There are literally hundreds of thousands of affiliate products and services to choose from, and often, figuring out which one's are the best can be a daunting task. But there are certain elements you can look for to help ensure that you are choosing the best affiliate programs for you and your website.

Make sure that the products you are considering go along with the theme of your website. Alternately, you can build a website around the theme of a product - or several products. Don't expect to sell much face cream from a football themed website. Keep your website and products centered around one theme.

Start by looking at the commission payout. If the payout is too low, it isn't worth your time, unless it is a high ticket item where your small commission will amount to a large payout. For high ticket items, a commission of 20% - 30 % is good. For smaller ticket items, look for affiliate programs that pay out 40% - 50% commissions.   Consider this:  3% is an excellent sales conversion ratio for your affiliate programs but it shows that 97% of your visitors aren’t buying.  So when you do make a sale, make sure the commission is worth it!

Next, look at the affiliate program’s creatives that you will be using to promote the affiliate product or service.  Do they entice viewers to click on them?  Ask yourself if you would click on these creatives?  Creatives may be graphical banners, text links, sales letters, websites, or articles that have been created for affiliates to use. Keep in mind that all the other affiliates will be using these same creatives, so it is a good idea to find out if you will be allowed to use your own creatives as well.  Don’t overlook text links.  Some surfers have become adept at skipping over banner ads.  A text link which is on-topic with the rest of the web page is sometimes your most effective creative.