3 Key Characteristics of a Great Affiliate Program

Choosing the right affiliate program makes the difference between making peanuts and earning a good income from your affiliate marketing business. If you are a newcomer to the world of affiliate marketing and need a little guidance, this article will help you begin your affiliate marketing journey. Of course, a newcomer will also face a little more difficulty figuring out what exactly to look for in an affiliate program.

These are three tips which can make sure that your affiliate recommendations are consistently good ones.

• The right product

It's always a good idea to check out the product for yourself before you sign up as an affiliate to promote it. With inexpensive products like ebooks, this is easy enough to do. However, if you are considering joining the affiliate program for a product which you cannot afford yourself, you should ask the affiliate manager for a review copy so you can evaluate it for yourself. They may not always say yes, but it can't hurt to ask and it's a good way to make sure that your recommendations are trustworthy otherwise you need to do some in-depth research on the people behind the affiliate program and the product itself.

• A solid reputation

Make a habit of researching any product (and the company selling it) before recommending it. You can do a quick search to look into the track record and reputation of a company. You definitely don't want your potential customers to think that the trust they have in you is misplaced and ruin a good track record by recommending a substandard product or one by a company with a record of poor customer service just so you can make a few extra bucks. If you are new to affiliate marketing and this is a new company or new product which you have no way of judging, you are better off taking a pass on this product unless you know the founders of the company or have some other assurance of their integrity.

• Does the merchant give you more than a simple sales page to help you market their product?

If you are experienced as an affiliate marketer, a simple sales page may be plenty to get you started, but if you are new to this, you're going to need more resources to make this a successful campaign. Try to find programs which give you more than this like sample emails, articles, graphics; you get the idea. You want programs which offer marketing materials and support to get you started.

To learn more about the basics of affiliate marketing, grab your free registration to Moms Affiliate Expo here.

© 2008 Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses. Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business? Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com