If you have ever given any thought to trying your hand at affiliate marketing, you have probably encountered some of the hyperbole that drives the industry. "Convert your car to run on water", "get free satellite TV" or even "I made $3372.46 on my first day" are examples of the sorts of phrases that one might encounter in the world of marketing for information products online.

Hype aside, the market for such product is a thriving one. Consumers spend billions of dollars every year on information products online and there are a number of people who earn a handsome living promoting such products as affiliates. The downside comes when would-be marketers decide to join in and find themselves unable to earn their first dollar.

There are a number of reasons why more than 90% of people who try their hand at online marketing fail, but here are three significant examples:

Failure to get to work. When you make the decision to engage in online marketing, you are working for yourself. No one is going to give you orders or tell you what to do. It's up to you to decide what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Many people who are accustomed to being part of the regular workforce are simply not used to being self-employed, which requires the discipline to actually get started on a project.

Information overload. There are a lot of books out there about how one might go about promoting something via the Internet or by conventional means, such as direct mail marketing. A lot of well-meaning people load up on these books, read them all, nod knowingly as they read chapter after chapter about Websites, hoplinks, hosting plans, autoresponders and commission plans. After a while, there can be a tendency to become overwhelmed by all of the information to a point where a sort of paralysis sets in. Instead of getting to work, the would-be marketer simply sits at her desk, thinking "There is too much to do. I don't know where to start."

Failure to keep at it. Online marketing is an ongoing task. Every day, one needs to look for new products to promote, new ways to promote them, and ways to make current methods work better for increased profitability. It can, over time, become tedious work, and not everyone is well suited to constant research and Website tweaking,

It is possible to earn a living through affiliate or online marketing, but doing so is hard work that is not suited to everyone. The job requires diligence, patience, and a lot of time. The rewards are potentially great, but in order to succeed, it takes more effort than the industry's ever-present hype would suggest.