Simple idea. Create a targeted niche membership site offering something that people may be interested in buying a cheap membership on.

Once the site is up, setup a little affiliate network on it and advertise the hell out of the affiliate portion. For example, if affiliates get me a signup for $10 I'd pay them $7 for each of these signups.

I know this is no new method but ... is it still profitable? How hard is it to get people involved in the affiliate network? Would you recommend this to a beginner? I have a tad bit of cash to spend on the hosting+domain.

Any input is welcome. Thanks in advance.

The biggest factor to remember is, you'll be dealing with people and need to provide support. Is that something you can do? Do you have the knowledge of the niche to do it? The time? Are you capable of figuring out any problems people may encounter with the website?

I'd recommend a trial period too. It can be profitable, it all depends on what you have to offer.

Pretty much all "Yes" answers to the above questions you proposed. The only thing is I believe the niche I'm thinking of (Graphic/web design tutorials) might be too saturated to make anything profitable out of. I'm still thinking about it and open for more input.
Thanks!

The issue with that niche isn't just that it's saturated, but that it is saturated with FREE tutorials. You can find free graphics tutorials anyyyywhere. So what would you have to offer that people are willing to pay for? Also, the majority of users are very web savvy and will not pay for just anything. Especially something they can get for free.

Very true chatmasta! Thank you for your advice. I need to put on my thinking cap and find a more profitable niche.

Haha no problem. Think about less web savvy people. Really your goal should be finding a niche with enough traffic that you can collect emails. Once you get emails, marketing your product is much easier. Also, non web savvy people tend to respond much better to email marketing.

There is always the option of making the website free. Run advertising when you have enough traffic. Provide a "donation" button for people to donate for hosting, etc. Or when it seems like the community is active enough, tell everyone you are going to a paid membership, but all current members can stay for free lifetime, and offer the affiliate program as well.

Then hope they don't revolt lol.

Check out the tutsplus model (http://tutsplus.com/). They have predominantly free tutorials but they also have a tuts+ premium where they charge like $6 a month or something for a lot of extra, very high quality tutorials.