I took an adsense course over the last few months Xfactor’s Micro Niche Adsense Course and I found it fascinating and I am in the process of taking action with other products. This course does not specifically promote affiliate marketing, but emphasizes promoting adsense as a way to monetize your web sites.  Article writing is essential to drive traffic and give the reader information that is always informative and relative. It has opened my eyes when I do post, as I tend to go back over it and get rid of unnecessary information that will bore the reader to tears, therefore losing a potential customer.  SEO Generals is an excellent place for reasonably-priced articles and the turnaround times are very good.  You will pay a little more if needed in 24-hours but generally 4-7 days if no rush.

There are other ways to monetize besides adsense. You could add affiliate links in addition, but not too many, never good to overdo it, less is better. Adding outbound links within the content and as a link is highly encouraged. 

An interesting article worth looking at How Not to Make Money Online which I encourage everyone to read and then read it again.