I have been familiar with a affiliate marketing for a few years now. I began researching it back in 2009 but never got past my first article. I guess I wasn't in the right place at the right time then. The attempt I had made was minuscule and unworthy of even mentioning, one article and a landing page, but was an attempt, nonetheless. Looking back now, I consider that attempt a practice run and now, 4 years later, I am making a legitimate attempt.

There is something to be said about not accomplishing what you originally set out to do. I wanted to work from home, available for my son whenever needed. But failing the first time has its silver lining.

It has pointed out strengths and weakness I posses, giving me insight as to what may be my best approach. Knowing what I am good at allows me to exploit those characteristics and at the same time, gives me direction on what to work on. Having the last few years to think about affiliate marketing, I now feel I have a better understanding of how to be successful in this field.

Affiliate marketing isn't for everyone. Depending on your budget, it can be long and tedious before you ever see any results and sometimes disheartening when you write something you think is amazing, but appears to fall short in the eyes of everyone else.

But in the last couple of months I have been revisiting my goal of being a successful affiliate marketer. And in that time, I have seen a continuous pattern in success.

Persistent: The ability to face obstacles over and over again, picking yourself up and dusting yourself off time and time again is admirable to say the least. Persistence causes us to chase the things we want most out of life and not give up until we achieve them. Being persistent as an affiliate marketer is a prerequisite for success. The marketer may try many approaches to their campaign, tweaking the ones working but knowing there will be some to abandon.

Consistent: Getting up the same time, scheduling the available time to work on your campaigns, updating websites, blogs and articles all work best through consistency. Developing new habits that benefit your business is best started early, carrying you through the plateaus and mountains you will inevitably encounter.

Passionate: Having a topic you are passionate about can make affiliate marketing so much easier than just trying to sell something. If you take the approach of marketing something you either don't care about or have experience on the topic, people see right through it. No one wants to be sold something, but are looking for useful information concerning the nature of the topic. Offer honesty and writing will come so much easier.

Self motivated: Will you be willing to put in the extra time necessary to build a successful business? No one else is there to ask you if you have submitted that article yet or updated the website, so you will need to set schedules, allocate time if you are working a full time job and answer to yourself. As enticing as that sounds, there will be times you lack the drive. All depending on how long and to what extent you are not self motivated will determine your success.

Starting out in affiliate marketing can be an overwhelming concept. Where to start, what to do, how to promote are all aspects that can overwhelm someone new to the game. Don't get discouraged. Keep these four characteristics at heart, and with little help to wade through all the information, you can start a successful online career.