Rosalind Gardner's 270 page ebook "The Super Affiliate Handbook" is the "Holy Bible" of affiliate marketing. It's also surprisingly well written (I've seen some real junk passing as informative writing) and logically steps through each of the 15 chapters, all but the Introduction building on the previous in an easy to understand style.

You feel Rosalind's sense of excitement as she makes the transition from an hourly paid job as an air traffic controller to a home-based, self-employed Internet marketer. And who better to learn from than someone who has done the hard yards and discovered through trial and error what works? Rosalind's approach is a methodical one: design - test - evaluate - redesign - retest, until her method proves efficient and effective.

From an overview of Internet marketing, a discussion about whether you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur and work from home, she moves to the minutia of setting up shop. This includes sound suggestions about the types of software you need to make life easier and do the job properly and thinking about your business budget. (Yes, you do need a budget)

Next, she explains how to research profitable ideas. That's right, there's no "build a site and they will come" mentality here ... it's all scientific; find a profitable product or service first. Rosalind provides a rich harvest of details about the various affiliate networks and explains how to choose products and programs that are most suited to you and your intended income goals. There are also two paragraphs on programs to avoid and programs to drop. This is a very comprehensive coverage overall and goes into details about affiliate agreements, commission, when and how you get paid, whether there is a fee to join the program, how long cookies are valid for, and much, much more.

Now, here's the best part. Not only does the author give an in-depth coverage of affiliate programs, but she provides heaps of very sound advice about choosing a domain name for your business, the benefits of themed sites as opposed to mini-sites, planning your web sites, building and optimizing your sites to turn clicks into customers, and 29 ways to promote your affiliate business. This is all stuff that will be of use to ANY Internet marketing business.

Just the links to the dozens of resources in this ebook are worth the cost. For example, Rosalind has found and overviewed numbers of links to fora about affiliate programs and affiliate program managers where you can join once and sell goods and services from multiple vendors. There are free ezine article directories (like this - Ezinearticles.com) and directories where you can list your universal resource locator (URL).

In Rosalind's work, it's difficult to find a negative unless you take into account the thickness of her book when printed on single sheet paper ie, 1 3/4" (just joking). Really, this is one of the few ebooks worth every last cent. It contains all the advice you need to research, set up, run and optimize an affiliate program. The content is also relevant to drop shipping (where you sell other's products, but they handle fulfillment).

Although I have been selling my own ebooks and affiliate products online successfully since 1998, I found many new tips and tricks in this book that I could incorporate into my daily routine to improve my bottom line. You will too.

If you've never felt the joy of opening your inbox to see several email messages telling you, "You've Mad a Sale", it's an experience you should consider. It's not just about money of course, although at the end of the day, we all must eat. It's also about the satisfaction of knowing that the products you sell are of value and that you were able to write a sales blurb that convinced someone of that value.

Whether you are retired and looking for a second income, a supporting parent at home all day, just feel like you'd like to try something new, or desperately need to give your day job the flick, "The Super Affiliate Handbook" will help you all the way.

Published June 05. Copyright Robin Henry 2005

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet marketer whose firm, Desert Wave Enterprises, helps individuals and businesses improve their performance by using smart processes, smart technology and personal development. He has a number of tertiary qualifications including a Master of Education degree majoring in education technology and online learning. He lives at Alice Springs In Central Australia. Visit Desert Wave Enterprises to read more about this ebook and its contents.