Many a lucrative online affiliate program is free to join. The big problem many face is how to identify the most lucrative and appropriate programs to join.

Yet this problem can be solved very easily. All one needs to do is to test every free online affiliate program they join before they start a full promotional program.

Testing every free online affiliate program you join will also help you predict with great accuracy what sort of earnings you can expect.

Here is how the test should be carried out. Start by directing traffic to the affiliate site until you make a single sale. You then simply sit down and calculate how many hits you needed to achieve the single sale from your free online affiliate program. You then do a final test and generate exactly the same amount of traffic and see what happens.

Armed with this valuable information, you now know exactly what you need to do to achieve your goal in sales from your free online affiliate program. You will find that many times achieving your first sale will not be easy. If it is an affiliate link that you have pasted at your site, be a little patient and give it time. If the free online affiliate program still doesn't yield any sale or show any promise then the best thing is to replace it with another one which you will put through the same testing process.

Testing is such a vital aspect to success from free online affiliate programs that without it many are doomed to failure.