With literally thousands of affiliate marketing programs available to choose from, a prospective internet affiliate marketer needs to ask several questions first before making a decision as to which programs to join.

Doing some basic research about the various online promotion programs you intend to join is to your benefit and advantage. Be sure you that you receive definite answers to the following questions from the merchants you are interested in signing up with. The answers you they will give you are the decisive factors on which you should base your decision on whether you will join or not as an online reseller of their products or services.

1. Does it cost anything to signup? Most online marketing programs do not require any joining fees therefore do not settle for programs that charge you money, even if it is only a few dollars, before joining.

2. When do they issue commission checks? Depending on the type of program you choose, checks may be issued monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. Choose the one that suits you best.

3. Is there a minimum commission payout? Some companies set a minimum earned commission amount (normally $50) that must be met or exceeded before they issue checks. If you are happy with it, go ahead.

4. What is the hit per sale ratio? This is simply the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to make a sale, this is particularly important because it allows you to calculate the amount of traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale of the product or service.

5. How does the company track referrals from an affiliate's site and how long do they remain in the system? Since all affiliate marketing programs employ cookies to track online promotion, you need to be positive that the merchant correctly and reliably tracks people you refer from your site since this is the only way you get credit for a sale. The period of time is also important because some visitors do not buy outright, they may want to return at a later date to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is made some months later after a client's initial visit to your site.

6. What are the available statistics? A good affiliate program must be able to provide detailed statistics online anytime an affiliate wants to review them. Regularly checking and analyzing your individual website statistics is valuable and keeps you up to date on the number of impressions, hits and sales generated from your site.

7. Does the program also pay for hits and impressions aside from commissions on sales? It is important to determine if the program also pays for impressions and hits, this adds to your earnings from commissions. However, this becomes more important if the program you happen to join has a low hit-to-sales conversion ratio.

8. Whom are you doing business with? Knowing whom you do business with is fundamental to successful online promotion. Know the company, the products they sell and the average sales they generate. This will help you determine if the program is suited for you and your website.

9. Is the system a one-tier or two-tier program? One-tier programs pay only for the business you generate whereas a two-tier program pays you for your own self-generated business and also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by affiliates who signed up through you in the affiliate marketing program. There are also two-tier programs that pay a small fee for each affiliate you recruit.

10. How much is the commission rate? Normally, programs pay out anywhere from a minimum of 5% to a maximum of 50% commission. Clicks or hits are worth from .01%.05% per hit.

Make sure that the affiliate marketing program you plan to join gives you definitive answers to these 10 questions before you make a decision to join. It is always best to know before hand what you are getting into.