At one time or another, all successful affiliates will eventually use a contractor to assist them with the more mundane tasks required for an NDA Confidential ongoing campaign. Maybe it’s web design work, content writing, PHP scripting, or keyword research. Perhaps the last time you were requesting or farming out contract work it occurred to you that it’s not too difficult for your contractors to put 2-and-2 together and come up with a pretty good idea of what’s making you money, then rinse and repeat.

Almost everyone’s heard a horror story or two about friends or contractors ripping off those who confided in or hired them in good faith. So, what can you do to protect yourself and your business?

Here’s some quick guidelines:

1. Get a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement in place BEFORE discussing anything uniquely identifiable about your business. Even if you can’t really enforce it due to geographic constraints etc., it will at least give them pause to think before getting any bad ideas. This NDA template can be used to draft your own version. *Always consult your attorney to ensure your NDA is legally valid.*
2. Get a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement in place with any contractors you are currently working with, or have worked with in the past. Don’t sweat it too much if past contractors are reluctant to sign retroactively, but it doesn’t cost you anything to ask.
3. Give contractors only the information they need to complete the task at hand. If it’s a multi-phase project, dole out the information as you go. The big picture is what gives those with motivation the information they need to steal from or compete directly with you.
4. Request that contractors permanently delete any copies of original materials submitted to you at the end of a job or project so that they think twice about selling the material to others. Again, you can’t enforce this, but it will make them less likely to resell work meant only for you.
5. Try your best to keep any domain names the material will be used on 100% private. If a contractor can see the way their material was used in the finished product, it makes it that much easier for them to copy.

It’s unfortunate that these steps are necessary, but when your confidential campaign details have this much value, nothing can be left to chance.

How do you maintain your campaigns’ confidentiality?