There are countless methods to make jerky that end with a good product.
Unless I have a boxed cure or a tried and true recipe, here's how I brine (salt cure) meat fish or poultry:
I use the floating egg method.
Pour enough water over the meat to cover it.
Drain that water back into another container.
Put a fresh egg in with the water.
Stir salt and/or cure into the water until the egg floats.
An egg floats at 5% to 6% salinity, just right for cured game, cured hams, smoked turkeys, smoked fish, jerky, etc.
What's cool is that no matter how long you leave it in this solution it won't get any saltier. I use this method with all the sodium nitrate-sodium nitrite based cures from Morton Salt Company and others. It's the only way I brine fish before smoking.
Remember many of those ingredients we add to meat to make jerky have lots of salt: worchestershire, BBQ sauce, some soy sauce, and steak sauce to name a few, so be careful.
Nambaster is right about liquid smoke, it is a magic ingredient, but maybe not as much as sugar. That over-the-counter jerky that we all love so well is jacked-up with sugar and/or dextrose, a sweetener that comes mostly from corn.
Good luck. Float an egg!