For a beginning affiliate marketer, one of the first struggles you might encounter is not knowing which products to promote. If you plan to promote products through Amazon, the first step you want to take is to make sure that the product isn’t on the “excluded products” list.

This is a list that Amazon puts out that will list exactly which products won’t deliver a commission, when that excluded commission time began and when it will end (if ever). You want to keep up with this list because Amazon has the right to change what’s on the list of excluded products.

You’ll see things on there like certain GPS units, some brands of televisions, certain Apple products, XBox 360 gaming systems and even coffee makers.

Read all of the fine print in the compensation overview. Look for caps on your commissions for certain items. Also be aware that a changed order means no commission if it’s changed before the item ships out to the customer.

When you’re choosing a product, pay attention to the customer reviews that are listed for the products. These reviews count. Amazon counts the reviews according to the star rating.

Getting a three start on a product means that the product is considered average and didn’t exceed expectations. The product is seen as average. So pay attention to the stars because Amazon does.

Next when picking a product, you want to make sure it’s a good fit for your target audience. You don’t want to promote a product that isn’t going to end in sales for you because it doesn’t fit what your customers need.

Another thing you want to pay attention to is whether or not it’s a good price point for commission. If the item has a low selling price, then you want to make sure that the search volume is high because even if it’s a high priced product without a lot of sales, just a few sales can earn you more on commission than many low priced products.

Try to promote what you would personally use in your own life. This way, you’ll be interested in the product and that enthusiasm will show. You want to make sure that you pick products that aren’t already overwhelming the market because too many other marketers are promoting them.

Look for evergreen items. These are items that people are always going to need. For example, if you promote baby items, you can look for the items that aren’t already crowding the market and focus on those.

You also want to be able to point out (when you’re doing your blog or posts about the items) what makes that item unique from the other products just like it. For example, babies always need sippy cups. By promoting ones that are unique (no spill, BPA free, etc.) you can have an edge over the competition.