1. YOUR AUDIENCE'S EXPERIENCE — Will you be dealing mostly with experienced online poker players, complete novices or a mix? Those who already play a lot might already have accounts with the better known sites. Those who are new to online poker might feel better playing at the most visible sites. But if your audience is a mix, or if you don't know your audience's background, you might be best served offering a variety.

2. YOUR AUDIENCE'S LIKELY INCOME — Knowing how much your likely audience has to spend could affect whether you wish to receive an upfront fee for referrals or a recurring percentage of profits. It will also allow you to pick programs with bonuses best suited for your audience.

3. WHAT THE SITE OFFERS — Different players look for different things when picking an online poker site. The more features and promotions a site offers, the more chances you have to recruit a new player. Some things that will appeal to players include the variety of games, games that are exclusive to a particular site, tournaments, freeroll tournaments, bonuses, number of players, satellites to World Poker Tour or World Series of Poker events, limit structure, special online events, new player tutorials and the chance to earn loyalty points for prizes. Once you know what a particular site offers, you will know how to promote it and, even more important, who to promote it to.

4. WHAT AND HOW YOU ARE PAID — This one might seem obvious, but the variety among the sites is so great that you could inadvertently sign up for something you don't want. Make sure you read the affiliate agreement carefully before you join; don't just click "Next" to get to the next step of the signup process.

5. WHAT MARKETING MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE — All of the sites will give you a link and access to banner ads. Some might give you bonus codes for offline marketing. And then some give you a wealth of materials. Party Poker does the best by offering you to ability to create promotional CDs with the software and your affiliate code ready to install, business cards, newsletters and more. Determine what marketing methods you want to use and pick the site that best suits your needs.