A problem that i see crop up time and time again is when people choose their keywords before they find there niche market. Many people that get into PPC advertising set up a campaign, set their CPC's high, add a truck load of keywords that they think will convert, and then begin to research the product that there trying to sell. This is all wrong!

It is very important the you seek out your market before you find a product to promote to them.Try going on forums or visiting newsgroups and focus groups...see whats hot, what people are having problems with or complaining about and looking for a solution to -- and then deliver a product to these people.

Lets look at it from a different angle. If you have a stand that sells pizza in a demographic where everyone likes to eat only Chinese, you are not going to sell many pizzas, no matter how delicious. The same goes for online promotions, if you are promoting the wrong products to people or trying to sell to people who simply are not hungry to buy, they are not going to purchase from you.

So whats the lesson? Focus on market research before promoting a product. Spend time to learn your audience, what they buy, why they buy, and then look at what fellow affiliates are doing. This will give you a great starting point before you jump into the "deep end".

Only then should you start looking at your chosen market and product on a keyword level, buts thats an entirely different article!!