If you're searching online for a solid affiliate program to market, you should be searching for programs that have certain essentials that will increase your odds of making good affiliate commissions. Taking the time to analyze any affiliate program your considering joining will be time well invested.

If you plan on making money online, its essential that you invest the time in finding and choosing a solid affiliate program with a good product/service.

1. Lets talk money first. You shouldn't have to pay any money to sign up with an affiliate program. Now, most are free to sign up with, but there are some who charge a fee, be aware of that. Choose one that doesn't require you to pay anything. A good program should be easy to start marketing as an affiliate.

2. All marketing tools should be provided. The tools are usually supplied by the program or product owner. The more and better quality of marketing tools should make it easy for affiliates to make sales easily. Along will tools, the company should have a rock solid support system in place.

3. Popularity. Marketing something that is popular is going to make life so much easier and make you money. Promoting something no one desires is just going to waste valuable financial resources and time. Choose a high quality product/service to market and you'll be further ahead.

4. Getting paid. The commissions should be paid on a regular basis and on time. Be sure the affiliate program will pay you the commissions you have coming, check to see what their payment history is like. Waiting for your money is not fun, especially if you've invest a large sum of money or many hours of your time up front.

5. What percentage of commission do you get and do they offer residual income opportunities. Each affiliate program will differ in what percentage of the sale they pay out to their affiliates. Most will be between 30%-70%, with some offering higher percentages or bonuses to affiliate that produce sales in volume. Which affiliate program you choose to promote with your affiliate home-based business can make a big difference in how big your commission payouts will be.

6. How many tiers deep do they pay. Single tier affiliate programs will only pay out commission on your direct sales, whereas, a two-tier or multi-tier program pays you on your efforts, plus a percentage of sales brought in by people you bring into the affiliate program. Choose a solid affiliate program that offers you the opportunity make a residual income if possible.

You may add to this list depending on what your looking for and your personality, we're all different on what we like to promote online.

I might add that you should look into an solid affiliate program like Wealthy Affiliate that offers affiliate marketing classes. This is, to me anyway, the most essential thing to look for in any program online. Training will give you way better odds of making a good income online over not being trained. Getting good training is just good business sense, period!