If your company has an affiliate program or is considering starting one, this is a must read. *This is a transcription from a podcast roundtable discussion* This discussion includes affiliate marketing experts that have all spoken at Affiliate Summit, the largest affiliate marketing conference in the US.Eric Nagel is an experienced affiliate marketer that consults with merchants before he will run their offers. He joins Deborah Carney and Vinny O'Hare to discuss how merchants can create affiliate agreements that clarify to both the merchants and the affiliates that want to promote them the do's and don'ts.Many merchants are not aware that if they don’t have an Affiliate Agreement in place they are giving affiliates carte blanche to do whatever they want to promote your affiliate program. Eric joined us today to help explain to merchants both new and existing why they need a properly created affiliate agreement. Affiliates want you to have an agreement so they have guidelines and so they know that your affiliate manager and company have thought about the many ways affiliates can promote the merchant’s site. Affiliates will also assume that once you have an agreement in place that you will enforce it appropriately.“If you don't write it down, if you don't say we can't do it, then a lot of times we're going to assume that we can. Affiliates are very imaginative. We're creative.”- Eric NagelTopics we cover are: Search Engine Marketing – both PPC and organic, Direct to Merchant Linking in PPC and social media, Domain names – including subdomains and subdirectories, Coupon site regulations, Loyalty site regulations, Email restrictions, Social Media links and posts, iFrames and other framing of the merchant site, Policy about adware, spyware, toolbars and other downloads, Prohibited Affiliate Website Content, Unacceptable Web Sites (Banner farms, PLR sites etc).