Affiliate marketing is first and foremost a partnership. You won’t go far without a great merchant to back you up because dependable merchants offer great income opportunities and share marketing expertise essential for growing your business.

With thousands of merchants to choose from, I’ve created this must-have checklist that helps you shop around for topnotch merchants:

Attractive Payout Scheme. You want to get the best return for your hard work so the first thing you should seek out is an attractive payout scheme.

Merchants have commission structures that describe how they are going to pay each click, visit and purchase referral from your websites. Gather three or more for comparison and then choose one that has a noticeably higher rate than the others.

If there’s just a small difference, then start comparing their minimum payout rates or the minimum commission you need to earn before a merchant cuts you a check. In general, choose a merchant with a small, easy-to-reach minimum so you can get your payouts faster and reinvest them in your business.

Trusted Brand. Stick to merchants who have earned a good reputation over the years. Hang out at affiliate marketing forums and ask around for merchants with a solid track record. It’s also as important to read threads discussing fly-by-night merchants so you can avoid their scams.

You should also scrutinize a merchant’s products before signing up. A flashy merchant website filled with testimonials can mask an unpopular product line that won’t sell even if you gave it away for free. If you can, you should even order these products to see first-hand whether the wares are as dependable as the company claims them to be.

Attentive Affiliate Managers. You should look for merchants with attentive affiliate managers who try to help you in whatever way they can. Affiliate managers are your primary contact with a merchant and should give you a heads up on new product lines, your sales performance, and notable industry developments that will affect your business.

If an affiliate manager checks up on you regularly, sends you progress reports, and suggests ways to improve your earnings, then you have nothing to worry about. But if there is limited, often one-way communication from your affiliate manager, then consider lobbying for greater face time just so you don’t get left out in the dark.

Optimized Creatives and Landing Pages. Magazines keep in mind the three-second rule when creating their cover pages. The three-second rule means it only takes three seconds for a potential reader to decide whether he will pick up a magazine or not in a crowded newsstand, so it is important to create an eye-catching cover page.

The same mantra applies to affiliate marketing where it only takes seconds for a web visitor to decide whether he will browse through a merchant store or not. If a merchant has optimized creatives and landing pages, then visitors stay longer and have higher chance of buying products you recommend them. The result—higher commissions for you!

It’s also vital that the merchant you choose is open to feedback because you as an affiliate marketer can gather feedback from your readers as to what kind of graphics and fonts appeal to them. This varies per demographic so a merchant with a flexible creative team can easily change their branding and website design to suit their intended market.

These are just the basic essentials you should check out before partnering with a merchant. There are many more to consider depending on your niche and preference, so be diligent with choosing your merchant and you’ll end up with a partnership that earns you your dream commission.