1. Collecting the money
2. Delivering the product
3. Customer Service

One of the better affiliate programs out there is the Internet Marketing Center.

If you have come across other affiliate programs and don't know which one to choose, consider the 8 tips provided below:

(1) Go For Quality

When you promote someone else's product, ensure the product is of good quality. Do your homework first either by buying and testing the product or by getting testimonials and recommendations from other people who have bought it. Remember that any recommendation you make reflects directly on you.

If you recommend a quality product or service that is reasonably priced, you'll retain your customers trust and their interest in any future recommendations that you make.

However, if your customers have a bad experience with a product or service that you recommend, it is unlikely they will act on any new offers you send them.

Never promote something that's going to hurt your reputation!

(2) Look For A Program That Offers Top Commissions

It is perfectly reasonable for you to expect to be paid 20% to 50% of the profits on each product sold -- 5% to 10% is really low. Ultimately, you should look for companies who understand the "lifetime value" of new customers you send them and who appreciate your efforts enough to compensate you generously.

(3) Make Sure They Have A High Sales Conversion Ratio

When joining an affiliate program, make sure that the site is turning a reasonable percentage of traffic into sales. If not, your efforts directing visitors to the web site will be wasted.

Look for sites that have at least a 1% conversion ratio (i.e. 1 out of every 100 visitors buy). Check out the web site and the sales copy to see if it "makes you want to buy." After all, while it's your job to send targeted traffic, it's their job to turn these prospects into paying customers.

(4) Choose A Program That Matches The Theme Of Your Website

If your site is about internet marketing, then promoting a non-related affiliate product like car books is a poor strategy. Your customers see you as an internet marketing expert -- not a car expert.

Instead, you should be selling books or ebooks about web marketing. So, it makes sense that while your visitors will be very interested to learn what marketing books or ebooks you recommend, you will lose their trust and respect if you start trying to recommend car books to them.

Find out what your target market is looking for and then choose affiliate products that meet their needs while complementing your own product or service.

(5) Be Sure That You're Getting Credit For All Of Your Sales

Find out what kind of tracking software the affiliate program that you're interested in joining uses. You want to go with a company that uses quality affiliate tracking software that is reliable and tracks ALL of your sales.

Why I emphasize "all" is because you want to make sure they track online, phone, fax, and snail mail orders. Many companies only track online orders, and this means that you will never get credit for anywhere from 5 - 10% of your affiliate sales!

Also, make sure the affiliate program you join uses "cookie tracking" because this helps to ensure that you will be credited for the sales of people who don't buy the first time they visit, but come back later to make a purchase.

(6) Look For Programs That Allow You To Access All Of Your Sales Statistics In Real Time

Real Time statistics are important because they allow you to see how different banners, text links, and recommendations are doing. For example, after some testing on your site, you might discover that a banner on your resource page doesn't pull nearly as well as a personal recommendation under your newsletter subscription box.

You can adjust which banners and text links you use, and where they are placed, based on what you learn from your Real Time sales statistics.

(7) Look For A Program That Teaches You The "Best" Techniques

A good affiliate program will provide you with everything you need to be successful, including traffic-generating banners, text links, and recommendation letter templates. And, it will also tell you which techniques work well in which circumstances.

Because an affiliate program's success is linked to yours, the program should be able to provide you with everything you need to know to start earning excellent commissions immediately.

(8) Consider Commission Payment Frequency

Last but not least, you need to know how often commission checks will be sent to you, preferably not less than once a month. Any longer payment interval is probably too long.

Keep in mind the 8 tips noted above before joining any affiliate program. If the program meets the mentionned criteria, you probably have a winner. If not, look for a better program.