Affiliate How To
Over the next few weeks and months I will be documenting and discussing my efforts to become a successful affiliate marketer. I started 2 months ago and have found some great hints and advice from blog’s and websites set up by other affiliate’s . So I thought I’d give something back and hopefully help others on their journey, and also have other affiliates post their tip’s, trick’s and advice on how to improve.
Although the main aim of building affiliate websites is of course to make money, my ambitions started small. After having an e-commerce site built professionally for our crystals business, I was fascinated by the magic our web designer was weaving .
I started out only wanting to prove to myself I could actually build a basic website with no programing knowledge. I soon became addicted after learning about affiliate programs and the brilliant and versatile Wordpress platform , and saw the possibilities to earn extra money from building affiliate sites.
I’ve also come to realize there are many variables involved, from choosing a domain name, finding a reliable website hosting company, to which affiliate program to go with, what products to market, right down to website design and colour scheme, and what tools to use.
Although there is no magic one size fits all formula for affiliates, I’d like think a successful affiliate website will contain all these variables, and be held together with what I call Affiliate Glue.
Affiliate Glue is the guidance, advice, recommendations from other affiliates who have come before you.
So whether you are building an affliate empire, or just want to prove to yourself you can build a basic site, reach for the tube of affiliate glue.
Choosing A Domain Name
Finding a good domain name that isn’t already taken is getting hard , but is not impossible. But of course what may seem good to you might seem lame to the rest of the web community. The main aim is to find something short (or as short as possible), and sounds catchy, and appropriate to the website you want to create. Single word domain names are virtually impossible to come by, but a combination of words could do the trick. AffiliateGlue.com was not my first choice for this website, my first, second and third choices were taken. I then came up with this name and now it seems like it should have been the logical choice.
According to SEO experts, choosing a domain name that contains the keyword your site will be about is also advisable, as the keyword in the domain name will rank well with search engines like Google. Others say keyword domain don’t get the direct ranking benefits they used to years ago, but do get an indirect benefit when the domain is used as anchor text when linking.
Brain storm a list of names and run them through a domain name registrar’s search engine. It will show if the name is available, and with what extension (ie. .com, .net, .com.au). I like to use the Melbourne IT website to search available names, the site is well set out, and quick and easy to use. It will come back with your search result and show which extensions are available for that particular name.
Depending on your target audience for your website, you may want to choose a domain name for that particular country. In Australia we have the .com.au extension. But most of the domains I’ve purchased end with the top level extension .com because if you want to reach a global audience .com is still king.
When you’ve found a domain your happy with it’s time to take the plunge and secure it. When it comes to registering .com domain’s I use GoDaddy because I’ve found they’re one of the cheapest for .com, .net, .biz, .info or any other extension you may need. Managing your domains through their slick management console is pretty good too. Go daddy charge about $10 per year to secure a .com domain, Melbourne IT charge around AU$70 per year for a .com!!!! That’s why I’ll only use their site to check for availability, then register through GoDaddy.
Check this Banner for Updated Specials.
When it comes to .com.au domains, international registrars like GoDaddy aren’t accredited to register these domains. So when it comes to registering a domain I intend to specifically use in Australia I’ll register through NetRegistry .
At AU$44.95 for 2 years registration,they are a little cheaper than MelbIT, and are a reputable company. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and NetRegistry will have a 40% off domain’s discount. To get this special you’ll have to enter Netregistry through a Google search, and click on the right link. Typing their address into your browser doesn’t seem to trigger the discount landing page.
*This is where I have to step in with a warning*
Registering domain names is addictive! I currently own over 60 domains. When you get started it’s hard to stop. I think it’s a combination greed, the thrill of the hunt, and the challenge to seek out the best domains you can. Some people passively acquire domain names as an investment for future sale, putting them in the bottom draw, some cash park them and earn minimum CPC when people their click ads. Others actively build websites and fill them with useful information and monetize them with ad’s and affiliate links.
Whatever your motivation is, it’s helps to have cheap domain registration and fun tools at your finger tip’s to hunt out great domain names. Here are a few tools you can play around with;
* Name Boy is a great domain name generator, put in a few keywords and it spits out suggestions. Go nameboy go!
*You can also try out their free domain name appraiser, type in a domain name and your email, and within the hour you’ll receive an appraisal based on an appraisal formula. The valuations are highly questionable, but interesting nontheless.
*Another domain name generator is Domain Name Soup, you can spend hours on this site. Lots of variables with words, letters, numbers…… or just browse whats available in the 4, 5, 6 letter domains. Good luck trying to find the shortest letters possible.
*MakeWords.com is another site you can spend the whole night on. With this site you can generate names in other languages, use keyword themes, and vary the length of the names generated.
*Another website I spent long nights trawling through is 123finder.com. It’s a little slow sometimes, but once you start this site is addictive.
Domain Hosting
Once you have a domain name registered, you have to choose which company to host it on. What you’re looking for is a hosting company with a good reputation, reliability and value for money are important.
I use HostMonster for their unlimited domain hosting, and unlimited bandwidth on one account. I was pleasantly surprised to get a free domain name (for the life of your hosting account) when I signed up. You also get $50 Google, $50 Muvi, and $25 Yahoo credits, these will come in handy when it comes time to advertise your websites and help generate traffic.
Their cPanel hosting makes administrating your domains easy. The simplicity of the cPanel graphical interface means you just click on an icons to add another database, add another domain name, or download files, to accessing web templates or your $50 Google Adword voucher, $50 Miva Ad credits, and $25 Yahoo ad credits.
These will come in handy when it comes time to promote your website…..
HostMonster also use Fantastico, this instantly and automatically installs WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal or whatever CMS you choose to use. sweeet…