first week here — no idea where to start with affiliate marketing

Sorry if this is the wrong section, I looked around and this seemed like the place for basic questions.

I'm in my first week of trying to learn affiliate marketing and I'm completely overwhelmed. There are so many networks, so many offer types, so many traffic sources. I don't know what to focus on first.

I have about $500 to start with. Is that enough to test anything? Or should I just save more before I begin?

five hundred is enough for one test

My friend, $500 is actually a good starting point! Don't try to do everything at once. Pick one vertical (like nutra or dating), pick one traffic source (like push ads or native), and learn that before moving to something else.

I started with $300 and just focused on one offer for two months. Was the best decision I made.

$500 is plenty! I started with $200 and now I'm doing $5k a month. The key is to pick a good offer and scale it up

How long did it take you to go from $200 to $5k a month?

About 6 months

The question you're not asking: what happens when you lose the $500?

Treat it as tuition. If you learn something from the test, the money was well spent. If you're hoping to turn $500 into profit in your first week, you're going to lose it.