In affiliate marketing, one of the greatest tools an affiliate can be offered is a product datafeed. A datafeed is a compilation of a merchant’s product line which allows you to display their products directly on to your site. I have many datafeeds in use across quite a few sites and go through many lengths to put them to best use. Unfortunately, however, working with certain merchants can provide more headaches than value and I’ll tell you why.

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When someone starts out in the affiliate marketing industry it’s obvious that one of the first places they want to head is an affiliate network, and typically those networks are Commission Junction (CJ) and/or Linkshare (LS). It’s an understandable decision, CJ and LS are long-standing players in this industry and they carry the weight of a lot of major brand names — Travelocity, Yahoo, Home Depot, Walmart, Delta and more.

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