In the idea is to find a bunch of products and promote them for a commission.

But there is such a thing as the wrong product and the right product.

Anyone can promote a product, whatever product, and make a sale. But in building your business, you are in for the long haul. This means a lot of thought needs to be put into product selection.

Here are some crucial things to keep in mind when selecting a product to promote

• What is your focus? It is important when promoting a product to get clear in your head what you are focusing on. Any affiliate knows how to promote the newest ebook and make a sale. And if it is sale that it is about, then that's okay. But you need to build a relationship of trust with your clients i.e email list or website visitors. This way they will keep coming back because they trust your recommendations. It is why the focus should be on the product itself. Does it actually deliver good value for money. Have you pitched it to the right audience at the right level. A great example of this can be seen in the industry. Every week there is a new ebook or video tutorial that claims to have 'The Secret' to affiliate marketing. You rush out and buy it only to find the same old methods rehashed and nothing new. Now this is not value for money for someone like me, but if the same product is pitched with a more even keeled tone to the beginner as the product that has all previously used methods in one ebook', then you have a customer who is satisfied with the product.

• Money back guarantee. You just cannot be promoting products that do not have a money back guarantee. It does not make sense. If you want to look after the interests of your website visitors or email list, you need to find products that have a built in mechanism to protect your clients i.e the money back guarantee. And not just any guarantee. A one week money back guarantee on a 300 page ebook or 20 hour video series just does not cut it. Give them products that have a reasonable guarantee on them. I suggest at least 30 days

• Merchant's Reputation. You cannot just promote

  any product without knowing something about the performance history and customer services of the merchants involved. The beauty of is you, the affiliate do not have any after sales responsibility to the customer. That really is in the remit of the merchant. You however have a responsibility to make sure that the merchant that you are recommending is responsible with regards to product quality, delivery fulfilment and customer service.

• Scalability. In a well designed affiliate email marketing campaign, you want to be able to identify those of your email list have bought the index product and those that have not. A scalable product is one where there is a more advanced form or alternative and a less advanced form or alternative of the product. Either that or a product that if you have it, you could also use this, that or the other. This means the sales pitch is not a closed one, there is room for negotiation. With scalability built in and a properly sequestered email list, you can get recurrent sales from your up sell, from people who bought the product; or downsell for people who didn't buy the index product

• Affiliate care. Any good merchant knows the value of having a good affiliate marketer promoting their products. Having successfully promoted a gazillion of these products, you need to know that they will pay you your due commission and pay on time. Also they ideally should provide you with good promotion tools e.g banners, free samples or reports etc. The affiliate program should have built in a way of tracking your clicks and sales without having to invest your money in software