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.