In order to grow the business on the net the organization needs partners. These partners are not like regular partners in a traditional model where they might have some stake in the business. These are partners who come together for a common revenue generating objective and may have a temporary relationship with the organization which is conducting the main business. These are called affiliate-partners. In this model the publisher or the partner is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer or sale that materializes doe to the affiliate's individual effort.

Evaluating your partner

It is very important to find the right partner for one's market venture. The right affiliates that help one's business tremendously while the wrong affiliate could do irreparable damage. The reason being that the buddy may be a distinct entity for the organization working for them. However, for the end consumer for whom the business-model or arrangement has no relevance, the affiliate is as good as the main organization itself. So any mistakes by the affiliate will get attributed to the organization conducting the business. So the first thing that a prospective business buddy must possess is integrity.

If the affiliate has integrity then the mother organization's credibility itself goes up. The affiliate must have a clean record. If the affiliate has a business record that is suspect sooner or later the mud will stick to the main organization as well. The affiliate must be legally in the clear because any bad publicity about the affiliate will have a negative effect on the business. The affiliate must have a sound financial base on which he can work on. Affiliates who run short on funds in the midst of the business can bring down a perfectly sound business structure. The shortage of funds can also have a negative effect on the business itself.

Bad debts are the worst disease that can strike the health of any organization. They needs to have good infrastructure as well. Since these businesses are web based, the partner must have a good web infrastructure. In terms of quality and the level of technology it must be as good if not better than the mother organization. Any disparity in the level of technology will have negative effect on the technology structure of the business. There should be good communication systems between the mother organization and the affiliates. Since affiliates are often defined as an extended sales force of one's business it is imperative that there is constant and regular communication between them and the mother organization. This is absolutely vital as good communication is the lifeline to any market venture.

The quality of employees is of paramount importance as well. All these factors must be taken into consideration before entering into any agreements with any affiliates.