The single greatest part of affiliate marketing is that it can make you as much money as an online business that sells a product or service without all the hassle that comes with inventory, shipping and returns. But that profit only comes with proper planning and care. If you want to make a little extra income you can work a little extra. If you want to make more money than you ever dreamed of you have to work more.

When you are in business for yourself you are your own boss. That's nice. But be a good boss. Make yourself work. When you are your own boss you set your own work schedule but if you are serous about making money online, set a schedule for your self. Affiliate marketing is a business that makes you money even if you on vacation or asleep. It will do this, but you have to put the program into motion, and there is work in doing that. Make yourself work hard setting up and designing a good website and later you can enjoy the residual income.

Let’s take a look at a few things you need to do to make sure that your affiliate marketing venture is worthwhile and done the right way.

Do your research first.

If you were considering starting a business in the real world, you wouldn’t just go rent out a piece of property, get the permits and open your business the next week. You would learn everything there is to know about the business you chose and you would try to make your business as successful as possible.

You should have the same level of dedication with your affiliate marketing site. This can be a business that makes your dreams come true. Do this right and you may one day be earning ten, even a hundred times what you now make. You should have a good idea of what you want you site to sell, what product you want to sell and where you are going to get your content from before you start.

Go to the web site of some companies that have affiliate programs and read about them. The Market Health Affiliate Program allows you to market and promote the world’s leading health and beauty offers on the Internet. Market Health offers some of the highest paying affiliate commissions and one of the most advance tracking software in the industry. MoreNiche™ is a premium affiliate network, which allows you to earn large commissions for promoting different but highly desirable products and services online. Rising Revenue is one of the fastest growing affiliate management company and network anywhere. They specialize in managing affiliate programs that are not found on every other network. That means you have the opportunity to promote exclusive programs that break through the clutter. Products include CyberDefender, Foreclosure Relief Kit, Freedom Financial -- Debt Relief, and Lexington Law Firm -- Credit Repair Services.

 Are you a good enough content writer to have 15 different programs on your site, or do you only have strong feelings for two or three products and you want to stick to them? You need to give your affiliate marketing program a real chance to work so once you pick a style and theme, stick to it for a while to see if it makes you money or not.

Learn the basics.

You don’t have to be an expert web designer or web content writer to make money off of your affiliate marketing site, but it sure helps. Luckily, there are a slew of fantastic low-cost programs out there that can walk you through web site creation step by step so that even if you don’t know HTML from Java, you can have a great looking website. The same goes for web content. Your content needs to be original, informative, and interesting AND it needs to pre-sell your product all at the same time.

It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. You can head to your local library or bookstore to find books on how to write web content or you can simply read other affiliate marketing sites to get some pointers. If shoppers aren’t captivated by your site, they won’t use it. Plain and simple.

While it can be tempting to just throw up a quick, basic website with little to no content so you can start making money right away, the experienced affiliate marketer knows better. Take the time and do it right and you’ll see the results in your bank account.