Since your question has been answered well in previous replies, I won't give the identical answers yet again, but since I am rather new to this as well, I will offer a few of the things I have done in an effort to learn:
1. Don't BUY anything yet. I have found that just about anything you will come across at this point FOR SALE can be found elsewhere for free, if you look hard enough.
2. Find some "Build your own website for FREE" places (that actually are FREE) and build a few sites to get an idea of what you are getting yourself into.
3. I created a Folder in my favorites on my browser called "Shit to look into" and anything that looks interesting to me, I throw in there to look at when I have time. I have found that I come across soooo many interesting things that I do not have the time to look into at that moment, so this works for me.
4. Start a Blog and play with it. This way you can get an idea of what kind of upkeep a blog involves.
5. Start a free E-Store and play with it. This way you get a very very rough idea of what an e-store involves.
6. Get registered at Clickbank and create a Paypal account. You will most likely end up needing these anyways, although Clickbank is more to get an idea of what Affiliate Banks look like. IMHO *most* of Clickbank's products suck.
7. Research ANYTHING that has to do with Affiliate Marketing, Making Money Online, Online Advertising, SEO, and Traffic Generation. Learn what White, Grey, and Black Hat means.
8. ANY....and I do mean ANY offer that comes your way for promotion, needs to be thoroughly researched...period. If it seems to good to be true....it is.
Basically, you need to spend LOTS of time doing LOTS of research, while at the same time, spending a great deal of time trying shit out and playing with different things to get an idea of what this landscape looks like.
Welcome to the Show.
