When it comes to creating niche sites or blogs or marketing in general no doubt you’ve heard all there is to hear about keyword optimisation – with often contradictory opinions. While most keyword techniques are pretty standard each individual will often have their own personal preference on what tool they use and how they narrow their key phrases down to fit their chosen market etc.
For some they like to keep track of who is visiting their site and what keyword or phrases brought them there (a majority of site counters or webhosting admin panels etc will let you know where they came from – search engine etc and what they typed in to find your site) others prefer to pick a phrase and then find out how many are searching for that particular phrase via a tracking tool of some form or another.
A couple of good keyword research tools that you may find hand are the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion and here’s a great in-depth video guide on how to use it SEO Book Keyword Research Tutorial
Others might use the free keyword suggestion tool from wordtracker
Here’s a basic video guide to using wordtracker
As members of the NZPCS Program know, as I imagine do most other affiliate marketers etc the Amazon affiliate program is very easy to join and gives you a huge variety of products to sell; generally no matter what your niche may be there’s bound to be a product that’s suitable. You can set up an aStore, sell individual products or add banners to your sites or side bars of your blogs with relative ease.
However adding an Amazon product to a post in your blog can sometimes be a little more difficult – but I’ve finally found a way to do it really quickly and easily – with a simple plugin it’s simply a matter of writing your post, using the plugin to search which product you want and then dragging that product picture or link etc into your post: You can get more information on it in the post I wrote about it here: Adding Amazon Products To Your WordPress PostsĀ
For many people getting there first blog up and running is a great experience – that can quickly turn sour if you don’t have anyone visiting it. While there are many things you can do when it comes to optimising your blog for the search engines that’s only a fairly small part when it comes to getting the initial visitors and search engine spiders to your blog in the first place.
I’ve created a page on getting your first blog noticed and while it mentions many of the free tools provided to members of the NZPCS program it also covers some other tips you may find useful. Read more here
When it comes to creating niche sites and blogs one thing you will hear regularly is that you need not only good content but the right keyword or key phrase as well.
Most people know of things like overture – a site designed to tell you how often a certain key phrase is searched for etc along with giving you a selection of related words etc.
Well there’s a really cool free keyword generator that sits as a bookmarklet in your web browser. When you’re visiting a related site you can use this google keyword generator and not only receive keywords but the adwords prices as well.
It’s a very handy tool to add to your collection and well worth taking a look at.
Find out more hereĀ
When people first consider the idea of earning from their computer they often think it’s simply a matter of signing up for a program and then waiting for the money to come it; that’s rarely, if ever, the case.
Before you begin your computer based business there’s a few things to bear in mind. First and foremost is that there is no get rich quick scheme, to truly be successful online you need to be prepared to put in some time, effort and organisation, much like you would with an offline business.
Whether you’re planning to earn through affiliate programs or paid to action etc programs there’s a few steps you need to take.
1) Read the instructions: no matter what program you join, take the time to read and understand all the necessary steps involved. It’s no use joining something and rushing to get it done as all too often if you miss one simple step you’re taking the chance of either delaying your incoming payments or worse still receiving nothing at all or getting banned from the program. If required print out the important parts and keep them in a folder close to your computer for easy reference if needed.
2) Use bookmarks: as your online business grows so too will the amount of programs etc you join – make sure as you join these programs you keep a link to the main page of each program bookmarked on your computer: A good idea is to set up separate tabs for selected categories you may have eg affiliate programs, paid emails, payment processors, your own websites or blogs etc.
3) Passwords and referral links etc: As you join programs make note of your passwords (it can be a good idea to keep a hard copy of these somewhere and/or use something like Roboform) and referral urls as you may need them. Members of the NZPCS program for example will require the referral links to their first set of affiliate programs so they can set up their own affiliate page.
4) Keeping hardcopies: In some instances it may be a good idea to create a separate excel or word etc document that lists all your website urls/passwords/handy information etc that can be printed out in case there is ever a time you can’t access that data on your computer.
As your online business grows you may come across other ways to keep things organised and easy to follow but those guidelines above are a good starting point.
Earning an income online through affiliate marketing can be both the easiest and hardest thing you’ll do; easiest because in many instances all you need to do is sign up for your chosen program and then promote that product wherever and whenever you can, hardest because while it’s easy to promote it’s not always easy to get those sales etc.
If you’re considering joining an affiliate program of one form or another there are a few tips to remember that may come in handy:
Before joining any program make sure you read and understand all the terms and conditions involved: some programs won’t accept people from certain countries, some will only make payments via paypal or cheque, some won’t allow you to advertise their program on the same page as other companies, while others will only allow you to promote their products in certain venues etc. Some programs will offer payments on a tiered level (if you refer others you will get a % of what they earn etc) while others will only pay per your own sale etc.
Affiliate programs often have designated payout levels or limits on how many sales you need before receiving payment so make sure you understand when and how you will get paid.
Remember too that when it comes to marketing certain products depending on where you’re promoting you might be one of many that are showing the same page or product, think about changing things a little if you can: create your own page on why you like this product or service etc – if your page is different to the hundreds of others out there and by adding a personal touch the benefits could be very rewarding.
There’s so many different affiliate programs out there, from paid to click to paid per action etc that you should never have any troubles finding one to suit your needs or that is relevant to your chosen website or blog etc. so you should never have to pay to become an affiliate marketer.