I could be wrong, but I get the feeling that you are the type of person that likes to see a finished product to help you get your mind around how the process works. As a web developer I can completely relate.
The problem that you will run across is that there is a ton of information. Everybody and anybody with an internet connection can claim to be a guru and that this or that method works. People really making money on a site will almost never link directly to an example of their work for the reason stated above. Truth be told most methods can be made to work. The amount of effort vs reward ratio is the only real question.
They all boil down to:
- Generate traffic -- Ideally targeted
- Present an offer to the traffic
- Refine sales copy presented to traffic
The first and most basic is create a web property like a blog, a regular site, a shopping cart, or even social accounts like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Each one of these web properties will have a different strategy that you will have to learn and the traffic generated from each will be useful in different ways.
There is no real shortcuts. Stop reading and start doing. I recommend focusing on just one type and don't move on until you have mastered how it works. Pick one that you can picture working because if you don't believe in it you will definitely not put the effort in to make it work.
Here is another spoiler alert. Despite many of the crazy posts claiming to make $5k a day it will never happen over nite or in the first week as you start out. If it was that easy everybody would be making $5k a day and then it would make it pretty pointless to come and post on a forum like this making 1.8 million a year.
Once you have gotten good at generating traffic to a property then start learning how to present your offer to this traffic.
Depending on how good of a job you did targeting your traffic to start with this can be simple or be impossible. Not all traffic is equal and the rule of thumb is targeted traffic is king. Personally I believe that people search the internet to solve problems. The problem can be they are bored and want entertainment, they're overweight, or that want to find a girl friend, and the list goes on and on. If you know the problem then all you do is present a solution to that problem. The user gets what they want and if you do it correctly you make some money. This also results in less people getting pissed off that they visited your web property and felt like it was a waste of their time. False advertising does work in the short term, but if you want to be in it for the long haul and have a good reputation try to target your traffic to your offer.
This part of the process I consider the most important and is my favorite. Really get into it and describe the PERFECT person down to the tiny details that would really benefit from your offer. Too many times I see people say "Everybody that smokes is a potential customer for my quit smoking product". Not even remotely close to true. Most smokers may say they want to quit, but the effort required to change your lifestyle is more miserable than living with smoking. Then there are many who are just happy to continue smoking. So now you know there is large group that will never buy so you dive deeper and ask what would motivate someone to really want to quit smoking. Answers would range from health conditions, the cost of cigarettes are to high, wife or husband nagging. Next I would pick a group from my list of potential problems and I would create my page to LASER PINPOINT my targeted group. In this example a great health reason would be a woman that just found out she is pregnant. Unless she doesn't care about her unborn kid(Yes I know there are plenty like that) she will have an over whelming reason to quit at least for the term of pregnancy.
When you target like this you will have a lot lower number of total visitors, but your conversion rate will be much higher and will normally be much less effort to rank. If at the end of the day you want 10 sales a day you can shoot to the masses and fight higher competition for 1 in a 100 conversion or really target and get 5-8 in a 100 for stuff that doesn't take near the effort to rank. Yes know their are some offers that will convert much higher to targeted traffic, but I'm trying present more of a realistic average that most people should be able to achieve without running across a super hot trend.
As far as spoon-fed blue print on how to get started I would say the suggestion above about the crash challenge is a very realistic step by step way to get started as a noob. My own experiences lead me to believe that the only real negative to the guide is that it would not work out as expected if you are going after high competition keyword phrases, but that is not the intention of that guide. It is meant as a get started guide.
Another word of wisdom is just because you see something written on the internet don't accept it as fact. IM has many variables that all work together to determine the success or failure of a given project. Personal effort is a huge one. Testing the common convention is another. If you see 20 people saying you can't do something because it will hurt your rankings create a test site that you can experiment with on these ideas.
Bottom line is you have got to put in the effort and test it yourself. Sure you can get started following a guide, but if you don't understand "WHY" you are doing what you are doing then you will be left on the side of the road as that market evolves and your outdated methods don't produce as well anymore.
Hope this helps a little. If you have any specific questions feel free to pm your skype info and I'd be glad to point you in the right direction if you are stuck.
So, do you think I could pick up enough information to know what I'm talking about within that first month? (I know I won't be a pro, but will I leave with a lot of info?)