Publish your own articles, tutorials, ebooks, your ezine archive, as well as promotional materials provided to you by affiliate programs you've joined.

8. Keep your site updated regularly with new material.

9. Write recommendations.

Make a recommended links or products page where you share with your visitors benefits that products that you promote will provide to them -- how those products have helped you.

10. To increase your commissions promoting two-tier affiliate programs, also provide a top rated affiliate programs page where you recommend your affiliate opportunities to your visitors.

11. Follow up with your visitors by providing free e-mail courses.

Your courses can be those provided to you by affiliate programs you promote, or you can create your own free e-mail courses from your own articles or tutorials.

12. Publish an ezine.

Running an ezine will allow you to successfully drive more new and repeat traffic to your site, successfully market your affiliate programs to your visitors by keeping in touch with them, and also allow you to promote several different affiliate programs within your ezine's content.

Publishing an ezine is also an excellent way to establish yourself as an expert or resource in your field which will generate more commissions for you as your subscribers respond to your recommendations.

That's not good. My customers are literally my bread and butter. Giving them what they want and expect is how I stay in business. Paying for traffic that I send to a merchant site where there is nothing to buy, will put me out of business.

(This is how a membership site should be structured. When starting a dating service, merchant pays for advertising to bring people to their site. To entice visitors to sign up as members, he will initially offer his services for fr*ee. When database is large enough to attract paying customers, affiliate program manager then invites potential affiliates to join their program.)

Although my friend's program had already struck out for my customers and me, I was still curious, so I kept on looking.

Next I clicked on a link labeled 'Dating Resources'. Expecting to find Internet dating tips and advice, I found links and banners pointing to Lavalife, FriendFinder and other affiliated dating sites instead. When I asked him about placing affiliate programs on his site, my friend said he simply wanted to supplement his income until dating service got *rolling*. I can understand his motivation. However, what he doesn't understand is concept of customer 'hijacking'.

As an affiliate, you pay good money to get visitors to your site. You presell your merchants' products and expect merchant to honor their end of bargain by making sale and sending your commission check. You don't pay for merchant to send YOUR customers to THEIR affiliated merchants.

I didn't need to look any further. I told my friend that I would hold off on signing up and why. Fortunately, he understood and has already alleviated some of problems I mentioned.

Knowing when NOT to sign up for an affiliate program can sometimes be a tough call. However, you can simplify process considerably. Put yourself inside your customer's head. If product won't work for them, program strikes out. Simple as that.