Right now, the affiliate marketing landscape is like a war zone. Many affiliate marketers have entered it and quit. Here's the thing about this game: it's not a test! If you treat it like a test, that if it doesn't make you money in one then you're out, then you're destined to fail. True entrepreneurs don't quit; they find out what's not working and refine their strategy.

To avoid becoming another statistic, you need to choose a solid product to promote.

Note: Don't choose a product everyone else and their brother is promoting.

That's asking for trouble. You won't make many sales if 200 other affiliates are promoting the same thing. So choose a quality product that doesn't have too many competing affiliates.

Next, you have to write killer ads to promote your affiliate product. It doesn't matter if you are doing email marketing, classified ads, full-page magazine ads, forum marketing or pay per click advertising. You have to write ads that work. Most people spend a lot of time writing long sales copy but very little time on their short ads. Here is a secret: you have to spend more time on your short ads because you have to make every word count. You have to bring out your big guns for your short ads.

Lastly, you want to make sure your affiliate link goes to a page that doesn't have full of holes that can rob you of your commission. I'm talking about links going away from the page (not going to the order button), pop-up boxes selling the opt-in, using different payment processors etc. All these 'holes' can drastically reduce your profits.