If you're a newbie thinking of joining an affiliate program or buying an online product, you'll discover that finding the right one is pretty much like shopping for cereal! Every package is professionally designed to capture your attention. Every product claims to be the best. Everyone claims to be THE marketing 'guru' who can show you the way to easy riches. You only need to sign on the dotted line (or enter your credit card number) and you're on your way to easy street.

Don't get me wrong. Everyone has the right to succeed and to achieve financial freedom, but you've got to be careful. I've been there and done that so I know that you can end up with a lot of cereal boxes filled with empty marketing hype and savvy! After getting cereal box number 10, you think to yourself hey I remember this stuff from box number 2, 4 and 7! Get what I mean?

Many affiliate programs and online products are re-hashed, re-packaged "junk" that feed on people's frustration, desperation and greed. If you've ever had a hard day at the office, been chewed by your boss or facing the threat of losing your job, you know what I mean. As you sit feeling totally crappy and sorry for yourself, you think how wonderful it must be to be able to work anytime, anywhere, anyway you want, and voila! you suddenly see an ad on the Internet promising you just that for a small payment of 97.90. What's a mere 97.90 you think to yourself, if it's really a lifeline to save you from a dead-end job and a tyrannical boss, but that's exactly what many (unscrupulous) internet marketers want you to think!

You need to realize that this "lifeline" you've just discovered to escape your "hopelessly dead end" job may just be someone else's lifeline to escape theirs! There are thousands of sites out there created by people just like you, ordinary folk caught in a desperate situation and need a quick escape. They're just following a formula set by their "mentor" to get people to buy into their program. Once they've got your cash, you find you're on your own no support, no tools, no knowledge and no million bucks in profit!

So, before you whip out that credit card and hit enter, stop and consider the following:

Never jump in when you're emotional. Like they say take a deep breath and count to ten. Remember, affiliate marketers are counting on you to act on your emotions. Their websites are peppered with phrases that work on your emotions - to take that all important step and sign up!

Do your homework. Scour the internet. Find as much information about the product or affiliate program that you're thinking of buying into. Unless you're really hard up for a quickie-fix (which is precisely what super sales letters are designed to do), don't jump in blindly. There is no short cut to this step. For every genuine affiliate program, there are ten others that are just a load of crap. If you have doubts, contact the person running the program and clear your doubts.

Beware of get-rich-quick promises! Never join a program just because it promises you a 80% commission as you "sit-back and let the system make money for you". There's no such thing as a free lunch. If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Learn to walk before you run. Learn the ropes by joining affiliate programs with a solid reputation for support and that give you loads of resources to help you. If you don't know any, then participate in discussion groups and forums. Get to know people. Build relationships online. You'd be amazed at the lengths online folk will go to help newbies, probably because they know what it's like themselves!

Remember it takes time and effort to make it in this internet jungle of Affiliate Programs. Many venture into it but many more get hopelessly lost in it. Statistics show that up to sixty percent of people who join affiliate programs give up within the first year. Most of these people will move on to the next "big thing". You can avoid being a statistic. Do your homework. Keep your eye on your goal, work systematically, diligently and you'll find your paradise in the jungle! Cheers!