help and advice for newbies and people who need a kick up the backside in 2009

[sabian1982]

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bluraydiscplayer org uk

Whops, wasn't aware this domain had already been mentioned lol

[Seamaster]

Please don't take this the wrong way but don't you have enough information on this thread to allow you (and other newbies) to find your own niches ? I think Smingle (& others) have just about covered everything from hosting to researching a good niche.

Is there anything you're not sure about ?

I've used the advice in the this thread to make four sites so far and although I think I have followed the advice from Smingle and others in this thread they are not getting many sales.

I think a lot of people, myself included, would like a Smingle Approved domain name so we can work with something that is more likely to make some sales (than the ones we have come up with).

Its all very well to go out there any find your own niches but if they turn out to be not that good its not going to be much of a kick up the backside is it?

I think once a beginner gets a site going that starts to make money, that will be a massive kick up the backside and spur them on to bigger and better things.

That is why we all want a Smingle Approved domain/niche even though we have started making our own sites.

[pedigreechump6]

I've used the advice in the this thread to make four sites so far and although I think I have followed the advice from Smingle and others in this thread they are not getting many sales.

I think a lot of people, myself included, would like a Smingle Approved domain name so we can work with something that is more likely to make some sales (than the ones we have come up with).

Its all very well to go out there any find your own niches but if they turn out to be not that good its not going to be much of a kick up the backside is it?

I think once a beginner gets a site going that starts to make money, that will be a massive kick up the backside and spur them on to bigger and better things.

That is why we all want a Smingle Approved domain/niche even though we have started making our own sites.

I too know how frustrating it can be to have traffic and no sales but I've tried to work hard on increasing not only my click through rate on the affiliate links but also the click-to-conversion rates. Firstly, a lot of people are browsers who simply surf the web looking but without much action; these users need a really strong call to action if they are to purchase online which is often difficult but not impossible. To give yourself the best shot you can't just present the affiliate deals and hope someone bites, you need to give them 10 reasons why they should buy the product and why they should buy it NOW.

Failing this you might want to try capturing their data (in the form of an email address) and then send them weekly or fortnightly newsletters just reminding them why they need to buy whatever it is you're selling. Or use these emails to highlight any particularly good deals or sales that come around. I use Aweber to do this as it is incredibly good value, easy to use and you can setup as many different lists as you like for your different sites. I have read more than once that it often takes multiple messages (think of these as pushes in the direction of a sale) before someone caves in and buys.

The last thing to consider is that these browsers are happy to click around to different sites to see what's out there and so, as much as you may loathe them (some affiliates seem to anyway) Google ads can supplement your affiliate income and can do so in a non-invasive way. I have more than a few sites that do far better out of Adsense than affiliate deals. And I have some which are the other way around and make far more through affiliate programmes.

The key is to test, test and test some more. I used to work for a company with a very large internet property in the form of a price comparison site and they constantly tested, making very small percentage gains each time but even the smallest details can make a huge difference.

Best of luck

[Chimpo]

I'm blind! Got an email sitting in my drafts folder all queued up to smingle and sitting hitting f5 in the other thread!

I'll be here same time next week!

[RedJimmy]

il chuck i some other domain which get some decent search figures, all free to reg
MAKEUPGAMES.ORG.UK
FISHERPRICETOYS.ORG.UK
TOYBOXES.ORG.UK
ELECTRONICMUSIC.ORG.UK
TOYKITCHEN.ORG.UK
LAMPSLIGHTING.ORG.UK
CEILINGLIGHT.ORG.UK
CEILINGLIGHTING.ORG.UK
WALLLIGHT.ORG.UK
BATHROOMLIGHTING.ORG.UK
BESTVACUUMCLEANER.ORG.UK
SMOOTHIERECIPES.ORG.UK
HENRYVACUUMCLEANERS.ORG.UK
HENRYVACUUMCLEANER.ORG.UK
GYMWEIGHTS.ORG.UK
EXERCISEMACHINES.ORG.UK
ANAEROBICEXERCISE.CO.UK
MINITRAMPOLINE.ORG.UK
14FTTRAMPOLINE.CO.UK
EXERCISEBALL.ORG.UK
ANAEROBICEXERCISE.ORG.UK
14FTTRAMPOLINE.ORG.UK
RABBITRUNS.ORG.UK
RABBITRUN.ORG.UK
DOGACCESSORIES.ORG.UK

[Chimpo]

Just a quick question based on the post above as I'm very new and learning.

If you take rabbit runs as an example. Based on the affiliates that may sell rabbit runs or adsense/ppc revenue...

* Do you just take a gut instinct that ppc is likely to be better since you beleive there are no if little retailers offering affiliate sales.

* Are there a list of all the available vertical markets with which affiliate network are partnered with the relevent retailers?

It may sound a stupid question but I'm learning

[sabian1982]

Those are all well and good but they are all rather generic hence the visitor number might be quite large however the potential for converstion will be rather low unless your able to list hundreds of products on the site your marketing.

Also the like of SMOOTHIERECIPES / ORG / UK i realise that there are some books out there however the first result for 'smoothie recipes' is a site containing lots of free recipes - the chances of actually being able to make commissions off that domain name will be very, very difficult.

Choosing a domain name and assessing if it gets traffic is one thing, actually choosing a niche that has avaliable and suitable products with a current lack of competition is a completely different kettle of fish.

If your starting out you need to really start with a micor, micro niche - it might mean fewer searches but it means high converstion rates (if you get it right!).

@ Chimpo - check out http://www.easycontentunits.com/

[Seamaster]

* Are there a list of all the available vertical markets with which affiliate network are partnered with the relevent retailers?

If you sign up with Easy Content units you can do a search on an item and it will search all the networks and display all the products and show you which merchant and network they are on.

[Seamaster]

If your starting out you need to really start with a micor, micro niche - it might mean fewer searches but it means high converstion rates (if you get it right!).[/url]

That appears to be the hardest part so far IME.

[Chimpo]

I signed up about 20 minutes ago! Thanks

Would be good if they displayed some examples to help entice people in.

[pedigreechump6]

* Do you just take a gut instinct that ppc is likely to be better since you beleive there are no if little retailers offering affiliate sales.

I would firstly check out the affiliate networks as has been suggested using something like easycontentunits to see an overview of all merchants in a particular niche. Then if there did not seem like a lot of choice down that road I would perform the search in Google (which you should have already done to judge the competition you will face) and see how many advertisers there are in the sponsored listings.

If there are a lot then I tend to put Adsense on my site along with the few affiliates there may be; I think Adsense is underrated as an addition to a site as there are a lot of retailers etc out there that dont have an affiliate program but do advertise on Google so really the CPC ads just act as additional affiliate links only they pay on the click which is always more comforting to me at least.

[sabian1982]

That appears to be the hardest part so far IME.

Im definately no authority on the AM side (yet) however whats your search traffic like? Are you getting many visitors? How are you measuring your visitors? Are you running a blog, if so are visitors only visiting your main page or are they delving deeper and looking at your specific posts? Once you understand a little more about what your visitors are doing you can tweak your site further and hopefully increase converstions.

If you need some help setting up something like Google Anayltics, let me know and i can give you a hand if you like.

[Seamaster]

Im definately no authority on the AM side (yet) however whats your search traffic like? Are you getting many visitors? How are you measuring your visitors? Are you running a blog, if so are visitors only visiting your main page or are they delving deeper and looking at your specific posts? Once you understand a little more about what your visitors are doing you can tweak your site further and hopefully increase converstions.

If you need some help setting up something like Google Anayltics, let me know and i can give you a hand if you like.

I've got Google Analytics and Statcounter on my sites already and they are getting about up to 10 hits a day although they have been moving around the SERPs quite a lot and are yet to settle down but most are either on page 1 or top of page 2.

They are just landing pages really to which I will be adding other relevant pages.

Some use ECU to link to specific items or merchants and some have product write-ups that deep link to amazon. I've only made sales from ebay and amazon so far - no one seems to be buying from the other merchants. But judging from my traffic it is (very) early days.

[smingle]

il chuck i some other domain which get some decent search figures, all free to reg
MAKEUPGAMES.ORG.UK
FISHERPRICETOYS.ORG.UK
TOYBOXES.ORG.UK
ELECTRONICMUSIC.ORG.UK
TOYKITCHEN.ORG.UK
LAMPSLIGHTING.ORG.UK
CEILINGLIGHT.ORG.UK
CEILINGLIGHTING.ORG.UK
WALLLIGHT.ORG.UK
BATHROOMLIGHTING.ORG.UK
BESTVACUUMCLEANER.ORG.UK
SMOOTHIERECIPES.ORG.UK
HENRYVACUUMCLEANERS.ORG.UK
HENRYVACUUMCLEANER.ORG.UK
GYMWEIGHTS.ORG.UK
EXERCISEMACHINES.ORG.UK
ANAEROBICEXERCISE.CO.UK
MINITRAMPOLINE.ORG.UK
14FTTRAMPOLINE.CO.UK
EXERCISEBALL.ORG.UK
ANAEROBICEXERCISE.ORG.UK
14FTTRAMPOLINE.ORG.UK
RABBITRUNS.ORG.UK
RABBITRUN.ORG.UK
DOGACCESSORIES.ORG.UK

none of those are any good now, as google spider will have followed each one of them as a site, but will not resolve !!! hence the / between the domain ames in other posts.

Jmaes I have emailed you twice now too, but you haven't replied ??

[Jason]

I signed up about 20 minutes ago! Thanks

Would be good if they displayed some examples to help entice people in.

Hi

If you need any help at all with using ECU let me know, either on here, or preferably via a support ticket, and we'll do our best. If you need me to make up any content units for you, just let me know what products you're looking for and I'll have a go.

Some examples of what you can do with the content units can be seen on the following pages:

Conservatory Heaters
Garden Fountains
World of Warcraft Battlechest

If any one wants to share their use of ECU with members of A4U, please post on our thread: Easy Content Units - Fully Customisable, Multi-Network Content Units - Affiliate Marketing

Jason