Becoming successful affiliate from scratch

....what is the best program to start with

[jaski]

Hi Everone,

I am webmaster with good SEO and programming skills, but have never joined any affiliate program before owing to time constriants.

I can foresee some free time in the coming weeks and want to kickstart my first affiliate site in that time. I would prefer to start with a program which has less hassles for a newbie in the field .. is amazon the best in that respect? (or good enough is also ok :))

Second question:
I am going to build the content of the site around that affiliate program .. eg it could be around some specific electronic gadgets or some specific book types. To get approval from amazon (and others in general) .. do I need to have substantial content on that site first .. or can I put up a single page with some content and "More content coming" message and should be ok .. and I can build content after getting approval.

Thanks

[onlineleben]

Applying to Amazon is simple. Have a page up with some content and apply. Insert some code from the Build-A-Link Tool and you even have automatically updated offers from Amazon. But these do not convert very good.
So, the way to go is:
pick your product / niche and develop content around this.
Link to products that relate to your content on Amazon (Static Links / Individual Items)
Do the pre-selling and let Amazon do the converting.

Good luck!

[Grumpus]

SUGGESTION: Create a good site that people will be interested in and that you have interest in. THEN, find an afiliate program that compliments and is a natural extension of that site. Don't start with an afiliate program and build a site around it.

Did you ever see the movie "Josie and the Pussycats"? There was some cool music in it, but other than that, it was a crap movie. Why? Because some brainiac said, "Let's make a movie with lots of product placement so even if it tanks, we'll make money of the paid placements." Some other guy said, "I've been wanting to do a Josie and the Pussycats movie, I could come up with something that would work around that." Dude #1 said, "That's a GREAT idea!".

Dude #1 hasn't made a movie since.

Similarly, a web site built around "I want to build a site that sells something" rather than, "I've got a solid web site and I'm wondering if I might be able to place something in there for extra income" will provide you with "Josie, the Sequel".

G.

[Mike_Mackin]

I can't disagree with your reasoning however there are 2 schools of thought on this subject.

The 2nd school says to find an affiliate program with the BEST of everything needed by you the affiliate [we have listed them elsewhere] and build a totally focused content site [read editor will love it] around that program.

The bottom line is making the most money.

[Grumpus]

I agree, Mike, but in order to have a good site with lots of information to support your program, you have to put a lot of time in and keep up-to-date with the latest editions, advancements, offerings, etc. If you pick the program, then build the site and it ends up being something you're not interested in, maintaining that site becomes WORK - and not work that's fun - the bad kind of work.

If you're a very focused individual and can motivate yourself to get in there and do something you don't enjoy every day for the course of several years or longer, then this method will work. But, I suspect that 99% of the people interested in building web sites and making money are doing it because their current situation has them tired of doing something they don't like.

G.

[jaski]

Thanks Grumpus, Mike and onlineleben for postings and Nick for the sticky.

Building a site on some thing that I am interested in .. well actually programming, SEO and making money right now are my foremost interests .. and I don't think I can build an affiliate site around these :) .. I have to find some thing around which to wrap SEO, use programming and make money .. so I *have to* go this route only.. ie find some thing which I do not hate and know atleast some thing about and start...and learn as I go.

[Mike_Mackin]

So we have established that jaski is willing to WORK. Now we need to discuss MONEY [webmasterworld.com]

[Grumpus]

There are TONS of Afiliate programs out there for SEO and Web Design type sites. Why not build a store that gives an honest opinion on all of the things you can buy to help you build and optimize your web site. Amazon has just about every major piece of software in its catalog as well as gadzillions of "how to books" on the topic. Which ones are useful? Tell your visitors (or tell them if the book is crap). Become an authority on the subject and the book publishers will even send you advance copies to review without you having to buy them. (Libraries are good sources to review books without having to pay for them up-front, too).

If that's what you enjoy - do it.

G.

[jaski]

Yeah Mike .. exactly ;) .. and btw the link you have given looks good .. I just scanned through the entire thread .. will read it more thoroughly after this posting.

Grumpus your ideas are interesting indeed .. I sure will give it a thought .. but I honestly believe that all the SEO books are crap ;) .. every thing changes here so fast .. and no book can be printed so fast as to not become obselete before its out. SEO is really best learnt from online resources, like here .. on webmasterworld :)

[Grumpus]

True - SEO books are out of date before the INK dries, but there have to be SOME decent primers, no? (I dunno - I don't read books for computer type things, but there IS a market). I would guess that a good primer, books on "What makes good content" or "Sending proper error codes via PHP or ASP", and the like would be good items to push. Then you've got the whole "web design" type books. Then you've got reviews/suggestions for the right WYSIWYG HTML editing software (different ones for different jobs), etc. Back that up with a forum.

You'd have something pretty nifty there. True, there are sites doing a similar thing, but if done right, 6-8 months down the road, you could have some decent traffic.

Good Luck!
G.