Thousands of people have created affiliate websites that have proved hugely lucrative, but you need to know some basic principles of affiliate marketing in order to set up an affiliate site that works.
Choosing a Domain Name
Many affiliates are looking to start out on a shoe string budget, and will therefore struggle to find a domain name that costs less than $4 per year.
Don't be too concerned about this, as your domain name will have a huge impact on your long term profits!
Your domain name and website name is central to your affiliate marketing efforts, and it's important to have a name that is going to compel a potential consumer to click through to the merchant's site, and then purchase their product or service.
The domain names that sell the most are generally short and memorable, with prescribe keywords in them.
Choosing a host
Re-inventing the wheel isn't always the best approach when it comes to setting up your next affiliate website, so a good tip is to choose a free hosting program that offers an affiliate program.
Free hosting is the most basic service available, but offers you absolutely no control with regards to your website.
The downside of a free hosting package is that most merchants don't allow links back to their affiliate site inside of the site. While this is usually not a problem for merchants who don't offer affiliate programs, it can be a deal breaker if your domain name is short and easy to remember.
An affiliate website can make you a ton of money with the right name (a domain name that incorporates your niche keywords), and potentially even more with good content.
Choosing a hosting company is also a problem for free hosting packages, and giving a free hosting company the control of your online business can have instant effects on your income.
Make sure you use a reliable hosting provider and find out how they set up you online presence. Check out review sites and community discussion forums to see what other affiliates are saying about your hosting company.
Forum Discussions
It always pays off to listen to what your peers are saying. Do a quick search in the forums for your topic of interest.
If you know someone else who has used a hosting company before, be careful to verify the claims of the person giving the recommendation.
Forum comments and feedback can be an invaluable resource when you are deciding on your own web hosting package. Therefore, do pay attention to what other people are saying.
There will always be a few bad reviews, but by having a closer look at what others are saying about your own web hosting service, you will pick out areas that need further review.
Monitoring your site
Once you have your website up and running, use a web analytics program to monitor your website statistics.
This will let you know where your traffic is coming from, and what your visitors are doing on your site.
Understanding Your Home Page
The home page has always been the most important page on any website, since this is where potential clients and customers can make the first impression.
The home page will also be the clickable link that will take potential customers to your affiliate merchants site, and is therefore often the first place you will check for errors.
Your web stats program will be able to show you where safe mouse clicks have come from, so if you see that your visitors are clicking out of the top left clickable area of your home page, then you need to fix this very quickly.