Forum Moderators: skibum
I would say dont concentrate on 1 product otherwise if that line goes or is unsucessful you will have no alternative income streams.
There have been loads of threads on affiliates and content building. Try the search at the top of the page.
Cheers
Can i be blunt?
It sounds like you really dont enjoy web design that much and are just looking to make some money. Which is fair enough - most of us are out to make money! :)
But designing a decent site in order to generate affiliate income is a lot of work.
Unless you have a top notch affiliate scheme, it is difficult to make much money from affiliate sites. If you are talking about a generic programme (commission junction?), then you will have to build high traffic levels in order to reap any sort of benefit.
Im not trying to put you off - i just want you to be realistic.
You´re gonna have to develop a site that has good content, navigation, etc, choose a programme to suit the site, add content to suit the programme, and maintain and update it on a daily or weekly basis.
It could take months before you see any results from the site, and you really do need to generate high traffic levels to make a decent income.
My advice would to do you research first and find a niche market affiliate scheme and spend the next few months really developing your site.
Best of luck.
JOAT
For larger websites, they have affiliate advertising because the sheer volume of traffic they are getting makes it worthwhile.
Starting from scratch with one site, you are going to have great difficulty in making decent money from general affiliate programmes.
The best advice I could give you is choose an area of interest you have (a hobby, sport, speciality, etc) that you can write a lot about and build a site with good content around that. From their, promote the site and get the traffic.
Then find related affiliate programmes to join that your average user is likely to be interested in (instead of the generic "your computer may be infected", etc).
If you build a site around affiliate programmes, then you may find it more difficukt to get listed in certain directories (eg ODP) which in turn affects your SE listings.
However, if you do the content first, you almost certainly will be listed in directories, and other sites are more likely to link to you.
And if the affiliate programmes dont work at least you will be left with a good website! :)
Hope this helps.
JOAT
People who generate income from generic affiliate advertising (bog standard stuff, no niche market targeting) generally have more than one site doing this.
Not duplicate sites though! :)
So, an individual may have a music related site that has music related affiliates, a sports site that has sports affiliates......
My point was that it is pretty difficult to get a decent income from affiliate advertising on a single mass market website. In order to make any decent money you would have to be pretty much a market leader (ie, 10,000´s visitors each month).
However if you discover an untapped niche market (something that people are searching for, but isnt available or isnt highly competitive) and get affiliate advertising for that, then you´re in with more of a chance of making decent bucks with a single site.
Am I making sense, or just rambling? :)
JOAT
Don't put all you eggs in one basket. You'll never make in the affiliate biz with one site in one industry. You need to diversify - lots of sites (and I mean LOTS) and several industries. Keep building sites - it's a nonstop business. You can't just build a couple and then sit back and wait for the $$ to roll in - trust me :) (currently rebuilding empire that crashed cuz I got lazy)
If you really want to give this a shot, I think you should start with a subject you enjoy and would have fun making a site about. If you figure out a way to make it fun and make money at it, you are on your way.
hmmm...Ok, lets see. Hmmm, soooo I shouldn't really find one product, and try to sell it, and only it. I should try to make a site about stuff I enjoy doing, and then use that site to make money with RELATED affiliate links to what I like. Well....I do love computers, and networking, and am currently studying for my CCNA, and A+. Maybe I should write a website about computers? I guess it would be a hardeware review site. But I have seen other hardeware review sites, and they have SOO much information, and they know so much more then I do. Also, they write REALLY long reviews. I don't think I would enjoy writing that much even about stuff I love...maybe I would though. Anyone have any suggestions from the new information I just gave? (Thanks for the help everyone, I do appreciate the suggestions and information. It is helping me to see weather I should be doing this or not.)
Don't get too despondent, there are 2 sides to every story.
This subject was very well discussed a few months back.
Take a look at
Building a Business Around Affiliate Programs [webmasterworld.com] and the follow up string [webmasterworld.com].
You'll find lots of interesting viewpoints and some good pointers.
Good Luck
Ross
No one is going to be able to tell you what your best topic or niche is going to be, better than you can. Going through those threads will help you figure it out.
As an example, with the interests you have, you may want to consider wireless networking. (You love computers and networking.) You don't want to do something as broad as "computer hardware." Find your niche and dominate it. Wireless is worth looking into, as it is becoming very popular. Terms like "wardriving" are probably climbing in referrals. Maybe you can promote wireless network hardware, or some specialized software, I don't know. You'd have to do your homework on it first. Maybe you build the site, get lots of traffic, enjoy it, and find an affiliate program that is a perfect fit 6 months down the road.
The point I am trying to make is this: If you don't like what you are doing, it will show in your work. That will not drive sales. Your enthusiasm will.
