Okay, you've decided you want to make money with Affiliate Marketing. So, you join some affiliate programs and start submitting free ads to newsletters and free advertising classifieds sites. You're going to make BIG money now -- right? Nope! Sorry! Just sending out a few ads is not going to do it. Not if you want to be a real success. You must first determine your passion. I mean other than making the money! What is your hobby? What do you know how to do REALLY well? What is your job? Everyone has something that is their own special talent. Find yours. You probably have more than one thing that you are very interested in and do well. See if you can find five (ten if you're really ambitious). Write them down in a list. Remember, you are going to be spending a lot of time working with this subject. Make sure you enjoy it! Go down each item on your list. Start writing a rough outline of everything you know about the topic. It doesn't have to be elaborate. This is just to give you an idea of how much information is available for a given subject. Try mind mapping. Write down the main subject of your idea. Draw a circle around it. Now, start thinking of sub-categories that are related to your main category. Draw a line from your main category and end it with a circle. Put the sub-category title inside this circle. Find as many sub-categories (and sub-sub-categories) as you can. Go through each of your interests with this procedure. Choose the one that you know the most about and that you can write about comfortably. What if you "think" you don't know enough about your topic? Then, do some research. Read books and magazines. Do some searches on the Internet. Who knows? You might find an area, a niche, that is just waiting for you to fill it with useful information. There's a lot more to affiliate marketing, of course. But the first step is to find your passion. Your "passion" doesn't have to be making money on the Internet. It can be cooking, sewing, billiards, or whatever. In fact, it's better if you find a niche that isn't in the online marketing arena because that's what nearly everyone else is doing. Make your topic unique. Make it yours. And make it your passion. It will pay you well.