There is a whole meme out there right now around PayPerPost vs. AdSense -- check technorati. Worth reading some real-world experiences from a diverse set of bloggers...
seriously, i find affiliate marketing to be really easy. a couple of things to note: 1) i promote products/service i use. 2) i think highly of it. 3) i use the 'i'd sell this to my own mother test' i think the hardest part is isolating the product. suppose i want to sell a SEO book. i'd go to clickbank.com and check out the list of say 50 or so books. i'd google and research them. (the txn success, payout doesnt matter as much, i'm looking at creating value for my subscribers.) the biggest mistake you can make is promote stuff just cos it's a 90% payout. it might be last thing you ever sell to your list. i dont know about you, but my credibility is worth even more than 1,000 affiliate sales... --- once you've shortlisted the products, i'd suggest buying the top 3 in your list if you can. do a review. write a review article if you can. blog about it. submit reviews to article directories. create a sale landing page. do a name squeeze/ shy yes page. build your list. configure your autoresponder. send out relevant emails. check your affiliate network income every morning and decide if you're going to buy another plasma tv or take a trip to vegas for the weekend. --- it's a simple formula to follow and i'd say it's 99.99% gonna to work. i'm doing this. generating $2,000 - $5,000 a month passively, with modest traffic generation and SEO is easy. then you just replicate it in another niche, rinse and repeat. --- how do the top affiliate marketers get $100,000-$200,000 a month? just apply this model about 40-50 times. the problem is that many are promoting stuff they dont care about/dont know anything about, and in the process destroy their credibility. it is seriously easy. if you need further ideas, just post yr questions. ps: of course, using tools like secretblogweapon.com and ultimateaffiliate.com does swing the odds in my favor somewhat...
Yup... this is an opp I am testing out myself, and so far I am pleased with it (PayPerPost). I've earned ~$122 with them in the first 5 days, but am still polling my readers to get their reaction. This is in addition to Adsense + Affiliate Marketing.