Listing out the affiliate programs with the best earning potentials for the next year is a tough job. A lot depends on the kind of selling and promotion you are comfortable with. A person with a chatty informal style will probably do better promoting a dating service than insurance. Having said that, here are some affiliate programs, in random order, for 2009 that seem to have a lot of potential.

* Lunarpages is a rapidly growing web hosting company that is known for the quality of its service. Its not just about the technical stuff, it's the customer support they offer that makes them number one in their field.

* Cardoffers has one of the best affiliate programs going. It enables affiliates to offer over 150 credit cards. Commission is paid both on applications as well as approvals.

* Markethealth is a leading marketer of skin care, beauty and weight loss products and has one of the best affiliate programs of this market segment. It offers income both in terms of commissions and payment promotion to its affiliates.

* Cashunclaimed is a booming unclaimed money database site that allows subscribes to search and claim missing money. The commissions are very competitive, 73% of the sale price and the visitor gets a free search so they know they are owed unclaimed money, the subscription pays for itself.

* Friendfinder is a big player in the online dating services market and offers one of the best affiliate programs in the industry. With millions of registered users, finding new referrals is not a problem.

* Linkshare is a broad spectrum marketing organization with a huge range of products available for its affiliate programs. The advantage in dealing with them is that you have a reputed company with a good commissions system and you can take on as many affiliate programs as you want while having to deal with only one company.

* Axandra is a software company offering a wide range of products covering the crucial areas of website optimization and improving search engine rankings. With this becoming an increasingly important aspect of all business and marketing plans, these are products that are easy to promote and the company has affiliate programs for all its products.

Make sure to review the following before you sign up:

- What do they sell?

- Is it right for you to sell?

- How much do they pay in affiliate commissions

- How successful is their site? (Alexa? Years established? Press? Etc.)

- Would you ENJOY marketing it?

There are many other affiliate programs that may take off in 2009. There is no certain way of predicting what will be a success and what won't. The best thing you can do is keep an eye on market conditions and sales patterns to help you find the affiliate programs that offer the greatest potential.

Make sure that you pick an affiliate program with a product or service that you believe. That is the true secret to making good money as an affiliate!