Newbie Thread - Getting into Affiliate Marketing and ppc

milojones · 25-06-08

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for a while now trying to learn as much as I can before dipping my toe into the affiliate marketing world and I now feel ready to get started.
This has been part of my problem and from reading other threads i'm not alone, it's the actual getting down to it and starting, i've read blog after blog, forum post after forum post, my head buzzing with hundreds of ideas and so far nothing!

I already have a number of niches I want to start sites about and a number of products, using a mixture of blogs and websites, I've also been through most of the affiliate companies and seen a number of affiliates I would like to use and I've been reading up and looking through forums all about adwords. So I wanted to ask a few questions before I started my journey.

If you were starting today in the affiliate game how would you start?

Would you do PPC direct to merchants websites? (I've been reading a post recently by Kirsty who says this is how she started out and it seems a good way to test the market) What are your thoughts? Do google mind this type of advertising or will you be paying more for your keywords? How do you get signed up by a affiliate if you have no website to show them?

What about mini-sites, I read on a few blogs that mini sites were now dead and that google was punishing people with higher ppc costs due to quality, do you still use them, do they still work, does google mind them?
I wouldn't want to spend days creating a website only for the niche to be wrong and I can't make any money.

So I guess my question would be, if you are new, what would be the quickest and easiest way of testing your niche?

Sorry for all the questions

KirstyM · 25-06-08

Hello...

I'd say if you have a few niche ideas you should try to test all of them with several small campaigns.

Set a budget of £20 a month for each of them, and then set about trying to get highly targeted traffic to them as cheaply as possible to help you collect your data. Use Adwords and MSN too. MSN is often overlooked, yes its a PITA but you get traffic there for half the price you'd get it on adwords. Ideal for the newbie I think.

As for mini sites, they still work. I have mini sites on adwords and on number one spot in Google. Personally, I think the future is in slightly larger content sites. I certainly find they work better for me. However for you a mini site will be the perfect place to start off, learn your methods, and improve with the minimum outlay of your time.

Does this make sense?!

Good luck.

Jonathan_Chapman · 26-06-08

Hi milojones,

Just to re-iterate KirstyM's words, use Adwords to start with, but the daily budget is very important, so costs don't run out of control before you even know where and what to target in tight adgroups. You don’t want to blow your budget before you know what works well. Specific terms like model numbers of electronic goods are a good starting point for search. As well as MSN I do believe that Yahoo is worth a look, maybe as a longer-term plan as with MSN, the click costs will be a lot cheaper than Google. Yahoo can be a lot more frustrating in terms of functionally, but you will be surprised with the traffic volumes and quality of clicks, i.e. conversion will be higher.

I would definitely have some mini sites as less and less merchants allow direct linking these days and you can tie in some SEO as well as you build up your sites.

If you require any help with anything that I have discussed, joining programmes on our network, etc then PM me, email or ring me anytime, I'm happy to help.

Cheers

Jon

milojones · 26-06-08

I would just like to thank you both for your advice, i've started building my minisite and hopefully ill have something to show soon

Tezza · 26-06-08

I would firstly suggest do not bite off more than you can chew. I did and now have about 30 parked domains due to an overload of work. As long as your mini site is not a MFA site then you should be okay, I believe Google are clamping down on those. I have a few mini sites at present which I do not need to do much work on, just let the domain names mature in Google over the next year or so until I need/want to develop them further. I have had a domain parked for over a year and have last week just started to use it as a blog, but it has always been listed in Google since I bought it with a few decent links to it to help build trustrank slightly.

If Google was clamping down on mini sites in general then a lot of business websites would suffer. Some businesses out there only require 5-6 pages as an online profile, thats what G have to be careful of. If they see a couple of pages spammed with adsense code then more than likely the domain will get banned. If they see 5-6 pages of pure content with a couple of links then they should be okay about it.

Your view of going into the blogging industry is a good start and I wish you all the best

Terry

sussexrob · 26-06-08

I agree with Tezza completely

Didnt have money to loose so stayed clear or PPC. Started a site last August, took 4-6 weeks to start making money and has made enough to cover the mortgage for a 3 bed house since. After ebay, I learnt to take it slowly and not expect things over night. Several years ago i didnt have the patience and made a large debt

I also have domains which go into the 30's are indecisive niche directions... stick with one or two projects and see them through. Dont try and juggle to much, it will do your head and you will get nowhere fast

Take it slow, dont get p*ssed off if once ranked you drop a few places, good content, decent backlinks and you will start to learn. The experience you come to learn will pay dividends over the next few years

good luck

Rob

milojones · 26-06-08

Thanks Tezza and Sussexrob for your words of encouragement. Your already right about taking it slow and not doing too many projects, already I have a million ideas spread so thinly over so many niches, the problem with me is I get my niche and start doing the research, then get led onto another niche and then another until you find out a whole week has gone by and all you've done is reseach and not about your original niche

Sussexrob can I ask, the niches you started with, were they retail ?

Another question I keep asking myself is should I start with the retail section (something I do know about) or go for one of the niches that pays more commission i.e Travel, Finance areas etc. Although I do know how competitive these areas are now.

sussexrob · 26-06-08

Yup retail

I dont touch hoildays, debt and all that. I just detail with items myself , you and joe blogs would buy off the net

Also, I dont touch ebooks. There are people making alot ALOT of money off them but everytime i have read one, they have been pants. I dont want to sell something I wouldnt intend buying myself

I use 100% seo to, dont touch ppc. Class it as betting and not for me

Rob

Jonathan_Chapman · 27-06-08

Hi milojones,

I wouldn't discount PPC all together, however as the others have said, if you have no budget that you can afford to lose, then don't bother, there are no quick wins and SEO is great as its virtually free. If you do venture in to the ppc world then go very slow, low bids, building up on terms that have good traffic, etc. Read, read and read some more on ppc as it can and will be expensive if you get it wrong. Having content sites are good and the more SEO friendly you make them the better.

Good luck with you ventures and if you need any help then get in touch.

Cheers Jon

0207 299 8389
jon.chapman@buy.at