Knowing which type of programs that you want to promote will have influence on just what program you want to join. To break it down, there are three basic types of affiliate programs. The main types are Pay Per Sale, Pay Per Lead and Pay Per Click. Each of them has certain ways to promote the type of affiliate program, but all of them are profitable when you are promoting them correctly. Quick overview of the three types and how they should be promoted.

Pay Per Sale

PPS type of programs work just as it sounds; you only make money when you close a sale. These types of programs are the most popular; this is because they yield the greatest return on investment. Sense these do give the highest commissions, using a method, as AdWords would not be a good thing. The best way to market these types of products are informational types promotions. Marketing methods like article marketing works great for these types of programs.

Pay Per Lead

I like these because they are the easiest way to be paid; the customer does not have to purchase or buy anything. All your traffic has to do is sign up for more info, or some other type of action. There are many profitable programs in the ring tone niche. Someone signs up by providing a phone number and downloading a free ring tone. In addition, you the affiliate is paid.

Sense the customer does not have to buy anything; conversions are high, so the best way to market affiliate programs like the one described above. Is thru AdWords and other PPC marketing methods.

Pay Per Click

Now this is not to get you confused with AdWords, these types of programs are like AdSense. Were you place a piece of code on your website and you are selling your traffic. This type of affiliate program only works if you have a website with a ton of traffic. Sense the payouts are low; you need a lot of traffic to make any real money.

These programs need a pre-done website that is already having traffic. In addition, sense the payouts are so low, (10 to 50 cents) using a methods like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works well with this type of affiliate program. No costs to bring the traffic in, with the ability to get tons of traffic with easy conversions. Therefore, if you have a highly traffic blog or website then placing AdSense on your website/blog will bring in more money for you.

What to Look For in the Affiliate Program

Now that you know the types of affiliate programs out there and what marketing methods are best for them. You can now start to look at the affiliate program and decide just which one will work the best for you. The two things you need to look at for actually choosing the affiliate programs are the follow:

History of the Program

How long has the product been on the market and how well it is selling. If it has been on the marketing for more then a month and still is not selling can only mean a couple things. The sales page does not convert or the market does not want the product. Be sure to check the history of the product.

Competition

Think of your competition as your research team; use them to see what is working in the market. Check to see if there are any AdWords ads, articles or websites based around they product. If people are spending time and money building, writing and paying for the promotion of the product then it must be making them money. Learn from them do not be afraid of them.

Before you choose which type of program you want to promote, you must know what type of marketer you are. What methods of marketing do you understand and can do. If you have a healthy budget, then PPL programs work for you, but if funds are low, they PPS programs are the way to go. The best marketing methods includes a way to be able to promote all three types of affiliate programs at once.