confessions & wrong moves! help req..

[wrigles]

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Hi... this is my first posting...

After finding myself jobless a few months back.. I decided to try my hand at making some dosh on the net...

1st wrong move...I purchased a number of domain names and pitched them on sedo expecting the £££ to roll in. looks like i'm 5 years too late to make any decent money at this?

2nd wrong move...decided that domain names with traffic may be the future... purchased the domainsbot subs, bought & sold a couple of names etc... but really need deep pockets for this one... high traffic names are expensive! and you need to be really quick snapping them up....no I mean really quick!!

3rd wrong move...I now have over 50 domain names sitting around doing nothing and not earning any money.

Sorry for the war and peace saga!! I needed to fess up & get it off my chest :-)

So Now the questions..

1. How important are domain names for an affiliate campaign? stupid question I know... but I see sites with crap names that do really well.
2. The vibe i get from this forum, is that good content & SEO are the key to success...right or wrong?
3. Adwords? worth it or not?
4. PPC or Commission?
5. Which affiliate networks to join?
6. Tools of the trade... I have domansbot, expired domain sleuth, rapid keyword, SEO for dummies.. oh a coffee machine! is there anything else I need for this journey? besides a sanity check....

well... if you’ve got this far down the post...thanks.. :-)

[nkernick]

1. Domain names are important, howeever dont expect to buy a domain name and get top of google within a few months. SEO is still needed.
2. right
3. getting harder
4. Both (I will come onto that)
5. ALL
6. lots of tools, future rank, googlerankings.com , seo-guy.com

PPC or commision is a question I have been pondering recently.
This only occurred when I had 2100 clicks on an advert and made only made 14 sales.....

If I had used PPC (adsense overture or espotting) I may have generated upto £1.00 per click , instead i used an affiliate link and only generated a small amount. (£100)........

I think its a sliding scale, so its horses for courses !!!
2100 clicks for one affiliate scheme may mean 200 sales @ £50 per sale = £10,000 or may mean 14 sales @ £10 = £140.00

You decide !!!

[Fraser]

Welcome


1. Hmm depends, in most cases not very important at all. If you plan on investing a lot to build a brand it's maybe worth while but you can do well out of any domain.

2. Exactly right.

3. Yes if you are disciplined are careful about what you spend. You need to really keep an eye on your stats if you choose this route.

4. Both if possible. PPC programs like adsense can be great but I would never rely on just on or the other.

5. The main ones all have their own forums here.

6. Dreamweaver/Frontpage - something to make websites with

This thread might be useful too

http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread...threadid=27634

[wrigles]

Thanks for the response guys...the comments & link are really useful.

cheers

[lowndsy]

Well, 50 domain names is a very good start to build an affiliate marketing strategy on, so the good news is that you won't have to spend any more money!
In the short term I'd say get some specialist directories up on all of them - a clothes retailer directory on the fashion domains, web hosting on the techy sounding ones etc - they're relatively quick to implement (after some prep time sorting out what each site is for and making a basic template or two I'd say you could knock at least one off a day), and 50 of them should give you some income, albeit quite slow at the start. To this day my best earning site was an incredibly basic specialist directory, and if you still want to try to sell them it's up to you - a working site might be more attractive than a parked or empty domain name.

In the longer term, look at supplementing the basic directories on the most promising sites with value added content (forums, reviews, articles, tutorials, mirroring sections for larger sites [tricky - often there is nothing in it for you and plenty for them] ) and other income streams (newsletters, aff schemes for subject areas your users may also like - competitions is often a good additional stream). And for your best merchants consider taking extra measures such as ppc advertising or getting their datafeed and including their entire catalog on your site.
If you can't think of any value added content then a web designer like me or morleymouse can probably help you out - we generally have a few tricks up our sleeves that we can use to get lots of content for very little effort (mine usually involve databases), so the price would be quite low really.

If you decide you want to turn away from the basic directory premise on some of the sites then go for it - they are just one type of affiliate site out of many - they're just a good start for building confidence, contacts and income.

Good luck with it anyway - I don't think you've gone too far off the beaten track yet, it just seems that way before the money starts rolling in!

[wrigles]

Hi Lowndsy,
Thanks for the reply...

I think my real problem is, jumping in and spending money & expecting instant ROI.. i've come to realise that the start of any online enterprise is hard graft with some expensive mistakes to be made on the way... but stick with it... it should pay off!!

Building & publishing my own websites has certainly had it's drawbacks in the past¡K I'm not a web designer at the end of the day¡K I¡¦m an entrepreneur for havens sake.. lol ¡K Ok¡K unemployed Solaris admin then ƒº

I completely understand the marketing principles behind SEO & feel comfortable promoting a site.. but, I also know there are thousands of professionals out there that could do it a whole lot better....should I pay an expert? or should I just stick with it & publish my basic stuff? I'm quite willing to pay some whiz kid a few quid to design me a decent site..& me update it once a week...

+50 domain names sat on Sedo isn't ideal.. as a beginner in the affiliate marketing arena... finding a suitable place to park or promote your domain is increasingly more difficult without the "knowledge". I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few months researching the web, looking at various programs, applying at every network going...but not really having much success!

I now have a structured idea for an affiliate site... big question is¡K what¡¦s the going rate for a whiz kid these days?

[lowndsy]

The going rate for a whiz kid isn't too bad, but I'm not sure it's what you need, especially if you're already technically minded and are comfortable with SEO and the web in general. Fairy nuff you might not be the best designer in the world but not a lot of affiliates are - something that's neat and clean is fine in the majority of cases, and even if there are loads of better designers or affiliates out there, it doesn't matter too much - the pie is big enough for all of us at the moment.

If graphics are what worry you and you just want a simple template then templatemonster is a good start and most of their templates are quite a lot cheaper than what I'd charge, though the value you put on your own time is what determines how cost effective it is in the end.
If the structure and usability of the site are more of a concern and you want more of a turnkey site then that's more whiz kid territory, but with potentially 50 sites you could develop I think you'd be wanting to eventually develop your own sites or you'd wind up giving all of your profits to your web designer!
I'm sending you a PM with the URL to a very simple directory that performs well - I bet you could emulate something like that - the main strength is in the inbound links and usability, and once you had a couple of sites like that buzzing away you'll probably have some ideas for a more involved site.

Of course, if you are keen on getting some help in then I'd be pleased to offer my services - perhaps we could knock you up something generic enough to use for more than one site, or maybe think about banding a group of domains together to create a network of sites that can share the same template and features, saving on development time and sharing publicity and traffic with each other - plenty of possibilities really, but I must warn you - even the most casual "just a hobby" affiliates update their sites more than once a week - they don't mean to but it's addictive!

Steve

PS if you don't have hosting for your domain names yet then I heartily reccomend meirhosting.net - you can get a reseller account that would house all of your names from about £12 a month, which is pretty good considering the reliability and prompt service you get.

edit: spelling

[EyeOfTheTiger]

Hi,

Just thought I would chip in with my 2 cents. Javing been made redundant from my job, I was tossing up going full time or getting a "real job". It is bloody hard graft as any affiliate will tell you and like lowndsy says even part time affilites tend to spend full time updating.

If you're serious about it then you can make some good money but it is an extremely steep learning process but also kinda enjoyable at the same time, espeiually when the google update hits (if they put you number 1 that is).

As a full-time affiliate I've learnt never ever to rely on one source of income and one industry. Remember like a lot of businesses ths game can be seasonal (promote holidays etc in the summer, toys and stuf at christmas, try to find things that sell year round so you can try get some stability of income.

Don't just rely on natural search engine traffic for an income, this is way to unstable. 2 years ago I was listed number 1 in google for Range cookers (I made £6K in one month). THe next month I was nowhere and didn't earn a bean (from range cookers anyway).

Don't worry about not being a web designer. Most affiliate are not "web designers" they are marketing entrepreneurs looking at whats moving and are sometimes way ahead of the rest of the commerical world in spotting trends and even in some cases promoting them.

I am neither a techy nor a designer, i have a portfolio (strangely enough of about 50 sites) networked together hosted on differnet servers that link to each other, and self promote. I get approx 60% of my traffic from serps and 40% from PPC, and spend about 8 hours a day "working", no different from my last job, but now I'm earning almost 3 times as much. It's been hard work, but would you rather be your wn boss working hours to suit or would you go back to an office job and early mornings.

P.S. If you start to get worried, do not go to the pub to drink and think, you're better off putting some time in on your sites. I've learnt that lesson.

If money is tight to begin with while you wait for search engines to pick up your site and get some money in, get a part time job for a bit of cash. If you work things out right you can profit on PPC but like others say it does take daily maintainence, set budgets as well on google and overture so as not to blow a few grand overnight. As you get more money in, increase the budgets to increase the flow of traffic, providing your are making a profit.

Above all, a business is only as good as it's owner so remember to look after yourself as well as the business, maintain the same routine you had in your job (9-5). It helps with your sleep patterns, diet and generally seeing a bit of daylight and other people if the shops are open.

And as most if not all affiliates will testify is the accountants law of prudence. Do not assume you have earnt anything before the money is actually i your account. Merchants go bust, agencies go bust etc, and us affiliates are usually the last in a long line of creditors so until the money is in the bank it's not yours.

Sorry about the essay, but you will make it, if I can anyone can, although I am a brainy, well educated, good lookng, suave and sophisticated ladies man

Good luck with it, and like my nan always used to say "perserverance pays" and in affiliate web marketing it certanly rings true.

All the best

Tiger

[Dynamoo]

1) Not important unless you want to build a brand. Keywords in domains aren't important these days, if the site is being driven just by SEO or PPC then the domain name isn't too important. The best bet is to think up something catch "e.g. ultrawidgets.com"
2) Yes
3) Oh yes. However, sometimes margins will be too tight even for AdWords which is probably the best value ad network out there IMO.
4) Whatever works for you.
5) Research the *merchants* you want to partner with first, then join the networks. To be honest, you'll probably end up joining them all eventually.
6) Web editor and graphics package. Personally I use Namo Web Editor and Paint Shop Pro.

On web design: your sites don't have to look *gorgeous*.. they just need to be neat and easy to navigate. Keep it all as simple as possible with a minimum of graphics (really just enough to make it look like a proper ecommerce site). One tip I would give you though is to at least use SSIs (server side includes) from the outset.

[Zanox]

If you would like to take the time to visit us you will find a UK affiliate manager who is happy to take you through all the techniques employed with affiliate marketing. Its a bit of a journey and a couple of days out of your time but by the end of it you will have all the tools you need to go and play.

Of course if you promote a program or two for zanox then thats great but not compulsory.

Personal message me if you want to come across the pond for a day ;-)