffic. We were a bit surprised though that our traffic wasn't converting quite as well as we had expected and then we took the time to read the terms.

Those terms were quite clear; while the sponsor would accept any traffic we cared to send only traffic from one particular geographic region would be offered a membership in their paysites. The rest of the traffic from the rest of the world would be sent to a dialer.

Needless to say, much of our traffic came from what this sponsor classified as 'the rest of the world'.

They certainly weren't dishonest about it, it was quite clearly stated in their terms and conditions and, even though nearly every other sponsor was taking sign ups from all over the world, we had no one to blame but ourselves because we didn't read the terms.

So be sure to read the terms and conditions every time you sign up with a new sponsor. When you do sign up with a sponsor you are actually entering into a legal contract and the terms and conditions are the very basis of that contract. If a dispute arises between you and the sponsor it's usually settled on the basis of those terms and conditions and just because you didn't read them is no excuse at all.

The print might be fine but the impact can be major.