Today's post is realtively short. We have a couple of announcemnts about what's new at ItsTheRightWay.com. After the updates sit back and enjoy our featured article an article titled Business Relationhips Built On Trust, Reliability, Honesty and Integrity

Updates:
1) We are in the process of updating our products pages. We have updated about a 3rd of our products pages and then will turn our attention to our specialty stores. The new look makes it easier to search for the products that you are looking for.

2)We are pleased to announce that ItsTheRightWay.com is now acceping classified ad listings in over 15 category areas. Check us out by clicking here. Ads start as low as $14.95.

Now enjoy our fetaured article of the week.

Business Relationhips Built On Trust, Reliability, Honesty and Integrity
I recently spent time analyzing what guides me in my business relationships as owner. It didn’t take me long to narrow down four key elements that I incorporate into my business transactions and relationships. In fact, my business relationships are an extension of how I interact in my personal relationships. Why shouldn’t my customers and business partners receive the same standards that my friends and family receive in my personal relationships?
The four key elements of my business relationships are:
Trust - I need to be able to trust a business partner and vendor. If I find that a partner is not living up to their obligations in being trustworthy, then I need to sever that relationship. I believe that the same expectation must be extended by me to my customers and business partners. If I’m not honest with my customers and business partners then why would they continue to do business with me? They wouldn’t.
Business relationships are a two way street. Both parties should come out of the relationship having gained something. If only one party wins, then it’s an unfair relationship.
Reliability – I believe that it’s my duty as a business person to offer reliable services to my customers. In the case of my business, most of my products and services are provided by third party advertisers. I receive a commission when my site leads to a confirmed sale. While my legal obligations are minimized, I do my best to partner with reliable advertisers.
I always allow customer feedback and encourage my site visitors to contact me if they encounter problems. I do my best to resolve any issues that my visitors may have. In this way I’m providing my visitors/customers with a reliable outlet to conduct their shopping transactions.
Honesty – Since my site ItsTherightWay.com is a news and sports commentary website, my obligation to my visitors is to provide them with honest content. When providing a commentary to my visitors, I’m honest and to the point. I present the facts the way that I see them. While my visitors may disagree with my point of view, they hopefully will come to see me as an honest person.
I believe that people need to present the truth as they see it and be honest with their customers, visitors and business partners. If your partners and customers see you as an honest person then they will be more likely to do more business with you.
It’s definitely in your best interest as a businessperson to conduct yourself in an honest manner.
Integrity – Integrity is defined by dictionary.com as having a strong moral and ethical code. In my personal life I think about how my maker would want me to act in a certain situation. This guides me in me in all my relationships.
Each person has a different code of morals and ethics and I’m not saying that it has to come from religion.
I believe that every businessperson needs to form their own code of conduct. That code of conduct needs to have a set of morals and ethics. This set of morals and ethics is like a road map and must be consistently applied.
If you adhere to your set of morals and ethics you will conduct yourself with integrity. Your business partners and customers will see you as a principled person who has a set of standards that can be trusted.
I believe that incorporating trust, reliability, honesty and integrity into your business relationships are vital to being a success in business.

Weekly update

Affiliate Best Practices

This week we want to focus on affiliate marketing and the practices that an affiliate should focus on.
ItsTheRightWay.com receives its revenue from affiliate marketing. We place an advertiser's ad on our website and earn a commission from that advertiser.

So what are the best practices?
1)Research the advertiser prior to joining - An affiliate should always research an advertiser prior to joining that merchants program. The affiliate needs to make sure that their marketing tools are in line with the advertiser's.
Try to get as much info about the advertiser to make sure that your ethical or business standards are a match with the advertiser's.

2) Abide by the advertiser's terms - Each advertiser spells out codes of conduct or terms of use for an affiliate's involvement in their program. An affiliate should make sure that they are able to abide by those terms prior to joining an affiliate program.
Its' not fair to the advertiser if an affiliate joins a program but is unwilling or unable to follow the programs' rules.
Each advertiser sets out rules because they know what works for their company. Affiliates have the advantage of promoting a program that has been researched and marketed by the advertiser.

ItsTheRightway.com recently dropped out of an affiliate program because it was unable to abide by an updated affiliate policy. We didn't think it was fair to the advertiser or ethical to continue in a program that we couldn't abide by.

3) Follow best Practices - I believe it's necessary to follow ethical and moral standards when marketing a merchant.
We believe that it's unethical to click on an advertiser's ads (to inflate clickthroughs and revenue) unless you are testing to see if the link is still valid.
It's also a bad practice to have your friends, family or employees click on a merchant affiliate's ads to inflate revenue.

Another bad practice is using software that generates false or misleading clickthroughs. We believe that this is the same as stealing. We aren't talking about traffic programs that you may join. We are talking about software installed on your site that falsely clicks on advertisements.
All clicks must be valid and viewed by a real person. Traffic programs (where you join a traffic network) are real and proper forms of marketing.

4) Market the program in good faith - If you join a program you must make all attempts to adeqautely market that advertiser. You should also refrain from misleading your visitors about a particular merchant. Follow the marketing tools provided by the merchant and always be honest and ethical when marketing a particular program.

We know that we're all human and may inadvertently break a rule from time to time but we believe that if you follow ethical business standards then revenues will fall into place. Your customers and business partners will respect you and be willing to do business with you.