Affiliate Marketing Secrets

Hello, yahoo contributors. I have a question that will question my shallowness. I am interested in how much work does it take to monetize a blog.
To rule it out, I’m talking 500 $ a month. This is.. let’s say, my top goal. My question really comes down to numbers. How much money do pay-per-click ads generate? How much money do banners generate? I know this all comes to traffic, but how much traffic should I have to be able to cash out 500 bucks a month? I know a successful blog comes down to a niche, to passion, to quality content. But the only thing I care about right now is dough. Being smart, as I consider myself to be, I know I could to this. I have no problem in writing low class material that would bring stupid audience and no principles when it comes down to this.
Please don’t judge me, I’m not really like this (you can ask my girlfriend, she knows I’m awesome), but this is the truth when it comes to this particular case. I would appreciate it if you could help me (again, what I’m looking for are numbers).
Thank you.

Grey reef sharks are crepuscular so they are most active at dawn and dusk. They specialize in foraging at depths below 20 meters in both forereef and backreef environments. Grey reef sharks will leave the reef at night to forage in the pelagic zone and dive to grater depths. For the most part resting, foraging and any possible social behaviors all occur in close to the reef.

I want to start my OWN direct sales company…but I am in need of a few ideas on WHAT to sell.
It seems like there is a business in every niche nowadays!
Any ideas?
Should I make my own product or buy online and resell?

I’ve been caught in a pretty vicious battle for a while now between writing exciting, entertaining genre stories like paranormal romance that I can just start from a blank paper and go without plotting out or putting too much thought into – and the extremely slow, hard work of trying to put together “masterpieces” I’ve been working on for years and that have grand, delicately-interwoven plots & messages…
Holy hell, that was a long sentence. Sorry. Anyway – got any advice for how I can solve this battle? I can’t figure out if I’m a literature writer being lazy and giving into easy caves or a fun genre writer who’s insecure about producing “lighter” fiction. It’s probably both, but that’s really not helping my focus. Basically, I’d appreciate any pointers on how to find my “niche”.

I have an offer to fully optimize a site and maintain the site. The niche is in the travel industry. What I am ask to do is to do seo optimization both on and off page and make 3 articles monthly. I will not be paid until the site will make a sale and I will get 30% of each sale. Would you agree on this proposal?

Niche market question.