If you are looking to make money then affiliate marketing is a great place to start. But to be a really successful marketer you need to be educated and have a strategy for your campaigns.

Unfortunately this is a hugely popular industry and with that popularity comes a lot of information, Most of it is well meant advice, but much of it serves as more of a hindrance than help. If you are tired of working all day, only to find that you've actually finished the day and accomplished very little then the chances are that you need some direction with your business.

Like any business the most important thing to do is get together a plan of attack. This allows you to focus your energy where it is needed and keep you on track, not diving off on tangents that will inevitably ended up wasting your time.

Step 1 - Especially while you are a novice, sign up with a reputable affiliate marketing marketplace like 'Clickbank', 'Linkshare' or 'Commission Junction'. Often larger site will have their own affiliate programs for example you can sign up to promote products that are sold through Amazon.com.

Step 2 - Choose good affiliate products with a high commission rate, low refund rate, a high converting sales page and great tools for you to use.

Step 3 - With your market in mind, promote the products through your website, your blog, through social networking sites, through 'Google AdWords' and articles.

Step 4 - Use various analytical tools (Clickbank has it's own) to monitor traffic, view history, calculate click through and conversion rates and work out which methods are working the best for which products.