There are more products you could become an affiliate for than you would even dare think about. Whatever subject you are interested in, whatever category of products you find yourself constantly drifting towards there will be a whole host of opportunities for you to make some money from affiliate marketing.

The secret to success in this market is to avoid the scattergun approach. Resist the temptation to jump on every affiliate opportunity that comes along, as this approach rarely achieves the best results.

Instead, focus your efforts on a niche which interests you. If you already have a website that concentrates on a specific subject - such as cars, writing, selling on eBay, or anything else you can think of - focus on searching for affiliate programs and opportunities that fit the content of your site. If you already have an established visitor base they will instantly tap into any programs, books and other items you recommend to them which in turn will make your conversion rate (the number of people who click through to your affiliate product and actually buy it) much higher.

It sounds like a contradiction in terms, but when you use this more calculated approach to affiliate marketing, you will find out that focusing on a small group of people with common interests will actually make you more money than if you tried to please everyone at the same time.

So how do you find these niche programs to promote?

The easiest way is to use a search engine to find the specific type of affiliate scheme you are looking for. So 'affiliate programs on writing', 'affiliate programs on cooking' and 'affiliate programs on marketing' would be good examples. You can also go to one of the big sites which houses hundreds of affiliate programs from lots of companies - some of whom are well known names that would also add more credibility to your site, if you are looking to add some banners to your pages.

There's always the temptation to jump on board the latest affiliate idea and market it for all you're worth. But in the end staying true to the focus of your website will bring far more satisfying results - both to you and your bank balance.

So don't think you are wasting your time surfing around the internet to see what other websites in your genre are promoting. Call it research - because you can unearth some potential affiliate money makers that your site is crying out for.