There are so many affiliate programs from which to choose that you need to pick the one (or ones) that will best benefit you. You will see all kinds of offers that promise you the best earnings. What you need to do is set up a plan with your questions and then compare various programs that you think might work for you.

Costs to join: Most are free because it costs them little to have you do the advertising and send the referrals to them. Then they will pay you depending on the their requirements.

What you get paid for: Usually there are 3 statistics from which to choose by the company: sales, hits and impressions. Sales of course if your referral buys a product, hits are clicks on your banner or text link and impressions are the number of times someone views the links. Generally the average sales are paid from 5-20%, hits are .01-.05% and impressions very little because you need 1000's of them to count. Not every one pays for the hits and impressions. Find out what their average hits to sales average is by all affiliates.

Tracking: How do they track your referrals and how long do they stay in the system? Is there a method for you to track your referrals to their site and do they continue to give you credit if the referral doesn't buy right away, but may do so later on, even months away?

Statistics: What kind of details do they offer and make available to you when you login to their site? You want to be able to keep a close eye on them so you can evaluate your results and also allow you to see if your advertising is working or do you need to improve it.

Commission checks: How often and when are you paid-weekly, monthly or longer? Do they have a minimum amount in order for the checks to be issued? Do they offer a 2 tier system whereby they pay you for sales generated by the referrals as well as their becoming an affiliate?

Company history: How long have they been in business? What are the products and do you really believe in them? Don't join if you are a little unsure whether they are worth the money being asked. That attitude could carry over into not promoting your company as well as you should. I recommend going to forums and ask some questions and recommendations. People love to give advice and you could get a better picture of the program.

Tools and resources: Do they offer advertising tools such as banners, classified ads, e-mails etc.,usually with their links embedded in them already with your affiliate number? Often they will offer a series of emails that you can use with your autoresponder.

Conclusions: Beware of outrageous claims as to high commissions and also be leery of companies that keep bombarding you with offers. They seem to be more interested in getting you as a customer instead of just letting you do the referrals. (You probably won't see this until you have actually joined.) Some of this information will be a little harder to obtain but I think if you setup the questions you want to ask ahead of time it will go a long way to matching you up with the best program (or programs) that are a good fit for you.