After three months, my company’s CEO is getting antsy regarding our affiliate program. We’re a somewhat niche market and we’ve had an account with Commission Junction that has so far yielded very little activity and even fewer sales. At what point should we simply pull the plug on our affiliate campaign?

Know which products are the best to promote. If you want to make money quickly you need to choose a program that will help you achieve the greatest profits in the shortest amount of time. There are several factors you need to think about when choosing an affiliate program. You should look for programs that offer a generous commission structure, has a sound track record of paying affiliates on time and, perhaps most importantly, has a good product that suits your target audience. There’s no point finding a good product if you have no audience to promote it to.

If you’re new to the internet marketing business, you should start off with the regular affiliate program commission structure. You need to get started going yourself first before working with a team. It may take awhile before you earn your first affiliate program commission, but if you take the time to learn and to plan, you’ll be earning commissions in no time at all.

When choosing a program to sign up for, learn all you can about how they all differ. Understand your options and ask others for advice. There are many helpful internet marketers out there that will be glad to help you make that first affiliate program commission. You can read internet business blogs, ask for help on internet marketing forums, download and read ebooks and articles about how to earn that first affiliate program commission and then some, etc.

Selecting a product to endorse can be just as confusing as choosing the programs that offer the products. You shouldn’t always try to sell the most expensive products you come across, though. Sometimes smaller online businesses are more generous than larger ones. Which business is the most generous and which is the cheapest: one that offers a 35% affiliate marketing commission on a $40 product or one that offers 10% on a $100 product? Obviously the first business takes affiliate marketing pretty seriously, and you’ll more than likely have a positive experience with that type of program. Make sure, though, that the product is something people would be willing to pay for. If you couldn’t see yourself paying for a particular product at its offered price, then how can you expect anyone else to?

Finally, if your campaign is a success you should approach the merchant and negotiate an increased commission for your sales. You are a valuable asset to the merchant and if he is smart he will grant your request, rather than risk losing you. Don’t be shy about asking for an increase in your commission payment, but be reasonable with your request.