How To Find The Best Affiliate Programs to Promote

Not all affiliate programs are created equal so your challenge is to find the best affiliate programs to promote, which are programs that offer quality products, great support and will help you earn the most money :-) 

Use these tips to find quality affiliate programs that offer superb products, they value their affiliates and will bring you a steady flow of commissions.

1. Make sure the affiliate Merchant has an affiliate agreement

Don't sign up without an agreement. This keeps things honest between parties. Also in a dispute you have something to refer back to.

Be sure there is no exclusivity clause
Some merchant accounts require that you cannot partner with merchants selling similar products.

2. Look for an Exclusivity Clause

Make sure there is no exclusivity clause in the contract. An exclusivity clause means that as long as you promote their products or services you cannot partner with merchants selling similar products.

Violating this would result in termination of your contract. This isn't a very common practice much anymore but there are a few affiliate programs that still have exclusivity clauses.

3. Know how much Commission is being offered

Some affiliate programs pay a flat fee for sales while some pay a percentage of the sale price.

Be sure you understand the payout schedule and what you are entitled to. You don't want surprises in the end. Also, look for merchants that pay for leads. For example, some programs will pay a small amount for anyone you bring them that fills out a form. This is often seen on financial or credit card sites. Doba, listed below is one such affiliate merchant.

4. Understand the payout schedule

Most merchant programs pay schedules are either weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly. This may not matter to you but it's a good idea for you to know when you can expect your checks. You might make a few hundred dollars in commissions but if it's a month or more before you receive it you could be a little disappointed.

5. Know the minimum payout

If a program requires you to earn $100 before payout and you have only $75 in your earnings account, you won't be receiving a check from them until their next pay period, which could be another month or more. At sign up most programs allow you to choose how often you are paid and what the minimum payout is so watch for that.

6. Is there a 2-tier program?

A "two-tier" program offers two sources of income, first, a commission for bringing in business, a second for recommending new affiliates. Some programs pay a fee for each new affiliate that joins the program, while others pay a percentage of the 2nd tier affiliate earnings. Some pay in both situations.

7 Look for programs that use cookies

Cookies allow your personal merchant URL to remain on a viewers computer for a specified amount of time such as 30-90 days, some remain as long as a year provided the owner does not delete cookies very often.

This is important because if a visitor clicks on your affiliate link and goes to the merchant's website but does not buy anything you don't miss the sale if they go back at a later time and buy. That's because your affiliate URL remains on the buyers computer through the use of the cookie.

The only drawback to this is that with all the security software cookies often get deleted off user's machines when they log off, however it's still worth it to have cookies. There are plenty of users that don't use security software or turn off their software's delete cookie option.

8. Are sales tools available?

The more sales tools an affiliate merchant offers, the easier it is for you to make a sale. Look for sales tools like sales letters, articles with embedded affiliate links, newsletter ads, sales letters or banners. You will want to thoroughly review all of these tools and use them creatively on your site. The more sales tools a merchant has, the better.

9. How does their site Look?

Appearance of the site is important. If the site is hard to navigate, checkout is difficult or they don't accept credit cards, this is a problem for you. If there are third party advertisements everywhere and you see a lot of Adsense ads, don't bother! This will only help the affiliate manager earn income, not you.

10. Look for residual Income Affiliate Programs

Whenever possible, look for residual income affiliate programs. These are the programs that pay you consistently month after month. For example, residual income programs would be things like internet hosting, magazine subscriptions and membership sites. Any products or services that requires a monthly fee. As long as the members continue with their monthly service you will continue to get paid.

===>  Affiliate programs I promote that have been the best affiliate marketing programs for me and my affiliate business.