Different Facets of Affiliate Marketing

I thought that the affiliate marketing on the Internet only involved one or two things. Now that I have been deep into the Best Affiliate Marketing Guide I now realize that there is an entire area of things that it encompasses. Should I just concentrate on the adwords? Perhaps I should just try to concentrate on the affiliates? What if working on my own market would be the best thing to concentrate on at first? I wish that this guide showed the best way to get started. I feel like there are so many different facets to try to learn to make money.