*Take a look to see if the affiliate program is two-tier so that you can earn money from recruiting other affiliates to that affiliate program.Most of the the noteworthy and professional affiliate programs will be two-tier although there are some notable ones that aren't, Clickbank being the most widespread.

At the very minimum, the affiliate program should offer some sort of incentive to recruit new affiliates.

If an affiliate program is not two-tier, make sure that you determine whether or not the product(s) being sold are professional and have good conversion rates.

*Ensure that the affiliate program makes it easy to sign up, complete with welcome email and full contact information of the point person who can answer any questions.If the affiliate program isn't run by a third party like Clickbank, the affiliate program sign up form should also ask for your EIN # or your Tax ID # for proper reporting.

For the business owner who has established a business identity, this is key for accurate bookkeeping.

Some marketers have gotten away from welcome emails to their new affiliate partners because the potential affiliate partners sometimes do not want to give their name and email, they'd just like to join and make money with no 'marketing' messages hitting their Inbox.

*A strong affiliate program ideally should have plenty of help tools including any or all of the following: real-time tracking, solo email templates (even though I suggest writing your own), graphics, banners, etc.

For the newbie, the better the help tools, the easier it will be for them to feel comfortable selling the product.

In addition, the affiliate program should offer follow up emails to all affiliates offering help to sell more products as well as relaying success stories of how other affiliates have made strong sales numbers.

*Ideally, the affiliate program's affiliate links should be unique to the affiliate but should also be structured so that the link is distinctly protected from would be commission thieves.The affiliate link ID should not be visible in the URL after the would be customer gets to the sales page of the product in question.

For the newbie, the abovementioned steps will help mitigate wasting time and will maximize their time and efforts.

The best affiliate program for the newbie is the one that satisfies most or all of these criteria and sells a product that meshes well with the newbie's USP.

Karl Augustine"Starting Smart!"About the Author:Author, "9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Online Business"Publisher, "Starting Smart!" e-zine

Starting an online businesswww.9mistakes-online.com