I write a lot about what I look for in an affiliate when managing programs for various merchants. It always amazes me how many signups I get from sites with no affinity to my sites and also who never ask me a question about the performance of my merchant’s site. If you don’t know some of these basic facts about an affiliate program you are going to place advertising for on your site, then you are really not doing your job well.

So here are the 10 most important things you need to know about a retail merchant’s site:

1. Make sure the site is the site professionally designed. First impressions are important. Nothing will turn off the visitors you refer to a site than to have them see an ugly site on the end of a link you have asked them to go to. You lose credibility with your visitor, something you never want to do.

2. Make sure the ecommerce shopping cart is easy to use. We still have lots of clunky shopping carts in the marketplace. These hinder conversions and mean you won’t do well with the offer. How do you tell? Go buy something and see if you think it’s easy to use. You’ve seen more than most people, use your experience.

3. Make sure your site has a close affinity to the merchant site. Don’t sign up for an affiliate program just because they have a large payout. If your site is all about “cats and dogs” and you refer someone to a residential lending site, what do you think your chances of conversion are? Low, low, low… so don’t do it. Refer visitors to sites that match your site in content and voice. You’ll get higher conversions making up for someone else’s supposedly higher payout.

4. Check to see if they are selling any brand name products. Having brand names does make it easier to sell online. Having a branded category name is even easier.