I've condensed and simplified the steps required to start your own business as an affiliate as much as possible in the following article.

Plan to spend time at each site/link below researching and learning more about the process.

Give it enough time, and it WILL start to look much easier!

Here we go.

1. Choose Your Niche

   Pick a topic you know and are passionate about, then surf the web to find sites related to your interest.

   Pay particular attention to sites with excellent content and products. What products and services do they offer? What keywords would customers search to find those sites? Make a list. Can you think of ways you would improve those sites? Take notes.

   Learn more about niche and keyword research

2. Register a Domain & Arrange Web Hosting

   Select a dot.com that is relevant to your chosen topic. Keep it short, simple, and devoid of hyphens (if possible). A web host is a server on which your site resides.

   Here are the web hosting services I currently recommend.

   If you want to register your domain separately, I recommend GoDaddy

3. Start Building Your Web Site

   Learn some HTML or get a site builder. Web site templates are another good option.

   You'll find an article on the benefits of learning HTML and other site-building resources here:

   If you're already committed to using a full ecommerce package, check out SiteBuildiT! first.

4. Develop Content

   If you hate to write, content development may seem rather daunting.

   Fear not, getting information together for your site is probably easier than you think, as there are many wonderful resources of pre-written content available to you

   Here are 5 ways to put content on your site.

5. Source Products to Sell

   Having a site won't do you much good if you don't list any products or services for your visitors to buy. :-)

   Here is a short list of affiliate program networks for you to join, the two most popular of which are:

   Commission Junction
   ClickBank

6. Build a List

   Overlook this step at your peril! It is essential! Build a list to keep in touch with your visitors and sell them MORE related products.

   Learn all about email marketing. I personally use and recommend Aweber's autoresponder service.

7. Market Your Site

   Here is a list of 7 ways to get traffic to your site.

   However, the fastest way to get visitors to your site, is to use pay-per-click search engines advertising where you pay only for visitors that clickthrough to your site.

   My personal favorite PPC's are Yahoo! Search Marketing (which often offers a $25 credit), Google Adwords and Microsoft AdCenter which you can joing now receive $50 in FREE PPC credits.

There you have them, the 7 basic steps to get your own online business off the ground.

Start today, work diligently and pretty soon you'll start to see phenomenal rewards.