A few months back we started developing a relatively comprehensive guide for guys new to affiliate marketing.  We will package this up once we are done and then make it available to you in a PDF for free as well.  Come back over the next few days as I will drop this in 6-8 parts.  I also plan to create a Facebook guide as well as have some of our friends pull together a brief Wordpress guide.

Seeing the Big AM Picture

Here is a simple step-by-step look at the information we’re going to be discussing.

1. Find Online Real Estate - This can be your own website and domain or hosted somewhere else.
2. Create Content Around a Niche – We glossed over the niche part a little, but it’s important. You’ll want to create unique and captivating content that will draw readers.
3. Choose CPA Offers – Dropping links to CPA offers is the next step. A savvy Internet marketer will use a cloaking script (typically PHP) that also helps track what offers are clicked on.
4. Bring Traffic to the Content - Whether you go for organic search engine traffic (via SEO and SEM) or you purchase targeted traffic via PPC, you need to get people coming to your website. A mix of all methods is usually the best.
5. Track, Tweak, Repeat – Track what is selling (or not selling) make changes (and document them), then let it go for a while before you check the stats and make more tweaks.

Sounds rather simple, huh? Well, it is, but it’s quite a bit of work as well. This is the whole process broken down into five simple steps. There is, of course, much more you need to know. That’s part of your job as an Internet Marketer, however. You want to always be learning. There’s a point where you have to put what you’ve learned into action, but you’ll want to make sure you keep up with the Industry.

Content, Traffic, and Online Real Estate

While these sound like three simple things (and they are), it takes some work to be able to pull off all three together well enough to make money. To begin with, you need to know a little of the basics. With that in mind, here is a look at some of the basics of content and traffic.

Online Real Estate

When it comes to content online, it has to exist somewhere. It can exist on another website where you create it, or you can create it on your own web property. (Think of websites as two things – a domain or the www.yourdomain.com part – and hosting or the actual computer that serves up the information to visitors.) You don’t need to be a computer nerd, but you should have some understanding of how the Internet works, especially websites.

If you don’t have the money or knowledge to host your own website when you first start, this doesn’t have to be a barrier (although it can be a big plus.) You can either direct the traffic you buy via PPC directly to an advertiser’s sales page (not recommended but workable in some situations) or post your content (and links to advertisements) on a free blog or other website that allows people to post content.

Of course, the problem with this is that you don’t have full control of the content. (Read those Terms of Service on the website you post to carefully!) This brings us to another option – hosting your own content.

• If you have a relatively simple website, you can expect to pay from $4 to $10 a month or $40 to $60 a year for “shared hosting.” Think of this as living in an apartment building with a lot of other tenants.
• The next step up is called Virtual Dedicated Hosting, which runs anywhere from $30/month to $200/month or more. You can think of this as a condo with one or two neighbors in the same building.
• Once you have the money (and need) there is the third tier – the dedicated server. Starting around $300/month for a basic stripped down shell of a server up to thousands of dollars per month, there are a wide range of dedicated servers available.

The point is, you need some kind of “real estate” online to host your content (your sales copy or informational articles) and to attract or presell targeted viewers. Whatever you can handle in the beginning, it’s going to be something you need to consider.

Unfortunately, we can’t give you all the details, but in a nutshell you’re going to want to stick to starting a WordPress.com blog (or a blog on another network) or at least shelling out some money for a shared server.

Things to Consider for Content

• Copyright – You’ll need to make sure you only use things in the public domain or you pay for rights to use content (be it stories or photos) online. This may seem like a shortcut you can take in the beginning, but it’s not worth it in the long run. Content doesn’t have to be expensive online. There are many free and legal alternatives as well, although you should consider if they’re free, other people are using them as well. Paying a little for good content pays for itself.
• Content Management System (CMS) – While you could hand code every single page of your website, this isn’t recommended. Instead, you’ll want to install a content management system (or CMS.) You may have heard of WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla. You should familiarize yourself with these ‘platforms’ to display your content. They all have their pros and cons depending on the type of website you want to create. You don’t need to become an expert, but you should know the software that runs quite a few websites online.
• Private WHOIS? – At one time, the best advice was to make your whois information private. Whois information refers to the information you use when signing up for a domain name online. Today, more than a few people believe it’s not important and may even be a red flag for Google or other search engines. That said, there’s still a debate about this, but it’s something you should think about if you decide to buy a domain and host your own website.

Is there more you need to know? Oh yes. This is a beginner’s guide and we’ve given you enough so that you should know what you need to look into or find out more about.

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