Best Way to Set Up An Affiliate Site

A lot of times I get asked what's the best way to set up an affiliate site. Should you build it from scratch? How should you use data feeds? Should you use private label articles for your content?

Surely, there are a ton of ways to build affiliate sites. And a lot of what you need for your site depends on how broad your site is. For example, if you want to compete with the big boys and girls and have a tech review type site, then you'll need a whole, custom content management program.

I tend not to like to compete with the biggies! I like smaller niches, where I can get a profitable site up and running in a matter of several hours. Sure, it's not glamorous, and doesn't provide me with bragging rites, but I really like all those three, four, five, and six hundred dollar checks being deposited into my bank account every month. (Note: it doesn't take too many of these smaller sites to make a healthy income!)

So, when I talk about setting up affiliate sites, I'm talking about little, highly profitable niche sites.

My modus operandi is to find what I think might be a good niche, then test it.

I find niches several ways. I like to look at Amazon's top selling products. Also, Shopping.com has a list of their most searched for items. Also, I watch Clickbank to find out what's new. I also do this with other affiliate networks.

Once I find a possible niche, I use Google's external keyword tool to make a short list of possible keywords. I search these to see what the organic listings are and also what the paid results are. This tends to tell me if other marketers are making money in this niche.

From there, I'll usually set up a Squidoo or Hubpages site with a little copy and a link to the affiliate product. I'll social bookmark that and let it run for a while to see what the traffic's like and also if these folks actually buy stuff.

If my niche idea passes all of these tests, then I'll build a site around it.

Personally, I like to keep things simple. I write all my own content, although I might be outsourcing some of that soon.

Once I get a site set up, I'll do more search engine optimization and marketing, then I'll just sit back and see what it does. If it's a dry hole, I'll probably take it down after a while. If it's a money maker, I'll either just let it run or expand it.

Most of the traffic I get at first is from my search engine optimization efforts. Later, once I've got a feel for how much each visitor is worth, I'll explore PPC.

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