Enough of this dilly dallying!

[KJ_Beckett]

Right, I understand Affiliate Marketing, PPC and SEO, its time for me to stop mulling over the idea and create my first affiliate site.

I understand I have to buy a domain name, and subscribe to a host? I understand all the principles but need some advice on how to action it. I presume I buy the domain first, then look into hosts?

Can anyone recommend a domain buying site and host?

Also as for creating the site (this is the bit im struggling with!) I already have Windows visual web developer 2008 Express edition on my computer, is this sufficient? or is there another programme I should be looking at?

Any advice is greatly appreciated guys! eager to get my first site up and running now!

Em

[Mogga]

I would learn to read this forum and look through previous posts about good places to buy a domain.

[retrolink]

Yes, all the information you need will be in this forum. There will have been many similar questions in the past.

[hairycornflakes]

yeah buy the domain first, i tend to get .co.uk domains from 123-reg.co.uk and .com's from dreamhost.com (pretty dang good for hosting aswell!)

then id get a copy of dreamweaver and read up on the basics, youll learn the rest as you go!

get a copy of photoshop aswell to make images for your site.

that should be a good start!

[Leopard]

Or go for a Wordpress blog, SEO it to the max, and just concentrate on adding content rather than learning code.

[MrCatz]

At a start, just buy a domain (there are lots of registrars out there) and if you are short on a budget - use free hostings. A blog platform would also suffice.

browse through the forums for offers and other tips

[HarveyJ]

If this is your first time, it's best to get a domain and hosting from the same company, as DNS management is a pain in the arse.

The domain you want, particularly it's extension (i.e. .COM, .CO.UK, etc), will determine the majority of your traffic, as well as help with your SERP in a particular market. i.e. .COM.AU will show up really highly for me down under, but not so much for you guys, when you hit up Google.

As a rule of thumb, people go to a .COM, but good luck finding a good one that isn't being sat on by a pro Domainer.

Also think what sort of affiliate marketing you want to do.
Almost everyone seems to go with CPL stuff on a blog... There's so much more out there!!! And if you get creative, you can make some REALLY good money.

i.e. I make a lot of money out of having subs do all my dirty work by promoting at Uni campuses in the USA (if you're a uni student, PM me to get in on this as it's decent money ) and taking a small percentage off the top of their earnings.
I used to do the exact same thing here at uni, so I know it works nicely.

But yeah, you'll also want to look into submits, Cost-per-Action offers, Pay per Sale stuff like DropShipping, etc...