Choosing the right affiliate product to promote is one of the most important steps in achieving success. It can also be one of the most difficult to achieve for any beginner. Selecting the wrong product to promote can kill off your business before you even start it.

It is therefore imperative for you to know some basic skills in selecting affiliate products to promote, and so increasing your chances of achieving results.

Here, we will be covering why it's important to choose a product which you believe in, how to check if the market is viable to compete in, and what level of commission to expect.

Choose what you fully endorse

Before you sell, be a consumer first. Do research and search at Google for reviews on the affiliate product, as if you are purchasing a new, expensive High Definition LCD TV. When you think you have found one and AFTER you have completed the next step, you should buy it and go through it multiple times to familiar yourself with it.

Once you are certain that an affiliate product has the quality and worth your money as a consumer, will you be able to truly promote it as an affiliate. You should only sell what you fully endorse for. Only then can you convey that satisfaction and promote it successfully to your prospects.

You can try to 'fake' it but shoppers will be able to sense you are not telling the truth.

Demand and Competition

After you have found the affiliate product you like to promote, check out the demand and competition. Is there a substantial demand for the type of product you are promoting? Is there too much competition vying for that limited amount demand?

Use Yahoo's Keyword Tool at inventory.overture.com and type in the name of the affiliate product. The results that appear will show you how many times that product was search for using Yahoo during the past 30 days.

Next, go to Google or Yahoo and search using the name of the product. How many websites come up as the result? If you see only about 50 people searching for that product and there are more than 5 million websites on it; move on and search for another to promote.

You have to be aware of your competition, especially if you are a beginner. You chances of success competing in an overcrowded field dominated by experienced players are going to be slim. You can succeed, but it will take you a lot of time and effort to do so.

Commission

Go for affiliate programs which give you at least 50% of the price of the product as your commission to ensure maximum returns for your efforts.

There are also some affiliate programs which have multi-tier payments, where you receive a percentage of sales made by an affiliate who signed up under you. These kind of payments are certainly a bonus.

Also take note the frequency which the affiliate program pays you. It's frustrating to earn thousands per month but receiving the check only once every 6 months. So choose affiliate programs which pay you frequently.

An excellent place to check out, if you have not heard of already, is ClickBank.com. The latter specializes in promoting downloadable digital products such as eBooks. Affiliates who sign up under ClickBank can receive their checks once every 2 weeks.

Lastly, if an affiliate program requires you to pay to become an affiliate, forget about it and search for another one. Affiliate programs should pay you to promote their products, not the other way round.

Conclusion

As you can see, selecting an affiliate product to promote is not as easy as going to supermarket to purchase a loaf of bread. But choosing the right affiliate product is a solid foundation on which to ensure affiliate marketing success.

The information which I covered here is just one of the few techniques to start off successful affiliate marketer, and what you will need next is information on effective internet marketing strategies which any beginner should know and master. For more information, click the link in my bio below to check out my review on one of the best and affordable Internet Marketing eBooks available.

I hope this article has given you the necessary information you will need in selecting the right affiliate product. But as always, 756 words cannot tell the whole story, so please do research on your own and I wish you success in your ventures!