Web-Stats  Affiliate Marketing  Webmaster tools 

Affiliate Marketing Primer - Getting started and making money

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money from website traffic. Follow our totally free affiliate marketing primer to get started making money...

If you haven't already got a website with exisiting traffic...

This tutorial is aimed at webmasters with existing web traffic. If you're starting from scratch there are several alternative ways to make money from a new website so head on over to the A4U affiliate forum and do some reading before you get started.

1 - What kind of website have you got?

Although it's possible to make money from most web sites affiliate marketing works better on some sites than others.

For example, there are now dozens of top quality shopping portals (we like to think CantBarsed.com bargain shopping is one of them) so unless you can offer something extra special it doesn't make sense to compete head on in this sector if you have a choice.

If you're already selling products or services online you can use affiliate marketing to generate an additional revenue stream.

If you have a non-commercial site (a blog, fan site, user forum etc.) affiliate marketing can be an effective way to generate a revenue stream to cover your running costs.

2 - Content is King

The key to making money is website traffic. To attract more traffic you can spend money on advertising (Google adwords etc.) or you can create original website content which generally ranks well on search engines but is time consuming.

You need to decide whether you're going to be a small fish in a big pond or vice versa - although you could be the next big fish in a big pond you've still got to start somewhere!

The broader the appeal of your site the larger your choice of suitable affiliate marketing programs and potential audience but you'll also be up against more competitiors which usually means advertising is going to be more expensive. Original content is the key to enhancing your search engine ranking positions (SERPs) and it's a very natural way to build traffic.

They say everyone has a good book in them so maybe it's time for you to write your first few pages, original quality website content is king.

If you have any relevant expertise (like this tutorial) share it on your website visitors and the search engines will love it, it's a no-brainer.

3 - Specialist knowledge and skills...

The good news is you don't need any specialist knowledge or skills, the bad news is the more you learn the better your chances of making serious money. However so long as you can cut and paste using the clipboard you can get started right away, most affiliate marketing networks are free to join and offer instant access.

Which UK affiliate marketing networks should you join?...

There's no substitute for hands on experience so pick a topic that isn't too competitive. For example discount codes have recently become a hot topic in the UK and there are dozens of sites competing for the same customers. Similarly cashback shopping sites were popular for a while but there's only room for a handful of really successful sites in any area so choose your niche carefully. It's also worth avoiding areas which the authorities are starting to regulate around the world (gambling and financial spring to mind) and mix some simple affiliate text links in with your website copy then carefully monitor the results then, after celebrating your first sale, tweak your campaign until you're making money.

We use WebStats because the stats are easy to understand and installation is a simple cut and paste operation. You can see who refers each visitor and along with the keywords they used along with which pages they visit on your site. By looking through your referrers and keywords and using a bit of common sense you should be able to refine your affiliate marketing campaign and improve the Return On your Investment (ROI).

Try to think laterally (outside the box) and try to avoid becoming obsessed with stats - trust your instincts and learn by trial and error and you'll develop a feel for affiliate marketing which transcends stats.

Most webmasters have some experience with HTML and if you have any graphics, coding or database skills you can use them all to help you make money from affiliate marketing programs.

With HTML skills you can customise "cut and paste" affiliate marketing links so they better match your website audience. With graphics skills you can create custom artwork to promote specifica products. With coding and database skills you can create dynamic web pages using product feeds supplied by merchants.

4 - Some things to try

Try creating some news style items. Mix simple text links in your website copy or add seperate news style promotions.

Get your friends to visit your site and send you a list of words they would type in to find you on a search engine. You will probably be surprised how different the keywords they come up with are to your own.

Carefully consider any new keywords and work them into your page titles, descriptions, meta tags and website copy and promote them.

Run a spell check on your site, there's nothing worse than losing a visitor because a tyop put them off.

If you're not sure which promotions will work best try them all for a week or so, monitor the stats, then decide.

5 - Some common mistakes to avoid

Resist the urge to add pretty looking banner ads. They generally just don't work anymore - the clickthrough ratio (CTR) is poor, use smaller images or better still create compelling sales copy using text links.

Don't add popups or popunders to your pages, most people run popup blocking utilities anyway and surveys indicate we all hate them.

Don't sign up for traffic or link swapping schemes. Search engines view most of these as "bad neighbourhoods" and you could end up banned from some search engines.

If you decide to advertise your site using pay-per-click (PPC) ads read our web promotion page and start slowly and carefully monitor your stats until you can be sure you are making an acceptable ROI. There are PPC advertising specialists who use expensive software to monitor and optimise the ROI for thousands of keywords on an hourly basis so be careful not to get carried away occupying the number one slot and losing money!

Don't send out automated link swap proposals. If you want to swap links with a specific web site, make sure the site is relevant and use their contact form or email link, where provided, to put your proposal. Keep it brief and on topic, say something nice, then wait patiently. We get dozens of link swap requests every day, many are deleted after a glance, the rest we work through and add in batches, sometimes it can take months.

Be wary of ebooks promising millions and revealing secrets There are some good ones out there but for the most part they simply don't deliver so until you know exactly what you're looking for we recommend you steer clear.

6 - Get a little help from our friends...

For further help, feedback and the lastest UK affiliate marketing news join and read the A4U affiliate forum, we post there regularly as renegade so be sure to introduce yourself...

Start making money today - Getting started is the easy bit...

You won't get rich overnight and there's a lot to learn to become successful but getting started really is easy.

 Contact us | Terms & Conditions | Privacy & Cookie policy | Sitemap | Link to us | Links