The first thing you need to do when considering how to make money online is to define your target market. Sounds simple and it is, but it is an often overlooked step to profiting on the web. You need to get a picture of your ideal customer firmly in your mind first - before you even think about doing any marketing at all. You should consider how old your ideal customer is, what level of education they have, where they live, how much disposable income they enjoy and so on.

When you know who your target marketing is i.e. who your ideal customer is, then you can take the next step, which is to ask yourself what that ideal customer actually wants and needs. There is a basic difference between wants and needs, but in both cases, you are looking for problems that are difficult to solve, that people would also be willing to pay an amount of money in return for access to a solution.

Remember, you are not looking for what your target market is searching for online, you are looking for which problems they face that are particularly irksome enough for them to consider pulling out their wallets. When you have identified these problems, your next step is to identify the very best possible solutions that also offer affiliate programs.

And your final step is to simply connect the dots. You - the online marketer - need to become the link between the Google search and the product recommendation. That's how easy it is to make money online. Of course we are going to go into this process in more detail as we work our way through this series, but in essence, right there you have what Affiliate Marketing is all about.

To summarise, this tip concerns developing an understanding of your target market. Get this wrong and your efforts will be severely hampered; get this right and you could finally be on your way to writing out your own pay check. So remember: you are not looking for what people are searching for; you are looking for what problems your target market has that are difficult enough to solve for them to be willing to part with money.

Watch out for more Great Tips in the Make Money series from Tom Byrde.