Affiliate Marketing, how do you know the real thing?

I started a quest to earn extra money from my home computer. The options on the internet today are unreal. The one that caught my interest was Affiliate Marketing. Of course since I am wanting to work from home, putting that info in the search box led me to tons of sites. How do I know the real programs, what are the scams? Are the people in these testimonials real people using the program, or are they just someone paid to say these wonderful things about how to make money with affiliate marketing? I have read and researched, and I did find a program that I signed up with. I have learned so much in the last 7 months! I am quite proud of myself because before this quest, I did not have a clue what HTML was and now I have just about finished my website! I feel very fortunate to have been led to the work from home directory that I joined. The members of the forum go above and beyond to not only answer questions, but to actually help others to become sucessful like they are! I am just beginning, but I am happy to say I found the real thing!