Bad Boy Blog Rejected by iTunes Affiliate Program

July 4, 2006 3 Comments

Wow, this is odd. I’m working on a Bad Boy releases section at Bad Boy Blog. It’s going to be neat. Album cover, title, artist, release date, executive producers, The Billboard 200 peak, songs on The Billboard Hot 100 and videos released from the album. I also was going to include a buy link at Amazon.com and iTunes.

Bad Boy Blog is an unofficial Bad Boy Entertainment fan blog. Bad Boy Entertainment is perhaps best known for Bad Boy Records. A while back, iTunes did some sort of deal that allowed them to release the entire Bad Boy catalogue. So, I’m thinking, hey – this is the perfect site to use the iTunes affiliate program on. It’s on topic, directly related to items they sell, etc. I mean, I may just make a few pennies, but that’s better than nothing. So, I applied yesterday. This morning, I heard back that I had been rejected. How in the world did this happen? From the e-mail I got, these are the reasons it could be rejected:

— The content is unrelated to iTunes
— Your site is temporarily down or under construction ¿-please make sure to apply again after 2 weeks.
— A wrong or misspelled URL given in the application. Please correct the problem and apply again.
— Your site is aesthetically unpleasing
— Your site promotes tobacco, alcoholic beverages or excessive drinking/drug use
— Your site contains extreme religious content
— Your site is international (with a majority of visitors based OUTSIDE the US. or written in a foreign language)

They don’t tell me why my site was rejected, specifically. These are just reasons it “may” be rejected. The content is related. It’s not under construction. The site wasn’t down because I saw the visit in my site statistics. They visited at 7:55:15 AM and 7:55:29 AM from this link. The URL was correct. I know opinions will vary and I know that I designed it, but I think Bad Boy Blog’s design is pretty nice! Certainly not “aesthetically unpleasing.” :) We don’t promote tobacco, alcoholic beverages or excessive drinking/drug use. We don’t have any religious content. Although Bad Boy/Diddy have fans internationally, my site can’t be considered “international.”

So, I’m kind of confused. But, it’s not a big deal. They say I can re-apply in 2 weeks. So, I may do that. Not sure, though, because the e-mail says that “if any of the above problematic criteria can be resolved, we look forward to your reapplication.” There isn’t anything to correct. Oh well.

Patrick O'Keefe

Managing online communities since 2000, I publish a collective of websites known as the iFroggy Network. I wrote the book Managing Online Forums and, as a public speaker, have presented for organizations like CNN, institutions like Australian National University and conferences like SXSW. More about me.

2 Comments

chrispian

about 17 years ago

I work with affiliate managers at work all the time and many of them have adopted "automatic rejections" to see who really want's to be in their program. Also, I'm 99% sure your rejection was a form letter response. They didn't spend any time looking at your site.

That's what I think, anyway. If they have an address for the affiliate manager, contact them directly and you'll probably be approved quickly.

Reply

Patrick

about 17 years ago

That stinks.

Anyway, yeah, I sent an e-mail to them before the post, hoping it was just a misunderstanding.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you would like to comment, I welcome you to do so. Please keep in mind that the atmosphere here is kind, respectful and work appropriate. If you can't disagree without being polite, this probably isn't the best place to comment.

I'm probably more strict as far as advertising goes than other sites you've commented on. If you aren't sure if something is OK, please contact me privately (rather than in the comments) or read the full Comment Guidelines. Participation constitutes acceptance of the guidelines.