Many marketers are guilty of jumping hastily into a troubled relationship with the wrong affiliate program. This is usually because he or she is so anxious to earn money online that it is easy to forget some basic truths. It stands to reason then, that before you join the next affiliate program, you should ask a few questions.

First of all, some affiliate programs cost you money to become a member. Even though that may be a good thing for them, it is not necessarily a good thing for you. This cost is usually in the form of a product or service that you will get from the affiliate program. Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you just for joining.

So one quick question you must ask yourself is "When will they issue the commission checks?" Each affiliate program is different. Some will pay commission checks once a month, while others pay every quarter. Choose the one you like best. Most affiliate programs set a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must send to your affiliate link before you can earn a commission from the sale.

How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be fairly confident that when you send referrals to the program website, their system will track people you refer and give you credit when they purchase. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if the customers go back to the site and make a purchase 6 months after you refer them.

What kinds of affiliate statistics are available? The affiliate program you choose should be able to offer excellent statistics. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit happens when a person click on your link and is taken to the affiliate website.

Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions, besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to hit ratio.

Who is the online retailer? Find out who you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. I still have stinging memories of at least one affiliate program manager who still owns me almost $400 in commission. It turns how he was a crook and took down a lot of affiliates. Do not let that happen to you.

There you go. If you are serious and want to earn money online, you should check into affiliate programs. This might just be the place to start your dreams and turn them into reality.