For some people the link replacement is a lot more difficult than others, depending on site size and setup, and available time.
I will be lucky if mine are all gone by coming Monday.
While I personally have no problems removing all the links to Fortune, Vegas Partners, Partnerlogic and Referback, I know many others are scared to do it because they fear they will lose their income.
If you can make money with one program, you can make it with another. In a short period of time things will just shift. Also, the reason to drop these programs is because you will not make the money you have grown used to. If your concern is financial, dropping them is the best course of action.
There are also people with contracts that have to be filled or they,too, are in breach.
I don’t think pressuring people is the way to go – we were there years ago when those programs covered up our sites with scumware. Pressure doesn’t work. I personally resent it now, too. Back then I was the one applying it…
I think it would be a lot more productive to list replacement programs – look through their T&Cs and pick ones that have no nasty clauses.
Showing how the financial deals with other, comparable programs are so much better will help too.
It’s a lot easier to reinstate a program than it is to pull it – to reinstate you simply add it. Pulling means finding suitable replacement and exchanging listings one by one.
Ok, back outside, one of the remodeling guys is calling me.