* How and where do I find a good product to sell?

* How is a web site set up?

* How can I collect payments?

* How quickly will I be able to make some money?

For some people this may just be too much of a challenge in the beginning. However, the good news is you can start your own business on the Internet very easily without the need to create your own product or the necessity to have your own website! The way it can be done is by selling the products of other people and using their website. This is called affiliate marketing.

With affiliate marketing, you link directly to an existing website and then aim to sell the products or services that are offered there. When a product is sold via your special link, you will receive a commission payment. Your job in all this process is to advertise the product and send visitors to the web page where the product is displayed. All payments and the delivery of the product is done by the web site owner.

Therefore, being an affiliate offers a wonderful opportunity to start your own Internet business. Your business can be fully operational in a matter of minutes and in some cases it can cost you nothing to set up.

However, do not suddenly start this type of business by joining lots of affiliate programes since you need to be careful which products to select. By careful selection, you will greatly raise your chances of being successful and thus make money.

Selecting a 'good' affiliate offer is very important. What you need to do when selecting an offer in your niche is to think about what you think your potential customers would want rather than what you think they want. To do this, look carefully through about 5-10 offers and compare each of them looking at the sales letter and ask yourself:

* Does it look professional or done by an amateur?

* Does the sales copy really 'sell' its product to you?

* Is the headline powerful?

* Are you convinced by the message in the sales letter?

* Is there a robust guarantee? And...

* Do you "know" the product on offer in detail? Let me explain.

You cannot truly judge a product by the salesletter; you should order it and see what it contains. Doing this is very powerful and if you tell your readers you have done this and you really do believe it will benefit your potential customers (not you) then you will have increased your chances of making the sale.

Never promote rubbish products. Whilst you might make money in the short term, you will lose out in the end because your readers will not trust you to give best advice in the future.

Affiliate marketing should be regarded as a business, not a hobby. You should therefore treat it accordingly. It clearly is a simple business system because it has few start up and ongoing running costs.

As your marketing knowledge increases you will be able to advance your business every day. To do this, you will need to learn about web page optimization, writing stimulating articles and increasing your list of subscribers. Looking after the people on your list is crucial and part of this is treating them with respect.

Further, if you develop your skills and knowledge about all aspects of online marketing and apply the techniques you learn, you will usually be quickly rewarded. And with increasing success you should focus on the creation of your own products whatever kind you elect to produce.

Selling your own products will generate a 100% return of the selling price rather than taking about 50% of the selling price of an affiliate product. Of course, you will always be offering affiliate products, but if you can do these along side selling your own, you will increase your chance of making a sizable income online.

Planning your web business is an important strategy and time focused on this activity every day cannot be over stated. As you learn marketing and business methods, you will need to accept you may not get it right first time. However, you will have made an important start and increased the chances that you will be a successful marketer.