A lot of Questions from a true newbie

[helimike04]

Hello to everyone!

I just want to start off by saying that this forum is the best tool I have found so far in my quest to become an affiliate marketer. Thank you all!!

Ok now for my questions.

I see Wordpress listed alot on here, is this program easy to use for a complete noob? Also do they publish and host your website so that somebody might be able to find it through google or any other search engine?

I have so many ideas for a niche that it has been hard for me to focus on just one. This brings me to my next question. With all of the hosting sites out there that promise unlimited domains is this just unlimited domains that you can create and add to your account, or they host them but you have to pay for every single domain you create? And also is there a cheap way to create multiple unrelated sites?

Last question; I read a lot about link building to improve your page rank, is this an absolute necessity or a way to drive even more traffic to your site?

Again thank you all!!

 

[djbaxter]

I see Wordpress listed alot on here, is this program easy to use for a complete noob? Also do they publish and host your website so that somebody might be able to find it through google or any other search engine?

You can have it hosted by WordPress.com or you can set it up on your own hosted domain. It's up to you.

However, I believe there may be restrictions on advertising, bandwith, etc., for wordpress,com hosting. You need to check that before making a decision. If you fall awry of the ToS, you might find your blog disappearing without warning.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi helimike04,

Glad you like our forum.

1st of all I'd like to say that while I totally understand getting excited about a bunch of niches that look good - I STRONGLY recommend newbies pick one niche and focus on one site or blog until they start making some money.

Otherwise you are too distracted and it's hard to make progress on any of your sites/niches. Plus in the beginning you will make a lot of mistakes. Best not to make the same mistakes and have to correct them on a bunch of sites. Use one as your test bed, refine your process, learn from mistakes. Then when you are ready for a 2nd site you'll have a solid model to build on.

Plus when you say you have all these niches in mind, I'm wondering if you have done thorough keyword research to see if any of those niches are really viable? Hollar if you don't know about how to do keyword research and I'll point you in the right direction.

minstrel is right, the hosted version of Wordpress, while free has rules you have to follow and one is that they don't allow affiliate links, so that option won't really work for affiliate sites.

The preferred Wordpress configuration is where you get your own hosting account and launch your blog there. Yes it's easy to use once it's set up. There is a learning curve though as far as getting it set up and customized the way you want it.

Many hosts allow unlimited domains, so you pay for one account and you can add more domains without paying extra. Realize though nothing is truly unlimited and there are in reality limits to every host.

Your question about link building - it's both. Yes inbound links can help bring you direct traffic, however PR isn't that important any more. But the important thing is - to get a high ranking on Google and get all that free search engine traffic - how many backlinks you have is a big factor. If all other SEO factors were equal on 10 sites, those with the most backlinks would be ranked higher.

I see Wordpress listed alot on here, is this program easy to use for a complete noob? Also do they publish and host your website so that somebody might be able to find it through google or any other search engine?

I have so many ideas for a niche that it has been hard for me to focus on just one. This brings me to my next question. With all of the hosting sites out there that promise unlimited domains is this just unlimited domains that you can create and add to your account, or they host them but you have to pay for every single domain you create? And also is there a cheap way to create multiple unrelated sites?

Last question; I read a lot about link building to improve your page rank, is this an absolute necessity or a way to drive even more traffic to your site?

 

[helimike04]

Awesome that really answers a lot thank you both! So could somebody point me in the direction of a good hosting site maybe one with the ability to create a website as well. I don't have that much money right now so maybe one on the cheaper side.

I am also starting to narrow down the niche ideas I have with keyword research and also competition. Relating to that what is considered low competition?

 

[Laura61]

Hi helimike04,

I don't think it was mentioned, but although most hosts don't charge to add another domain, or site, to your plan, you do have to actually purchase the domain. But of course that's pretty cheap. So each new site you create will cost you less than $10.

I use Hostgator because they have such good customer support and have everything I need to create my affiliate sites. I've also heard good things about Bluehost.

 

[Laura61]

Oh, and I was also going to say that WordPress, while not exactly EASY, is not really HARD either. It may seem overwhelming to a newb but step by step it's not so bad. There may be easier ways to build sites, but in my opinion, WordPress is one of the absolute best ways to go, both from an SEO perspective as well as the fact that it's FREE (can't beat that) and there are so many plugins that make it even more powerful.

 

[Niche48]

Awesome that really answers a lot thank you both! So could somebody point me in the direction of a good hosting site maybe one with the ability to create a website as well. I don't have that much money right now so maybe one on the cheaper side.

I am also starting to narrow down the niche ideas I have with keyword research and also competition. Relating to that what is considered low competition?

Hi Helimike and welcome to the forum

Wordpress s a great platform which is mainly a blogging platform but you can use the software to build static pages

Loads of options for hosting including godaddy, hostgator, kiosk, globat

I would suggest you stick to one of the big ones, more reliable up time

If you don't have money, you can consider using a free blogging platform to start with e.g wordpress or blogger. Get the content up and try and earn some money which you can later invest in getting your hosting account for your website

Good luck. It really is a great business with plenty of potential if you invest the time and effort

 

[Linda Buquet]

you can consider using a free blogging platform to start with e.g wordpress or blogger. Get the content up and try and earn some money

Reminder wordpress.com (free Wordpress hosting) does not allow affiliate links.

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

I've been with Servint.net for years and very happy. Their VPS accounts let you set up unlimited domains at a very reasonable price and their service is excellent. I've not ever been down because of them.

I also have a Hostgater account which I have only used to experiment with. Much cheaper and a lot of good support pages.

 

[salamei12]

Hello:

Like Ron I have a hostgator account also and I pay just $9.95 a month for it. I have the baby croc account. I've had that account for about three years now and out of the three years have been down maybe just a couple of times, not a bad track record in my book. They also have excellent 24/7 support. I'm very happy with them. Hostgator has an awesome interface called Cpanel and you can do tons of things with it one of which is to set-up a blog on any or all of your domains, I'm talking about wordpress blogs setup and ready to go in just about 5 minutes.

The cpanel interface has a Fantastico link at the bottom of it you just click that link and then click on the wordpress link from there it will ask you what directory would you like to create click blog then it will ask you on which domain would you like the blog directory installed on, from a drop down menu you select which domain you wish the blog installed on and fill in your basic info click finish and "BAM" YOUR WORDPRESS BLOG IS CREATED ON THAT DOMAIN! It's all hosted as well. It even notifies you when it's time to update and that too can be done in an instant! A complete cinch for noobs or anyone for that matter, nothing technical to do, just a few clicks and Done!

Cheers!
Salamei