Let's face it, many people that first come online and find out they could make a few bucks realize really quickly that it's not all that easy.

They start searching for information about making money online and find out all too soon that there are a lot of sites out there that will let them purchase information they can use to learn how to make tons of cash for themselves and shortly thereafter they realize that the next step is to go purchase even more tools, info and study material at an even higher cost.

The other problem many people run into is that they find the many different newsletters that are online and each one is promoting a different way of making money online. Some may talk about affiliate marketing, others are discussing how to use their blogs or the power of Web 2.0 and yet others review how to use adsense and payperclick to boost their business.

In both cases, the new and aspiring internet marketer is confused, lost and all to quickly fed up and frustrated after just a short time and most likely a ton of money they feel was thrown out the window.

And yet, making money online doesn't have to be difficult, you don`t even have to have a website, your own products are not needed and you don't have to run a massive affiliate program of your own to at least make some money to help you get started and you can quickly plug that hole in your wallet where all those precious dollars have been falling out of.

One of the simplest and quickest ways to get started generating some revenue online is to use articles coupled with affiliate marketing.

Here`s a simple guide to help you get started:

1. Head over to Clickbank and take a look at the many products waiting for you to promote them. There are a few things you might want to look at while you are browsing around the Marketplace. Clickbank has a pretty good guide that will tell you how to tell the difference between products that are performing well and those that are bombing, but here's one simple tip to keep in mind as well.

As you look through the pitch pages, think to yourself for just a moment, if I was interested in this product, does this page even grab my attention? Would you be likely to purchase what you saw?

Once you have picked out a couple of products you really like, consider purchasing them so you can provide high-quality reviews of them, but if the budget is tight, that sometimes isn't an option, so you will have to make note of the features, benefits and any other important information you got from the sales page.

2. Write one article. Yes, that's it. Write one simple article that features some of the key benefits of the product you will be promoting. Keep it simple and don't make it look like a sales page.

For example, if the product you plan to promote is about Planning Your Wedding you could write your article based on "The Top 10 Things To Keep In Mind When Planning Your Wedding" and then list the 10 things (or however many you got) from the sales page that are related, such as Choosing The Location For Your Reception, How To Avoid Relatives Embarrassing You, How To Keep Your Bridesmaids From Looking Like Clowns. Whatever the information you found, write it out in a bullet point list and then add a few short sentences to each bullet point.

It doesn't have to be fancy, short and sweet works better. For example, if you are working on Choosing The Location For Your Reception, you could add a sentence or two about the things to keep in mind if you are planning an outdoor reception.

3. The Resource Box or About The Author. If you go look at some of the popular article directories, such as eZineArticles online you will find at the bottom of each article a section known as the Resource Box, or also called About The Author.

This is your place to shine. Your article was to the point, without any sales pitches, but now in this last part you are free to tell a little about yourself (and if you have a website you can add a link there too) and you can also suggest a helpful solution (the product you are promoting) that could further assist the reader with the challenges of planning their own wedding.

Keep in mind that you only have a few lines for the resource box, so you will definitely have to rewrite it a few times just so you can tweak it and get it just the way you want it, but ultimately, the goal is to have the reader click the link at the end of your article and purchase the product you are promoting, so make it straight to the point. A simple and yet effective example might be: "For more helpful information as well as awesome ways to save hundreds if not thousands on your wedding visit [your affiliate link] today".

Again, you don`t want it to be fancy, but your call to action has to make sure the reader has no choice but to click the link and hopefully the sales page you are referring them to is good enough to close the deal and earn you some referral commissions.

4. Last but definitely not least. If you go to your favorite search engine and type in "Article Directory" you will find hundreds of different websites where you can submit your article for inclusion. There are other ways to spread the word about your new article, but directories are a quick and easy way to get the word out there and they are all quite easy to use. Just search for the article directories and then submit your new article to as many as you can. If possible, try to submit it to at least 20 or 30, but the more the better.

What will happen is that webmasters, bloggers and newsletter publishers that search through these directories will come across your article and if it's a good match for their readers and visitors they will be inclined to post your article on their website, or publish it in their newsletter and they will include your Resource Box, along with the link to the product you are promoting.

Bottom line, this has the potential to get your article very quickly on thousands of websites, in front of tons of newsletter readers and ultimately you didn't have to spend a single penny for all this exposure and advertising, you didn't have to have your own fancy website or subscriber optin list and you didn't have to create your own product.

This same method has been used for quite some time very successfully and has in many cases returned more than just a few hundred bucks within a couple of weeks, in some cases, one single article has returned over a thousand dollars in a month and the best part is that your article will continue to be out there, week after week for others to see, click your link and order the product, making you more commissions.

The final thing I can suggest to help you get started is when you've gotten this far, congratulate yourself. You have done more than many of the people "day-dreaming" of making it online, you've actually done something about it. Now get back over to Clickbank and find yourself another product to promote, start back at step 1 and have fun making money.