Affiliate marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to make money online. Before you go out and start promoting all sorts of products, remember one thing, you need to focus on one product at a time. So what sort of product should you start to promote if you are new to affiliate marketing?

A lot will depend on your level of interest and knowledge. It will be better for you to start promoting something that you either have an interest in or something that you are knowledgeable about. Take for example if you are a dog owner, isn’t it better for you to promote dog products or services as compared to let’s say something on beauty or health care. Since you are already a dog owner, you will be in a better position to market dog products or services to other dog owners. You will be able understand what are the key issues that dog owners faced and this will helps in your marketing efforts.

I will normally take a look at the sales page of the product before making a decision to promote it. If the sales page sucks and doesn’t hold your attention, it’s a sign that the product sucks as well. However it may not be the case every time, sometimes, the sales page may look good but the product sucks and end up getting a lot of refunds. That’s why some affiliate marketers advocate buying and reviewing the product that you are going to promote first.

Most products’ affiliate programs are free to join and I would advise against joining one that asked you to buy a product first. Steer clear of these programs if you can. There are tons of affiliate programs that are free to join and I see no reason why you should pay to join one.

You also need to take note of how your commission is being paid out. Normally, commissions are being paid out in checks. Also factor in the frequency of the payout, is it monthly payout or do you need to hit a certain amount before receiving your payout.

Another thing to take note is how are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do their cookies remain in the system? Most visitors do not buy initially and they may return a couple days later to make the purchase. You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site.

Lastly, you need to know whether a particular product has a two tier payout system. I normally go for the two tier payout system as you stand to make money not only from sales that you referred, you also make money from sales generated by an affiliate that you sponsored into the program.

I hope the points above will help you to make a better decision on selecting which product to promote. Remember, focus on one product at a time and you will see better results than promoting many different products at the same time. Geez, I sounding like an old man now!

For a list of good and reliable affiliate programs and products, check out my “Recommended Resources” section.