There are many factors when you are looking at promoting an affiliate program. Obviously you want a good product or service, but what else should you consider? Prior to joining any program, do some investigation and ask yourself these nine questions.

1. Is this a product that I feel good about promoting, would I purchase it? Choose a program that you like and believe in. It is always a lot easier to promote products and services that you like.

2. Does it cost you anything to join? Most of the affiliate programs being offered today are free. So why pay them to promote their product? Think of it as a job, would you pay your employer to hire you? Probably not, so why pay for an affiliate program.

3. How often and when do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different, do they issue their checks once a month, every two weeks, or every quarter? Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. It is becoming normal practice for affiliate programs to have a minimum payout. You want to be aware of what it is and if there are any other conditions. Also, do they have more than one payout option, or is it only through checks. A lot of affiliate programs are now offering choices of how you would like to be paid..

4. Does it have a good hit per sale ratio? Hit per sale is the average number of hits to a banner or text link before there is a sale – this is based on all affiliate statistics. Hit per sale ratio is extremely important to know as this will give you an idea of how much traffic you will need before you can earn a commission. Remember this is an idea not a hard fact, it could take more traffic, but it also could take less. Use this ratio as a general idea of traffic, not as a fact.

5. How do they track referrals from an affiliate’s site and how long do they remain in their system? This is how you get credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. It can take people four or five days to decide if they want to purchase, and if they saved the main sales site you want to feel confident that the system keeps track of where they came from. It is good to know you will still get credit for the sale if it is done months after the initial visit.

6. What kinds of affiliate stats are tracked? You should be able to get detailed stats, and be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Checking your statistics is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are being generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed and a hit is the number of times the banner or link was actually clicked on. This is good knowledge, as it lets you know if you should change where or what type of link you are offering. If the number of views, hits and sales is good leave it alone. But if the numbers are low, you may want to change it.

7. Who is the retailer? You want to know who you are doing business with. Is it a solid company? what are the other products they are selling and the average amount of sales they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

8. Does it offer a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the sales that you make. A two tier program pays you for your sales, plus it also pays you a commission on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsored. Some two-tier programs pay a recruitment fee for each new affiliate you sponsor.

9. What is the percentage of commission paid? you will find commissions can range from 5% – 75%. If you use a program like Adsense, they pay 0.01 to 0.02% for each click. The amount paid is not much, but if enough people click the link, it can add up. It is not always wise to look just at the percentage of the commission. If a product that has a fifty percent click to sale ratio, and pays 25% commission of $8, is compared to a product that has a 10% click to sale ratio and pays a 60% commission of $22. Which is better?

Before you join an affiliate program ask yourself these questions. The more familiar you are with the program the more likely you are to Make Money.

The unemployment rate is constantly climbing and more and more people are looking for solutions not only of being laid off, but the threat of it.

It is a fact in today’s economy there are very few safe jobs. So what can you do?

In reality no one can answer this question, but there are steps that you can take to find the answer within yourself.

Take an inventory of what you enjoy. Passion is a key element to success, and if you really enjoy something you are much more passionate about it. This passion, can take you through the difficult process of looking for a new job, or starting your own business.

Consider your skills and how they can help promote your passion. So many people don’t give themselves enough credit for the skills that they possess. The simplest of things can become an incredible asset in a new venture.

Think outside of the box. if you look around your neighborhood, you will be surprised at the things you may pick up on. Many people only look at the existing companies, but what if there was a need that wasn’t being met. Do you have the skills to meet those needs? Do you know of others that could meet those needs? There are many ways to solve a problem, and if you find a method you can earn money from it.

Don’t allow money to stop you. Too many people feel that you need to have money in order to Make Money. that is one of the greatest fallacies of business. What every successful business needs is creativity. If you require money to start, think of ways you can find it. There are a lot sources of money that don’t require a loan, but you have to be creative, and have a solid plan to find it.

The biggest thing holding people back is the belief that they can’t do it. If your first thoughts are the reasons why you can’t. You will never find the answers of how you can.

Look at the situation as a how do I, rather than a why I can’t, and you will find the solution to your unemployment worries.

Every day there is a struggle occurring in our society, a struggle between trying to have a life, and trying to pay all of the bills. Some people are making it but many are not.

When did this occur? It wasn’t that long ago that our society lived on cash, not credit. Then a simple plastic card came about and mass debt started. People no longer had to wait to buy the things they wanted. We became an instant gratification society, and with more and more credit available to us it became even easier.

There is a real problem in our society, we are drowning in debt, and it seems to be getting worse. With every big store offering a credit card it has become even easier to go further into debt.

It is time to stop the madness. There are some easy ways to get out of the debt that has occurred in your life.

First, stop using your credit cards. Fairly simple to say, but it seems really hard for people to do. You must control the urge of spending. If you want to purchase something train yourself to pay cash only.

Second, look at all of your credit cards, and put them in order of highest interest rate to lowest. This is the order that you should pay them off. Get rid of those big interest cards first.

Third, set up a payment schedule, where you add an extra ten or twenty dollars onto the first credit card on your list, and only make minimum payments on the others. You will need to make a budget and stick to it.

Fourth, as you pay off a credit card, add that amount to the next card on your list. For example, if your first card had a minimum payment of thirty dollars, plus the extra ten you were paying, you would now pay an extra forty dollars on the next credit card on your list.

Fifth, you have to stop spending on things that you don’t need. This by far is the hardest thing to do, as we have created the instant gratification mentality.

Lastly, cut up the cards you don’t need. Keep one, possibly two of the larger company cards (Visa, Master Card, etc.), and get rid of the rest. You don’t need them.

If you stick to this payment schedule, you will be amazed at how quickly you can pay off debt. It will get tempting to start to buy again as you pay done your debt. But, you have to stop this if you wish to become free of the stress of the bills.

If you sit in front of a computer and look for ideas about making money, you have taken an initial step, but if you don’t have the mind set for success, you will fail.

Making money is more than ability or great ideas, it is how you think. Most people feel there is a magic recipe, or luck, or being born into the right family, when it comes to wealth.

But in truth it is how your thoughts are formulatted. If you believe that you can be wealthy, and work with that goal in mind then you have reached a plateau that many people do not achieve. It is beyond a belief of wealth, it is the belief in yourself.

Unfortunately, most people never achieve that realization. They believe that there are all of these things that are out of their control that determine financial achievement. The truth is that the wealthy believe that they deserve what they have, where as the majority of society believe that they have to work hard to get the bills paid. I’m not talking about the rich spoiled kid, who does nothing with their life. I refer to the men and women who work hard everyday, and achieve wealth.

How then, do you change this thinking?

There are many books and experts who will tell you how to be successful. Some ask for a few dollars and some will ask for thousands, some tell you for free. No matter which you use the message is the same. You must believe that you can earn like the wealthy. All negative thought have to be banished from your mind.

I’m not talking about visualization, although I do believe it is a powerful tool. I am talking about removing your internal road blocks. If you have a belief that you do not belong with the wealthy, then if it gets difficult to obtain wealth. We will work with what our thoughts are and if you say it will not work, then it won’t. What will happen is there will be a problem and instead of finding a solution, you will quit. Your mind set will be “It wouldn’t have worked anyway.”, and this gives you the ability to quit.

If you look at a lot of the wealthy, they have had failure in their lives. So, we can’t say it is about having a difficult time. The difference is whether you quit.

If you believe that you can be wealthy, when something goes wrong, you will evaluate it and find a solution to the problem. That is the difference. You either don’t believe and have excuses for quitting. Or, you do believe and find answers to the problems you have encountered.

Ultimately it comes down to something Donald Trump said. “I never knew I couldn’t”.

To work towards wealth, you will have good days and bad. Your decision becomes whether you are willing to look for the ideas to solve them, or QUIT!