There are many factors when you are looking at promoting an affiliate program. Obviously you want a good product or service, but what else should you consider? Prior to joining any program, do some investigation and ask yourself these nine questions.

1. Is this a product that I feel good about promoting, would I purchase it? Choose a program that you like and believe in. It is always a lot easier to promote products and services that you like.

2. Does it cost you anything to join? Most of the affiliate programs being offered today are free. So why pay them to promote their product? Think of it as a job, would you pay your employer to hire you? Probably not, so why pay for an affiliate program.

3. How often and when do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different, do they issue their checks once a month, every two weeks, or every quarter? Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. It is becoming normal practice for affiliate programs to have a minimum payout. You want to be aware of what it is and if there are any other conditions. Also, do they have more than one payout option, or is it only through checks. A lot of affiliate programs are now offering choices of how you would like to be paid..

4. Does it have a good hit per sale ratio? Hit per sale is the average number of hits to a banner or text link before there is a sale - this is based on all affiliate statistics. Hit per sale ratio is extremely important to know as this will give you an idea of how much traffic you will need before you can earn a commission. Remember this is an idea not a hard fact, it could take more traffic, but it also could take less. Use this ratio as a general idea of traffic, not as a fact.

5. How do they track referrals from an affiliate’s site and how long do they remain in their system? This is how you get credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. It can take people four or five days to decide if they want to purchase, and if they saved the main sales site you want to feel confident that the system keeps track of where they came from. It is good to know you will still get credit for the sale if it is done months after the initial visit.

6. What kinds of affiliate stats are tracked? You should be able to get detailed stats, and be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Checking your statistics is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are being generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed and a hit is the number of times the banner or link was actually clicked on. This is good knowledge, as it lets you know if you should change where or what type of link you are offering. If the number of views, hits and sales is good leave it alone. But if the numbers are low, you may want to change it.

7. Who is the retailer? You want to know who you are doing business with. Is it a solid company? what are the other products they are selling and the average amount of sales they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

8. Does it offer a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the sales that you make. A two tier program pays you for your sales, plus it also pays you a commission on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsored. Some two-tier programs pay a recruitment fee for each new affiliate you sponsor.

9. What is the percentage of commission paid? you will find commissions can range from 5% - 75%. If you use a program like Adsense, they pay 0.01 to 0.02% for each click. The amount paid is not much, but if enough people click the link, it can add up. It is not always wise to look just at the percentage of the commission. If a product that has a fifty percent click to sale ratio, and pays 25% commission of $8, is compared to a product that has a 10% click to sale ratio and pays a 60% commission of $22. Which is better?

Before you join an affiliate program ask yourself these questions. The more familiar you are with the program the more likely you are to make money.