A niche market is a focused segment of a given market. It includes people who are looking to purchase a specific kind of product or service in the near future. Choose a niche that your product or service will provide a solution for. Place your focus on affiliate products and content that people in your chosen niche will be looking for, based on where they are in the buying process.

Choose an affiliate product that provides a solution, preferably something you enjoy. Building your business around a hobby you've loved forever, a skill you've acquired on a job, or an interest you've wanted to learn more about has many advantages. One major benefit is that it positions you as an expert from the beginning, and enables you to start your business with knowledge and expertise you can share with an audience.

Choose a platform that will enable you to easily create content, reach and communicate with an audience, and generate leads. Your platform can be a simple landing page, an app, a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast or an eCommerce store. If you don't have a platform, or if you want to learn which platform might be best for you, read how to select a platform and get the pros and cons of each platform type.

Once you've selected a a niche, a product and a platform, you're ready to start applying to affiliate programs. Your goal is to learn all you can about selling products and services online and build an audience of people who are interested in the products and services you're promoting. Affiliate programs will want to know how you plan to promote their products.

You might want to write out a short paragraph about the way you plan to promote online. For example through your blog, an app or social media channel. If you have a following, you might want to share that information as well. Not all affiliate programs will ask for this information, but it's a good idea to be prepared.

Once you're accepted to a program, work on building links to your affiliate products on your platform and start generating traffic. Keep in mind when building an audience, that quality is more important than quantity. For example, it's better to have 100 engaged, ready to buy leads versus 1000 unmotivated leads who never buy your products.