1. Become an affiliate to one of the leading and latest affiliate marketing programs. This is easy to do, as you choose a product you have bought to find out about affiliate marketing and associate programs.

This sounds good, but is actually difficult to turn into a regular profit. The reason is simply that when the product was launched, the author will have done joint ventures with many other leading marketers, so you will find it hard to compete. However, you can include it in your list if you are able to market it at low cost, such as with a review on your website.

Follow your interests

2. Follow your interests. If you have a hobby, and have plenty of knowledge about it, then this is worth looking into.

The question here is whether there are suitable products in that niche. For example, if you are a keen skier, you will need to find instructional e-books or video sets on how to ski or improve your skiing. There should be some around, and it will not be too difficult to write articles about this subject. Of course, if you are an expert, then you can get your own e-book written, which is taking you out of affiliate marketing, but highly recommended. In any case, you will need some compatible products to market as an affiliate.

Beware, though, because many hobbies do not have suitable products for you to market, or if they do, the markets are highly competitive.

3. Look in the big markets, such as weight loss and diet, stock and foreign exchange trading, make money online.

One thing you can be sure about all these big markets is that there are plenty of people who are desperate to succeed with suitable products. The sort of product you want here is one that sounds simple and easy. That is what people want - an easy and simple solution to their problems, whether it is a lack of money or an excess of fat.

These markets are competitive, but you can find sub-niches where you have a chance of competing.

Use Clickbank

4. Go to Clickbank.com and look for products in any of the main niches that have high gravity and a commission of $20 or more.

This is the marketer's approach. First, you want to sell products that will give you a reasonable income for each referral, and you want to market products with high gravity, as these means they are selling well.

This method can be used in conjunction with the others.

Go where the money is

5. Go where the money is! This is somewhat similar to #3, but you can start searching for hot markets in Amazon.com or EBay.com, and many find some that are not in obvious categories.

Once you have found some hot topics, you then go to Clickbank or Commission Junction to find suitable products, and then you want to market to a sub-niche, which is found by searching for keywords without too much competition.

This is the method I recommend, although #3 and #4 can also work well.