Tristan wrote:
You should benchmark against some other affiliate program.
Personally I send 2000 hits somewhere before deciding what they’re like.
That is sound advice. Different programs perform differently on different sites.
When choosing a program, first check the reputation among players and affiliates, then check the T&Cs. See if those items meet your criteria.
After that you need to go with what works on your site, give prominent positions to those programs that perform for you.
You do need a decent sample of both hits and downloads as well as some reasonable time span of exposure to judge performance.