1. Consider joining more than one affiliate marketing program. The benefit of joining multiple programs is that you can see which items or services sell the best. You can also make more money. The bad thing is you may not be able to nurture more than one program at a time. Also, if making more money isn't a priority, you will probably do fine sticking with one program.

2. Link to related products. Let's say you're affiliated with a bookstore. Fix your website so that a person looking for a specific book about birds will also be shown other books about birds. But only a few, as too many choices will overwhelm the visitor. Keep the alternate selections to about four or five. Amazon uses this tactic.

When you search for a specific item on Amazon, the results page also includes a list of related items. So readers browsing a specific subject are more likely to buy more books than they intended.

3. Don't waste time on advertising that doesn't return results. Learn to track your ads effectively. If after a month or two, you haven't received any response from an ad you placed, drop the ad. It clearly isn't working. Carefully study each advertising venue to see what works and what doesn't. A good conversion rate is at least 3 percent, which means 3 sales out of 100 visitors. If your ad doesn't produce this result or better, then revamp it or get a new ad altogether.

4. Offer free gifts and samples to attract visitors. But only use this strategy if it makes economic sense. If possible, get free samples from your sponsor so you don't have to shoulder the cost.

5. Budget your time and money. Plan how much time and money you will dedicate to the program each month. Set a specific amount for advertising costs. Set a schedule for marketing tasks. In other words, treat the affiliate marketing program like a business, because basically that's basically an accurate description.

Last but not least, make customer satisfaction a priority. A happy customer is likely to give you repeat business, and refer their friends and family. Building a good reputation will result in increased sales.