1) Come up with an idea for content.
Here's the "secret" to all of this - you need content that people want to see in order to make money with affiliate marketing. It really is that simple. All of the SEO in the world will get you nowhere in the long run without content that will keep people coming back to your website. Sure, some carefully written articles filled with keywords will bring traffic to your site from search engines, but if you want an actual human being to not only stay on your site and click through multiple pages, and maybe even come back tomorrow to see what's new, you've got to have great, unique content.
It really doesn't matter what topic you choose, and it literally can be anything. Who would've thought photos of cats with funny captions would turn into a million-dollar idea? (See icanhascheezburger.com). What does matter is that you keep the site fresh with new content in order to bring people back to your site, AND to keep your site at the top of search results. Search engines keep tabs on how often a site gets updated with new content, and when it sees that the site hasn't been updated in a while, your search rank will absolutely go down.
Let me ask you this - why do a ton of people visit Facebook multiple times a day? Content - plain and simple. The funny thing is, the vast majority of that content isn't even any good, but since it's something personal and relatable to them, they keep coming back for more. Now, I'm not saying that you're going to create the next Facebook with your website (fat chance!), but if you do your research and find a topic that is interesting and fresh, you can get a website up and running that will bring in traffic.
So, the short answer is to find something to fill your site with and keep it updated!
2) Good, clean website design.
Now that you have your idea for your content down...what now? The next step is to get your website designed, and get it designed properly. Not everyone realizes it, but having a crappy layout can turn users away the second they hit your website. I know you want to make money, and that's definitely what we're here to do, but loading your site down with ads from the very beginning will scare people away in a heartbeat. You want your visitors to be able to see your original content cleanly and easily, but still get ads in front of them.
You need to have finesse with the placement of your ads. While the typical placement of sidebar and header banners are okay, you need to get people interested in your content first before you start throwing ads at them. The best way to do this is through the use of teaser snippets for your articles. Give your viewer the first paragraph or so to read from the front page of your site, with no ads in the middle, and then lead them to a new page to finish reading the article. This way, not only are you getting the reader interested in your content, but you are now leading them to a completely new page, which will have fresh ads.
Now that you've gotten them here, you can "finesse" a few targeted ads inline with your article content. If your article is long enough (over 1,000 words maybe), you can even have them move on to yet another page to continue reading, generating even more ads. If you play your cards right and you have your act together, your visitor won't even realize just how many ads you've placed in front of them, and they won't be bothered by it.
3) Good, clean website CODE
You built it, but they aren't coming. Why not?? Because search engines don't like your code. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be one of the trickiest parts to all of this. Everything on your site, from the title of your pages to the images in your articles, need to be properly tagged within your website's code in order for search engines to find you.
Having correct META tags in your page's code can be the difference between someone clicking on your link in search results, or clicking on some other guy's link right next to yours. Due to a decade or so of abuse, META description and keyword tags are no longer used by search engines to determine rank. The META description tag is the first thing people will see in search results, so make sure it's well written, in plain English, but with smart keyword usage.
Keep this in mind: people that have never been to your site aren't going to search for your website's name or the name of your company. This is why you need to use descriptive keywords in your page titles and in the alternate text of images, as well as within the articles you write. Sure, you've got a great name for your website (let's say, "Total Travelganza!"), but no one cares about that if they've never heard of you, and no one is going to Google "travelganza" just at random. Use simple phrases and keywords that normal human beings might actually search for in your titles and descriptions, then add in your site's name at the end for good measure.
4) Let's make some money already!
Let's get into some specifics: two of the largest money-makers for your website will be Google AdSense and ClickBank. With Google AdSense, you get paid to show ads to your visitors, so the more ads you show, the more you can make. This is why, as we discussed earlier, to have lots of content for people to see, and get them clicking through to other pages within your site as much as possible. This one is pretty self-explanatory.
ClickBank is a little trickier. There are a couple of different ways to make money with ClickBank. One is to write articles about products and services available through ClickBank, and do your best to "sell" your visitors on them. If they buy one of these, you'll get an affiliate commission for the sale. This can be more trouble than it's worth, since the majority of the revenue is going somewhere else. So, let's get onto the other side of this coin.
The real money-maker with ClickBank is to be the one selling the product. If you can offer a service, such as a members-only subscription area of your website with premium content, you can generate some serious revenue by allowing ClickBank affiliates to do the dirty work for you. Not only will this increase sales of your subscription service, but it is also yet another way to drive traffic to your site, even if they don't sign up for your premium content.
If you do decide to offer premium content, remember to still provide a solid amount of free content as well, since this is what is going to sell your visitors on the premium stuff. If your free content isn't worth seeing, no one is going to bother paying you money for a premium service.
ClickBank isn't right for everyone, and depending on your content, it may be totally inappropriate. Another revenue stream, especially if you are writing reviews, is through Amazon.com's affiliate program. A perfect example of this is Blu-ray.com -- their entire website revenue is based on Amazon links; they don't do any other type of ads or marketing, and are extremely successful at it. If you're going to talk about a product, especially if you're talking favorably about it, there is absolutely no reason not to drive your reader to Amazon to make a purchase.
5) Keep coming up with new ideas.
Even if you're creating and posting new content every day, you still should be thinking about ways to add new features or functionality to your website. As the popularity of your website grows, people will start to expect to see more from you, so always be on the lookout for new opportunities. This will establish loyalty in your readers, and keep them coming back for more. Depending on what type of site you're running, one good idea is to implement community features and social networking. Once you get people talking about your content, and they feel a connection to your website, they will bring in new visitors that might not have found your website otherwise.
So there you have it: create some content, put it on the web, and show some ads every now & then, and enjoy your new life!
Julie Alexander
Alexander Green Enterprises
[http://fromdiscordtoprosperity.com]
alexandergreenenterprises@gmail.com
Website design, SEO package design and Social Media package designs to meet your personal and business needs. We also specialize in educating people on how to succeed in the internet marketing world.
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