Select the best affiliate products for your niche — Part 2.

Step 4

Affiliate networks/programs

So first, for those of you that are fresh to affiliate marketing, there are many types of affiliate programs and things that you should look for in choosing a “quality” affiliate program.

All affiliate programs are not built equally, the same way that all products and services are not built equally.

Some companies elect to join “affiliate networks” which are a collection of merchants, also known as advertisers, that choose to hand over their affiliate operations to a company that acts as the intermediate between their brand, and affiliates.

They typically handle all the tracking, payouts, and sometimes the collection of payment from the customer.

Then you have independent affiliate programs that operate their own affiliate programs “in house”. These programs are more reactive and interactive with their affiliates as they are not managed by a larger entity, but that, of course, depends on the program and the network that you are working with.

How to Search for Affiliate Networks/Programs

There are great affiliate programs, great affiliate networks, and great products that you can promote as an affiliate marketer.

So how do I go about my research? It is actually quite simple; I use Google.