Most people looking for an affiliate program start with Clickbank. It's easy to join, easy to start promoting products and the commissions are healthy.

There are a few things to check when you use Clickbank.

Firstly, make sure you go to the product's "pitch" page. You're looking to make sure that the sales page looks fairly presentable. You won't know actual conversions until you start promoting but looking at the page will give you some ideas.

Make sure that the owner isn't using Adsense on the page, otherwise you're just giving them free money for no return.

Check that the links for affiliates aren't too prominent. You don't want to promote something where the main headline encourages your hard earned customers to sign up to cut you out of the equation.

The other thing to do is check what the likely refund rate is. Clickbank's marketplace shows the earnings for each product - these take into account the refund rate. You can either calculate the refund rate manually or be lazy and use a Clickbank calculator, which does the hard work for you.

Expect some refunds - that's the way Clickbank works - but if the refund rate is higher than you'd expect (5% refunds is quite a good figure) then you may wish to choose other products instead.

The other thing to check is whether the pitch page is making people give up their email address before they can get the information and/or whether there's an email course offered.

Sign up for the course. You'll see what your customers will be getting. If the program owner doesn't promote their own product for the first week or so, you may need to decide whether to promote the program. Some pages I've signed up to give a free gift (which is good) but then also offer links to rival products. The pitch page's owner will get the commission on these add-on sales.

Hypnosis can be applied to a wide range of problems, so don't think that your site needs to be a hypnosis site before you can offer hypnosis tracks to your customers.

Topics include:

• Weight loss


• Self improvement


• Quit smoking


• Relationships


• Phobias and fears


• Pain relief


• Sports performance


• Stress management


• Cancer treatment


• Relaxation


• Anger management


• Dealing with difficult people


• Confidence

The best site I've found is Hypnosis Downloads. I've been an affiliate since 2004. They pay out consistently. Their customer service and affiliate support is good.

Since I've been with them, their range of hypnosis MP3's has grown to well over 300, so you're almost certain to find something that will fit with your site's audience. They add new hypnosis tracks on a very regular basis.

Commission is 35% and the cookie that's set lasts a year.

Join Hypnosis Downloads affiliate program

Another firm I've been an affiliate of for years is My Help Hub.

They pay out using Paypal, 35 days after the sale has taken place. That's to allow time for refunds to be claimed (they used to pay out almost instantly but got taken for a ride by some unscrupulous affiliates).

Once you've signed up for one of their programs, you can promote any or all of them. They range from things like bath bombs, mystery shopping, writing courses and lots of self help/personal development programs.

I've found their sales letters to convert well and they pay out as promised.

They sell what seems to be the same range as Hypnosis Downloads as downloadable MP3s, hypnosis scripts (useful if you want to record your own tracks), subliminal messages and more.

Commission varies according to whether the program is a download or a CD. Quite a lot of their product comes on CD with free international shipping. Physical products generally have a lower refund rate as people have to put in some effort to getting a refund, rather than just sending an email.

Join My Help Hub affiliate program