My First Affiliate Marketing Journey in Fashion.

[SEOBlogPosts]

Highly recommend Amazon Associates
I've earned $2,250 on Amazon Associates in 8 months since August 2020
Very similar niche and website to yours
Main difference is hoodies aren't considered "impulse buy" because hoodies generally cost more than $30
That's one reason you might see slower sales, but the order value is higher and so is your commission
You can always sign up for a new account using a different email address
It's a shame all your hard work doesn't make some sales yet
But imho Shareasale is not the best option in your niche

Encourage you to constantly monitor hoodie trends
What is selling and why? I make this a part of daily schedule
Otherwise how do you know what products are likely to sell?
You might like this --> amazon.com/Cool-Hoodies/s?k=Cool+Hoodies

Also, how much time have you spent analyzing competitor websites? You can make a list of things to improve on your site, because the aggregate outcome of improving your site with all the things your competitors do well is simple --> You will become the market leader

I am constantly looking at other hoodie sites on the first page. I look at their keywords (that I can access), their content, how they write and add in the things that I have had work for me so far that they aren't doing. I've noticed hoodielab and pick that apart for some good ideas and top keywords that bring them traffic and create a product to target with the social media accounts posting the same thing and it seems to work.

But yeah, I do spend time looking at the tasks I'm going over and seeing how the top ranking sites performed the same task.

I will also set up those other points you mentioned. I'll have it all sent to my phone and change my reading habits.

 

[Honeybadger]

I want to access this area in red

Which WP theme are you using?

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Which WP theme are you using?

Customify, Customify – The Most Customizable WordPress Theme

 

[Honeybadger]

I have checked
Unfortunately it's a theme feature
Normally you could click "edit" on any page and add your text or banner there
This theme does not allow that option, which is strange because a page without an H1 title or text will have a very hard time ranking on Google

Here are some options

1. Contact the theme creator (if you use the free version they may take weeks or months to answer, if they answer at all)
2. Try adding custom code (you can add something in the .PHP files which is complicated for a non-programmer anyway, and remember every time the theme is updated it will erase this code unless you use a code plugin)
3. Use a different theme (that's the last option, but I have changed themes many times when something fundamental is broken)

If it was me I'd try number 1, wait maximum 5 workdays then if no answer go straight to number 3
There are many more fish in the ocean

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

This is why you need to understand how to make a child theme and manually edit the HTML. The reason that you need a child theme is the parent theme is overwritten if updated.

So, WordPress is not that easy unless you can use what is given. You can get a paid version for woocomerce too and maybe this is not such an issue IDK --you should investigate if this would be a real solution.

I could do that, but I think I'll look for a better theme. Taxes are coming in soon so I think I will purchase a nice theme. Any suggestions?

 

[Honeybadger]

I could do that, but I think I'll look for a better theme. Taxes are coming in soon so I think I will purchase a nice theme. Any suggestions?

There are plenty of excellent themes out there
Haven't paid for premium theme versions yet
But mainly because I don't want to risk any coding errors with my current setups
If there's an obvious commercial advantage to paying $50-100 then it's worth it
Unfortunately 90% of themes I found have serious fundamental coding errors or plugin-incompatibility
My advice for you is find a good Wordpress developer that published alot of standard/functional themes (unpaid and premium)
Upload the themes to your server and try them out
Don't make the mistake I did
What was it?
At the start I looked for the best fashion/clothing themes
Every theme had a fundamental error or incompatibility issue
Then I search for ecommerce themes that are compatible with the core pluginin I'm using
So I read a bunch of WP theme comparison posts
Solved the problem

 

[Graybeard]

3-30 Today I attempted to add an h1 title to every page. I came across a few things that looked like they should allow the visibility of the page title but nothing seemed to work.

I then went hunting in the template and plugin files and I wasn't able to locate the section directly below the green line in anything.

header.php below the green? Header or in the body?

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Maybe look at envato
https://themeforest.net/popular_item/by_category?category=wordpress/ecommerce

lol that is exactly where I went to start looking around. I like ThemeForest.

@Honeybadger
I was doing exactly that, thanks for stopping me! lol. I thought that being premium I might gain an advantage in style and function. The more I think about it, do I really need to update the theme when a new one is available?
Couldn't I just add in the edits and leave it alone from there? Or would that be dangerous?

 

[Samkelo]

nice thread bro! keep up the great work!!!

 

[Honeybadger]

lol that is exactly where I went to start looking around. I like ThemeForest.

@Honeybadger
I was doing exactly that, thanks for stopping me! lol. I thought that being premium I might gain an advantage in style and function. The more I think about it, do I really need to update the theme when a new one is available?
Couldn't I just add in the edits and leave it alone from there? Or would that be dangerous?

Most customers care about 3 main things

1. Trust --> do I trust this website?
2. Functionality --> does this website work correctly + fast?
3. Price --> am I getting best price for the product, and for shipping?

If you can solve those three problems you'll get sales

What most customers don't really care about is fancy design
Yes it's a fact that design influences trust, but only to a point --> and your logo is a big part of building trust through brand identity
So imho stick to simple design functionality before you worry about anything fancy
Right now your site looks great, apart from the logo which I find looks very odd (others might disagree, and overall it's your choice)
If you look for a new theme make sure it's functional and clean
There's no need for premium atm

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Most customers care about 3 main things

1. Trust --> do I trust this website?
2. Functionality --> does this website work correctly + fast?
3. Price --> am I getting best price for the product, and for shipping?

If you can solve those three problems you'll get sales

What most customers don't really care about is fancy design
Yes it's a fact that design influences trust, but only to a point --> and your logo is a big part of building trust through brand identity
So imho stick to simple design functionality before you worry about anything fancy
Right now your site looks great, apart from the logo which I find looks very odd (others might disagree, and overall it's your choice)
If you look for a new theme make sure it's functional and clean
There's no need for premium atm

One thing I have been learning is that looks don't matter, as long as it takes care of your needs and does it quickly, it's good. You can also employ this thinking when finding a mate lol.

I've noticed that a lot of sites really have no design to them just columns of products with a simple header design.

That logo has grown on me. However, on a first impression basis; I would like to see the font and outline weight increased a bit

I'll put together some new concepts and put them here soon and get your guy's opinions.

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

I wanted to ask, what do you think I should do with the text on the buy button. It says "Buy this hoodie" right now. Should it say something else like "Buy this on Amazon" or... What phrases seem to work best for a location like that?

 

[Honeybadger]

I wanted to ask, what do you think I should do with the text on the buy button. It says "Buy this hoodie" right now. Should it say something else like "Buy this on Amazon" or... What phrases seem to work best for a location like that?

"Buy Now" or "Order Now" are both good
A/B testing is the only real way to know what is most effective with your customers
Looking at some similar affiliate sites would give you more ideas
Try this Google search
"is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program" + "clothing"

 

[Graybeard]

I want to access this area in red

I can do that in a graphics editor ez
that's in the HTML code
<nav></nav> is commonly the html for a menu container
<nav> header.php woocomerce at DuckDuckGo

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

What happened here?
We went from the specialty/novelty hoodie @ $50+ to the generic hoodies $12-$16 price point?
New domain or subdomain perhaps?

Gotcha, Stay on topic.

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Here's an update from the past couple of days.
4-5

Today I added my blog and video section. I have about 25 articles to post along with around the same amount in videos to add.

I'm also going through all the currently indexed pages to make sure they all read well and look right.

Added images, descriptions, and fill out all fields for SEO for all the categories, changed up the menu a bit with a new design and created a new sitemap, and also submitted some URLs I had created and updated to google and bing.

4-6

An update to the button text we talked about before. I have like two months left to make a sale on amazon to keep my account open I think. 2 days ago I started using amazon and with that, I also changed the text of the buttons from "buy this hoodie" to "Check it out" but only for the amazon products.

During that time I have posted 9 products and have had 13 clicks. So far it looks like the text change has been a good thing because the other leads to ShareASale and it had no clicks in 2 days. I did also post on Facebook (post and video), Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Pinterest. with links only to my website. I find that when descriptions come up for results that if the URL in a description is high enough to be included and has at least one keyword in the link it will help improve it.

I decided on the text for the change by looking at other top affiliate sites like thisiswhyimbroke
I'm sure the text on their buttons has been carefully thought out as well so I figured if it works well for them it should be a good fit to see if it works for me.

 

[Graybeard]

This is why you need to understand how to make a child theme and manually edit the HTML. The reason that you need a child theme is the parent theme is overwritten if updated.

So, WordPress is not that easy unless you can use what is given. You can get a paid version for woocomerce too and maybe this is not such an issue IDK --you should investigate if this would be a real solution.

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Happy Birthday to my project! Today marks exactly one month since I installed WordPress on ChoolestHoodies.com!
I think it has come a long way in a month. Thanks for all your help so far! It's the start of a great site.

 

[azgold]

Happy Birthday, Coolest Hoodies!

 

[Graybeard]

Maybe look at envato
https://themeforest.net/popular_item/by_category?category=wordpress/ecommerce

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

Changed the colors, logo, and menu setup. I want to change up the mobile view. It's really boring. I'm going to work on that today.

 

[Honeybadger]

Changed the colors, logo, and menu setup. I want to change up the mobile view. It's really boring. I'm going to work on that today.

Your logo is a big improvement
It's fun, easy to read and memorable
How about some eyes in the word COOLEST?

 

[Honeybadger]

I think it has come a long way in a month. Thanks for all your help so far! It's the start of a great site.

Stay the course
I didn't make a dime the 1st month in affiliate marketing
2nd month commission was around $80, if I remember correctly
If you stick around long enough + keep improving
You WILL succeed

Think I read in one of your posts that you used to jump around from one project to the next
You are not alone with that problem
But that's in the past

 

[Graybeard]

Some themes will not work right with a major WP updates.
WP is a no choice --all CMS is like that.
The right way is the child theme if you do custom edits.

 

[SEOBlogPosts]

A little side note. I had created an amazon account for another project a few months ago and placed a few links and nothing came of it.

I emailed amazon because I couldn't find out where to locate the date that my account needs to make the 3 sales by. The women that replied said I have until June 9, 2021

I also replied and asked this "One last thing. Now, if I don't make the sales and then I re-apply and I'm accepted, will the links be reactivated that I've already created or will they need to be re-done?"

They said "Hello,

For that scenario they would need to be re-done. In some cases you can change your store ID within the links. You can do that for standard (full links) but this won't work for shortlinks, or links where your ID is encrypted. You would have to create new shortlinks from the new account."

So in preparation for that, I have been placing all the Amazon links as "full links" not short links so if I need to re-apply, I can just replace the account id in the links. I'm also tagging the amazon products so I can easily find them.