Finding the Right Affiliates (and Ones to Avoid)
Once you create your products for sale, its time to set up an affiliate program of your own so that you can maximize your reach. Having your affiliate program is like having an army of salespeople on your site building your business every single day. But finding the right affiliates takes a little thought and consideration. 

Quality not Quantity 
Having 1000 affiliates will not help you if they are not good salespeople. If the people who want to promote your product use unscrupulous means to make sales, which can also affect you very badly. By focusing on recruiting quality affiliates over a lot of affiliates, you can avoid most of the problems that can come with affiliates - namely fraud and spam. 

Their Website 
Check out any applicants websites. Do they have an active blog? Does the content fit your audience? Is the website secure? Are they following all the pertinent laws for their country and yours regarding spam, privacy, and other issues? Do they appear honest and confident based on the information you find on the website? 

Their Domain Name 
One way to find out about the person behind the website is to do a "Who Is" search. Some of the websites are going to have the information hidden. If that happens, do a little more digging to ensure that the people behind the site are honest people that youd want to deal with in person. 

Their Content and Information 
When you go to the site and read the content and information, does it speak to your audience such that they will choose to buy from them? What sort of keywords do they use? Are the content and information directly and above the board? Would you feel safe sending your mother to that site to get information? 

Financial Validation 
The other thing you will want to do when you get an affiliate is to ensure that they fill out all the right legal forms required. Even if you are not going to send out 1099s because you pay via a third party like PayPal, getting that information is still important because it establishes their legality and validates them in a way that helps you keep your customers safe. Additionally, have they proven themselves to be effective affiliate marketers? 

When you are first starting as a product seller, you may not be able to be too picky about who becomes affiliates, but at the very least ensure that they are who they say they are, that they are not criminals and that they serve their customers honestly and transparently. Just realize that if you choose people who are new to affiliate marketing, you need to offer training and encouragement to them so that they make more sales.
