This is so confusing

[Flower_Girl]

Hi all. I am a total newbie at this affiliate business, and this is all so confusing to me at the moment.

For the past few months, I had been reading as much as I can on affiliate marketing. The more I read, the more confused I get. Different people were all saying different things. As a result, I am eager to make the first move, but I don't know how to now. I am more confused than ever after reading all these different advices/guides.

My main confusion to get started is do I need a site of my own? Can a direct link to the merchant site from ppc work? If I need a presell site, what type should it be? Some people mention a 1 page soft presell with a link to the merchant site will work, others mention a multipage informative site is the way to go.

I am so confused :( can anyone please help this confused newbie? Thanks.

[simey]

I think affiliate marketing is more of a 'learn by doing' kind of thing. It takes so little money to get started. $8 for a domain name, $4/month hosting, etc.
I would start by making a basic informational site and work on getting traffic to it, then add adsense, aff links , etc.
PPC is where you can burn through lots of money if your're not careful though. I would start in an area that is not too competitive. Find some keywords that get searched at least a few hundred times a month but dont show a lot of competition. And expand from there.
A good 'keyword research' tool can help with this.

[hunderdown]

If you don't have money to play with--and considerable knowledge of the market in which you are working--I would avoid PPC.

No reason why you couldn't try both the one-page approach and the content site.

IMO, the approach you take depends partly on your skills and personality. If you have some knowledge of a subject area and like to teach, and don't like to focus on sales copy, then do a content site. If you like to tweak sales copy and play with numbers, then do PPC.....

Assess your skills and interests and see which best suits you.

[jchampliaud]

I've gone the content site route and found it to work good for me. It takes time to get the traffic and then a little more time to get the right type. But once you do you can make money. It's all about testing and trying new ideas. I would suggest going the content site way as it costs less and you only need to pay in time. Just my two cents.

[Flower_Girl]

Thanks for all your advise. Looks like the content route is the way to go. Fingers crossed... :)

[SiteChemistry]

Each route presents different challenges. One simple way of looking at it is this:

If you make a single-page site, a key question is how you're going to attract traffic. Presumably by using PPC, which can be expensive and risky but at least provides results quickly.

If you make a content site, then the site itself will take more time to build but in the mid- to long-term you open the door for organic search traffic, reducing the cost of traffic-acquisition and so reducing your level of risk.

Which challenge do you prefer the sound of: mastering PPC and perhaps dealing with a negative cash-flow while you learn, or writing a valuable resource and positioning it in the SERPs?

Either route can work, but one will probably suit your skill-set, temperament, and personal circumstances better.

[Michael Anthony]

Our view is that PPC is a guarantee once you get it right, whereas the SEO/content route is time consuming and always gonna be threatened by algo changes.

Best option, if you have the funds, it to use PPC to find the keywords that convert, then use SEO to drive future traffic.

Like you say though, each to their own.