In most cases, professional online affiliate marketers are telling you the truth about their large profits with affiliate programs and products. However most of them fall short when it comes time to helping the buyer of that package get set up with a website.
Some do include a website, but they make it seem like you're getting a fully operational website when you buy it, then you find out that it's just some templates, and you still need to get server space, and install it all yourself. This is where most poeples skills fall short and ruin their chances of success with the affiliate marketing business.
The main purpose of being in the business is basically to sell internet traffic. There are people out there shopping online all day long, and they are going to buy those products anyways, so you should be the person to offer them a link straight to that item. Then collect your commission.
There are gurus who speak of making large mailing lists, of targeted people. However they only tell you how to use a large mailing list, and don't really go into the site building part with any depth. They don't usually mention the costs of renting server space for your new site, or where to get the best servers for the job either.
I'm not here to knock anyone, I have bought several online home business packages and products. I've tried 4 " work from home " businesses that make me good money. However since I am a web designer, I could see where these packages fell short. The " web help " and set-up part of the packages, always seems to be lacking.