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Newbie Interested In Affiliate Programs

mekap04

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I am interested in joining affiliate programs or one that best benefits my blog. I have a blog about making money online and I want to find out what ways I can use affiliate programs to bring in extra money. Does anyone have any advice on this?
 
Hi mekap04,

You may have read this from me a few times already but Internet marketing and make money online are the hardest markets for a newbie to tackle. Notice I didn't call it a niche, it's not - it's a HUGE competitive market, filled with sharks. I recommend you switch gears, find a niche and focus your efforts there 1st as you learn the ropes.

You can keep your make money blog up to maybe focus on later, but I'm afraid if you try to start there you could get frustrated and quit before you make any money like so many newbies before you.
 
I think its harder for me to come up with a niche. I have been frustrated for about a week trying to come up with a good niche. I have read plenty of articles, blogs, stickies, and still cant bypass the first step, finding a GOOD niche that I am passionate about.
 
I did read that sticky thread and also the others. I still found it hard to come up with a good niche. I wish it wasnt this hard. Its probably just me though. Here is an example of what I came up for my passions and possible niche ideas...

Parenting
Modeling
Anime
Fashion
Reality Tv
Movies

The competition is fierce in most of these categories and on the other ones, people dont need too muh information on it. I am also factoring in articles I would be submitting to social media groups like digg. When I try to narrow it down, I see that the search volume is low, so I come to a dead end again.

Is there a way I can know when I have found a good niche according to search volume numbers, daily searches, or keyword research?
 
K let me take you through a quick exercise. This may not be the right niche for you, but just use my example and find another. Just talking outloud and sharing the process I just went through real quick - DIDN’T do through analysis.

I would call the list you came up with "broad markets" - niches are smaller, more targeted and sometimes a SUB-niche of a market.

I went to SEOBook and typed in one of your broad markets - "Parenting". (Always start with the broad main keyword.)
Seo Book Keyword Suggestion Tool (I just start this this tool because it's in my browser, quick, no log in or captcha to deal with.)

I scan and want to go down quite a ways to get to some phrases that don't have a ton of searches because the ones that do typically also have lots of competition. Saw all different variations of parenting teens key phrases so that's a hot topic, but pretty competitive. Maybe one to tackle after you get more experience.

Kept looking and saw "parenting toddler" SeoBook said search volume was 21.
I liked that one because I have 2 toddler grandbabies. ALSO LIKE THAT ONE because you can promote books on parenting and also strollers, car seats and other baby gear. So there are products that go with the niche.

Then I go to Google and search: allintitle: "parenting toddler"
allintitle: "parenting toddler" - Google Search
Only 842 competing pages. That's really good.

allintitle: "parenting toddlers" plural, which is probably how more people would search - 8,400 competing. Pretty competitive but not out of the ball park.

So then I go to the Adwords KW tool for more serious research and key in "parenting"
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

It gives me other suggested key phrases. Shows me the search volume (popularity).

There I see "parenting toddlers" 1900 searches in July
(It had 8,400 competing)

Then I see "toddler parenting" has more searches than that - 2900 in July.
So I check in Google and allintitle: "toddler parenting" only has 1,120 competing.
So toddler parenting has the best search/competition ratio and I would look closer at that niche.

So that's just a quick run down of how I do quick research. I just keep going back and forth between search volume #s and competing pages in Google til I find a phrase that seems like it may be good.

If I were an affiliate and was going to consider building a site around this niche I'd do a lot more research. I suspect in spite of what Google is telling me it may be competitive. There are also a ton of other key phrases to research like raising toddlers, how to raise a 2 year old and all types of variations. So that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I don't think there are any magic numbers in terms of how much search volume is enough and how much competition is too much. I just keep drilling down until I find something that has the best ratio.

I need to run. Am late for something and need to get going. So that hopefully helps give you a start.
 
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Thanks so much for that info. It has gave me a little guideline for a reference. You have a lot of good research skills. I will follow this advice and hope for some good results. Were those tools free or paid ones? I know you are busy and so am I so I will check back later.
 
All of them are free. The Adwords tool just has a captcha, but once you enter it once, you can research other KW while you are in there.
 
I must say that the niche you chose will be rather difficult for you to break into. However I am not one to discourage anyone so I say, if you are willing to work hard then go for it

You however really need to do your homework
 
Wow -- That's a tool I haven't seen before, and after a quick look at it, I added it to my bookmarks.

Thanks for that wonderful guide on finding a niche! It's one of the best guides I've seen :D

Grady
 
Here to help...

Hi,

Do not waste any money jumping into products until you can be 200% sure that someone is going to be there for you even after you have paid for the products. Most of them will just leave you hanging after you press the PAY button.

Why do I say so? Simply because I have been there and done that. Hope this helps! :cool:
 
competitive KW research in Google using the allintitle parameter?!?

Hey Linda,

I've read your very informative post about competitive KW research in Google using the allintitle parameter. I just have a few general questions concerning parts I'm not too clear with.

How exactly is using the allintitle parameter useful, What is the advantage?

I was thinking, when people go to search isnt it safe to assume that a very low
percentage of users are actually going to search using the allintitle paremeter?

Is this parameter used mainly for creating web page titles that have low comp or for keywords that go in the content as well?

Thanks for all the great info, it was very helpul in showing me how to use this feature, just didn't know the exact advantage and purpose.
 
The allintitle perameter is useful because it gives you a better idea of how many websites are using that exact title.

If you notice, using a broad perameter search (generally what 99% of users will do), you get a large amount of sites. These are all sites that have that combination of keywords somewhere on one page.

So, as an example, a search on - home based business will show a lot of results, from actual home based businesses to sites about a buisness that is based in New York that builds homes.

The second site will rank for that keyword from pure dumb luck, basically saying that anyone who truely wants to rank for the keyword - home based business - will easily outrank the New York based home builder. You will still have to compete with both of those sites, but realistically one is teh issue.
 
Clintoc explained it well.

If you just search for keywords without quotes, that may pull up millions of pages with the words anywhere on the page and the large majority of those pages won't be truly competitive or hard to beat. "Keywords in quotes" narrows it down to the EXACT phrase anywhere on the page.

Using allintitle shows you only the pages that have your KW in the title. These are the true competing pages that you want to look at and evaluate because if the KW are in the title they are trying to rank for those KW just like you'll be trying to.

UR right no one searches with allintitle or with quotes, it's just a more targeted way to evaluate the competing pages.

Also if you search with allintitle the goal is then to look at the top 10 results.
If they are all news sites and authority sites, even if the count is fairly low they may be tough to compete with. If you see a squidoo page or hub page or some other social networking site that got in the top 10 then it could be fairly easy to get high.

Starting to make sense?
 
Ezine can be hard to rank against, but you can leverage thier power easily for yourself by submitting a few articles to them.

I am with Linda on the view of article marketing, but I doubt she would disagree that it is in your best interest to get that easy inbound link from them. Add to that it will get you some traffic, which is helpful early on.

I will warn you about Digg pages as well. That site has a TON of power and can be hard to rank against.... but you can leverage that power for yourself as well.
 
Hey there, I dont reccomend affiliate marketing unless you have a very specific nitche. I know you hear that all the time.. but even with a nitche its very difficult.
 
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Great, I'm ready to go now! If I don't run into another sticking point. I do have a decent sub-niche, I know alot about bodybuilding which has plenty of them.
Thanks again you guys.
 
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