Affiliate Marketing is the process of selling some one elses product in return for a commission. The definition is simple and your key to success is to follow the following 5 steps each and every time you promote some one elses product;

1. Select Your area of interest
2. Research the market place
3. Choose your product
4. Advertise the product
5. Review and refine your advertising

Provided you stay focussed on these steps and concentrate on setting up the promotion of just one product at a time, you will find it hard not to succeed.

The beauty about affiliate marketing is you can learn as you go. You do not need to learn all about every aspect of internet marketing, to get your business started. To attempt to do that will almost certainly lead you to failure.

If you stick to the plan and don't get distracted by the thousands of "offers" and "deals" that you see along the way, you can be making a couple of hundred dollars within a month. But you must stick to the plan!

Cetainly you should not rush out, sign up for the first product you see and pay for some advertising without doing some research. However you can get your business started by useing your most valuable asset wisely, your time.

You must use your time to focus only on the things you need to learn, to get your business started. By doing this you will achieve 2 very important things;

1. Generate some cash flow
2. Gain confidence in the "process"

You could then choose to simply repeat this basic process a couple of times to boost you cash flow and confidence, or take some time to learn the next techniques that will enable you to build the depth of your business.

This is the real beauty of affiliate marketing. In the above section I mentioned that you could be making a couple of hundred dollars within a month. Now that income will probably not start to flow until the last 5 to 10 days.

BUT, the work you do in the first 20 to 25 days will mean that the sales you start to make WILL be sales that you will continue to make every week. So in reality, what you have established is a small business that is now bringing in $400-00 to $1000-00 per month.

Sure you will have to spend some time monitoring your results, and tweaking your advertising to make sure you not only maintain the results but also to get the most out of your advertising dollar that is possible.

And yes this is a part of the learning process. But the important thing to note is that every new "mini business" you set up, can easily be established as a residual income stream.

Depending on the product you chose initially, that stream of income might flow for as little as six months to a year, or it may be a product that will be in demand for many years to come. And that is something that you might like to consider in both the market place you choose to work in and the product you devide to promote.