The key to becoming a successful affiliate is conducting a bit of research before you sink time (and maybe money) into a campaign. Think what it would be like if you built a resort full of all of the trimmings: crisp white towels, Egyptian cotton sheets, 10 pools, a 5-star restaurant, and flawlessly beautiful architecture... But it's on the moon and there are no people, so you can't profit from your efforts. 

If you spend all your time building a website or a campaign where there is no market, you will come up short, and it's just not worth it. You need to figure out which topics, or "niches," are in hot demand, and then find an affiliate network with a good variety of products to promote. This will enable you to build a niche-specific website, with strong products that will be easy to promote for commissions.

One of the most important things to practice as an affiliate marketer is what's known as "keyword research." Keywords, or the terms or phrases people type into Google, can be the best way of finding out what exactly what people are looking for. If you can find some popular phrases, and convince search engines like Google that your website has relevant information about them, you'll get the rankings you need to get people to your affiliate links.

The lessons in this section will help you to find a profitable niche market, as well as good affiliate networks and products. You'll also learn a thing or two about that ever-important keyword research.