Stu McLaren is the Affiliate Manager for some of the Internet's top marketers including Armand Morin, Mark Victor Hansen and Glazer-Kennedy. So he has a wealth of experience in affiliate management and recruiting. However, particularly if you're just starting your online business finding top affiliates can be a challenge.

There are two main criteria you need to bear in mind when recruiting affiliates.

Your affiliates should:

1. Have a lot of traffic to their website, and or

2. Have a large list that they can send emails to.

So how do you find such marketers?

Here's Stu McLaren's proven and tested strategy for recruiting affiliates.

1. List Your Keywords

Make a list of keywords related to your products or services, i.e. the words that individuals would type into the Google search engine to find the type of products that you promote. Once you've written your list whittle it down to the top 20-25 keywords associated with your niche.

2. Google Search

Go to Google and do a search. Start by typing in "Keyword one + ebook". On the left hand side of your search results will be websites and blogs that organically rank high in the search engines. On the right hand side will be a list of marketers who have paid to advertise for that particular combination of key words.

Websites listed on the left hand side will be getting a large volume of traffic for those particular keywords. Therefore, make a note of these websites.

Also, make a note of the websites on the right hand side because if people are paying to advertise then they are generally either:

a) Building a mailing list by directing prospects to an opt-in page, or

b) Building a customer list should the prospects directed to their website actually make a purchase.

Make a note of:

1. The contact information for the website owner;

2. The website's page rank, and

3. Alexa ranking (though note that the latter is not accurate so just use it as a guideline to see the site's popularity).

Compile the data you are collecting into an Excel spreadsheet.

Next you want to repeat the process for your first keyword and words such as seminar, report, home study course, podcast, blog forum, etc.

Downside

This method is time-consuming and laborious.

Upside

Once you recruit your core band of affiliates you will likely have a global sales force working night and day to sell your products. So keep the end-goal in sight.

Plus, there is a short-cut or rather a more efficient way to conduct this research. You can use a special Search Engine Optimisation Software program called SEOElite.

Downside

This software is not free.

Upside

You will be able to conduct your research much faster and more efficiently.

So there you have it - a free way to uncover potential candidates for your elite sales force of affiliate marketers and a slightly more expensive route that will help you to achieve your goals that much faster.

However, here's the real gem. Get your recruitment done right and your affiliate sales force will start to grow virally because your affiliates will attract new affiliates to your business.