David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

It's nearly been a year since this blog was set up. I've nearly averaged 1 post per day - some good, some bad and some that don't fit into either of these!

So it's fair to say I've seen a lot happen over the past year. Plus, I've read a lot of posts from other marketers I class as "expert".

Therefore, I thought it would be apt to write a post about the perfect affiliate marketing business model.
 
Ingredients

OK, the first thing we need is some webspace and a source of domain names. We need a source of webspace that meets the kind of business we are looking to run. So, if we are imagining setting up 100 sites, a reseller account is required. If you are pumping thousands of pounds into PPC ads, a dedicated server may be wise - if someone else's site crashes your shared server, you could lose a lot of cash. If a dedicated server crashes, it's between you and your webhost.

A range of affiliate networks to partner with merchants. 6 seems to be a healthy number, or around 6 frequently used networks. My preferences are Tradedoubler, Affiliate Future, Webgains, CJ, Paid on Results and Affili.net. I am registered with a handful more and several independent programs.

We could also do with a dash of inspiration and creativity. It doesn't matter how good you are at coding or designing, just don't rip off other people's websites. By all means, adapt an idea. That's how most sites are developed - an extension or a twist on a website concept rather than copying.

A budget of a couple of thousand pounds to invest in traffic.

Recipe

Set up some websites. They can be about anything. My first site was Compare Sat Nav (a satellite navigation price comparison site). Lee McCoy's got one about Easter Eggs and Rob has got a site about personalised gifts. The list could go on (but that's for another day).

People tend to harp on about it needing to be about a passion and that's true to some extent depending upon what it is you are focusing on. A price comparison site can be about anything. A reviews site needs to be about a passion to keep it alive. A forum can be about anything though a passion would help push things along.

If you need inspiration, try Scholr. It suggests books related to the book you search for. Why is this useful? Because sometimes it comes up with some gems that can be websites within their own right. An example you say? OK, how about something I know nothing about: Car Manuals. Click on any title, then take a look through the related books. How to Build a Car has caught my eye so I've delved into this. There are 14 related titles. Now, I could create a site about how to make a car and review these books or I could keep on delving until I found something more niche or more potentially profitable. Remember that the search will only give you book titles, not web ideas. That's where the creativity comes in. What does the title The Chocolate lovers Club suggest to you? I'm thinking of a mailing list, some competitions, a forum and at least 4 relevant affiliate programs!

Next, you need to get traffic to your site. A top priority should be creating a Google Sitemap and uploading it. Also, add your URL to Yahoo and MSN through their forms. Link exchanges can help and have certainly helped a few of my sites but make sure you exchange links with relevant sites. Also, contact the site through their contact form or contact email address supplied on the site. I frequently get "link to me emails" but if they aren't sent via my contact form, I'm not interested as that person doesn't care about my site - they just want the link. It doesn't hurt to nosey around other people's websites before you ask them for a link exchange.

Look at novel and ingenious ways to monetise traffic. Banners work sometimes and sometimes they don't. But that's not creative. Look at ways that convert impulse buyers and focus on these. Also look at ways to monetise recurring traffic.

The couple of thousand pounds would help with a PPC campaign. The key here is that PPC is very much like shares and you may not get back what you invest. However, also like shares, if you are very careful and track everything, you are sure to get there in the end. If you don't like the idea of PPC, you can get away without it but it is a lot slower without it. It's a catch-22: it' can be expensive and difficult to make PPC work for you but on the other hand, you need PPC to help explode your site's traffic and earnings potential.

(Alternatively, just learn to trade in shares!!)

The perfect affiliate marketer is nearly complete. I've noticed that the top dogs seem to have a couple of regularly updated sites, a handful or two of domain names/landing page sites and use a mixture of natural search listings and PPC to make money on a variety of markets. They lesson here is to spread your efforts amongst merchants and markets whilst trying to make the most money as possible.

So, repeat several times and allow to stew for several years to become a real pro.

Magic.

(Disclaimer - recipe is not precise and is dependant upon level of skill and markets. The only constants are hard work and perseverance. Don't expect to make millions quickly and always look for the next big thing.)