Choosing the right affiliate program or programs to promote on your website or newsletter can be a daunting task. With literally thousands of affiliate programs available, how does a webmaster or publisher select the right ones? Let's discuss some of the positive qualities to look for in an affiliate program, in addition to some of the pitfalls to avoid.

The first thing to do before you even consider an affiliate program is set up a legal entity for your business in the form of a company or corporation. Registering for affiliate programs will require sensitive information to be transmitted over the Internet. With personal identity theft becoming a more common crime and increasing risk, establishing a legal entity with limited liabilities is a wise choice. Read more information about the risk of providing your SSN. Please consult with an attorney or accountant to determine the best choice for your specific situation, as we do not offer any legal or financial advice.

The next step is to find an affiliate program category that matches the theme of your website or newsletter. Displaying ads that target the specific interests of a particular audience is known as targeted advertising. The opposite is blanket advertising, which displays ads to a random audience with varying interests. The effectiveness of targeted advertising over blanket advertising is enormous and the reason for its greater popularity. Like the saying goes, you won't get rich trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos.

Now that you have picked a niche to promote, you need to choose an affiliate program offered by a merchant in that industry. As with the category choice, select a merchant that complements your website and visitors. Consider promoting merchants who have popular brand names if you have a relatively new website or newsletter and need to build your credibility. If your website or newsletter is more established and you have a following, consider less well-known companies with higher payouts, lower payout thresholds or longer cookies with more generous return days.

Evaluate the merits of an affiliate program. Check how much the merchant is willing to pay per sale, lead or click. Is the commission adequate for the effort to promote the product or service? Is the amount in line with offers from comparable merchants within that category? The minimum payout level is the amount of commisions a publisher must earn before they qualify to receive a check. How many sales or leads need to be generated to qualify for a payout? More expensive products or services may require a prospective buyer time to consider a purchase. Does the affiliate program offer enough time to earn a commission from a referral that buys from or registers with the merchant on a return visit?

Impulse buy products or services are good candidates for programs that pay per sale. Expensive items are generally better candidates for affiliate programs that pay for leads. Promoting pay per click programs is discouraged. For a program that pays $5.00 per 1000 clicks and has a $25.00 payout threshold, a publisher needs to generate 5,000 clicks before the first check is issued. A similar affiliate program that pays per sale or lead may only require several actions to reach the payout threshold.

Sub-affiliate programs or multi-tier affiliate programs compensate webmasters and publishers not only for their own sales, but also from the sales resulting from other affiliates that are recruited. Joining a sub-affiliate program could result in substantial additional income without much additional marketing effort.

Carefully read the publisher's agreement of each affiliate program before you join. Some merchants have clauses that prohibit incentivized traffic, exclude participation of certain countries or have constraints on the design of your website, among many other issues. Other affiliate programs may hold you responsible for negative balances in your account. This could be disasterous in the event you participate in an online casino affiliate program and your referred player hits the jackpot. Remember that one of the key benefits of affiliate marketing is avoiding the risks that a merchant possesses. Do not go after small gains when you potentially have a great deal to lose.

Before starting your marketing campaign, remember that the cardinal rule with affiliate marketing is never send any type of spam. Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial advertising. It includes but is not limited to unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), unsolicited bulk email (UBE), commercial postings to message boards, newsgroups or instant messaging. Sending spam promoting your website, a merchant or their products or services is grounds for termination from an affiliate program and the forfeiture of all earned commissions. All references to spam here do not refer to SPAM, a fine meat product made by the Hormel Corporation.

Now that you've selected an affiliate program, you need to determine how to promote the merchant's products or services. There is usually a selection of text ads, banners, interactive ads, storefronts, or popups/popunders. Most merchants report that text links are more effective and have greater conversion ratios. They also offer the benefits of appearing more naturally in a web page and helping with search engine optimization.

Do not promote or participate in any unlawful or illegal activities, including but not limited to child pornography, hacking, cracking, warez, password sharing, pyramid schemes, chain mail, discrimination, racial violence, denial of service attacks, and transmission of viruses, worms and trojan horses. These are violations of most affiliate publisher agreements and grounds for termination from an affiliate program, resulting in the loss of any earned commissions.

Affiliate programs are free to join and do not require the purchase of a membership fee, a marketing kit or a setup fee. Stay away from merchants who claim to have an affiliate program, but require a cash outlay from participants. They are really Multi-Level Marketing programs, better known as MLM.

1. Establish a legal entity for your business to protect yourself.
2. Choose an affiliate program that targets your audience to achieve maximum effectiveness of leads or sales conversions.
3. Consider the commission offered by the affiliate merchant in relation to their product or service.
4. Compare the commission offered by the affiliate merchant with other similar merchants.
5. Evaluate the return days of your visitors allowed by the affiliate merchant.
6. Determine how many actions you need to qualify for a payout.
7. Consider sub-affiliate programs that compensate you for referring other webmasters or publishers.
8. Carefully read the terms of each affiliate publisher agreement.
9. Consider the various forms of advertising available.
10. Test your affiliate links to ensure they work properly.

1. Send any type of spam to promote your website, a merchant or their products and services, as you will likely be dropped from the affiliate program and forfeit any earned commissions.
2. Promote or participate in any unlawful or illegal activities, as these are also considered to be violations of most affiliate publisher agreements.
3. Promote adult oriented material in conjunction with mainstream merchants.
4. Join so-called affiliate programs that require a purchase or a fee.
5. Join affiliate programs that can potentially leave you liable for a large negative balance.
6. Engage in cybersquatting or typosquatting.
7. Overuse popup or popunder type advertising.
8. Send fraudulent traffic to the merchant.
9. Use incentivized traffic unless expressly permitted by the merchant.
10. Misuse merchant coupon codes.