There are many ways to work from home, such as, work from home with online surveys, which really can only make some pocket change and there is work from home with direct sales, which involves customer interaction. If you want to build an online business, that can provide a passive income then Affiliate marketing is a great way to go.

The most common venue for Affiliate Marketing is to build a website which focuses around a niche. Prior to actually doing Internet marketing, it
important to make sure and to the proper research for optimal success.

WHAT IS A NICHE?

Basically a niche is a certain segment of the population where you intend to concentrate your efforts.

Some examples of niches include:

Golf, Skiing, Health, Computers, Real Estate, Insurance, Video Games, Stamp Collecting… as well as the sub categories or Micro Niches within the major categories.

For example within the macro Computer category there are several micro niches which include, desktop PC’s, laptops, printers, routers etc.

Within the health field there are again thousands of smaller niches including acne treatment, hair loss, insomnia, weight loss, etc.

You can also go deeper into the micro niche with a double micro niche. For example, the weight loss niche. Weight loss is a huge business, and within the niche of weight loss you can dig deeper into niches like fat burning foods, low carb diets, natural weight loss supplements..etc. Digging deep into micro niches will further cut through the competition factor and yield optimal results. There are thousands of untapped micro niche markets and the opportunities are endless. And there are affiliate programs for every possible niche.

Finding a Niche

There are 3 main factors that should influence what niche you are getting into.

1. Consider your interest and expertise.

This is important. It is a well known fact that in today’s Internet environment the content of a website can make it or break it. Believe me there is lots of work involved with creating a successful affiliate business and many other tasks involved with making money online and if you can avoid adding research of an unknown niche in order to create good content on your site then it is best to do so.

When I first started in this business my first site was about computers, a subject that I knew a little about but not nearly enough to create content with ease. I spent a lot of time on researching material in order to write content for my site, all though this has turned out to be a profitable site and is a very profitable niche, it made my job more difficult.

All I am saying is that if you pick a niche you know and even better have a lot of interest in then that takes a lot of burden off the process.

2. Check out the competition for a niche

This is crucial to your success. As I mentioned earlier there are macro and micro niches. In todays highly competitive Internet Marketing stage it is often best to go into the micro niches that have enough user demand and at the same time do not yield millions of search results in Google. ( I will reference Google as opposed to other search engines, which is not to say that the others are less important, but Google is the leading used search engine on the web today)

3. Is your niche profitable and is there a demand?

Obviously you do not want to build a niche site if no one will be searching for that niche or the products you are promoting within it. You need visitors and sales in order to make commissions, so evaluating the demand is an important element of finding a niche.

Micro Niche Finder Tool is a great tool that can help you find niches, it is not free but it can save time and provide comprehensive and excellent niche information.

Some great free tools to see what the hot searches on the web are:Google Trends and My Simon Top Product/Service Searches.

Also you want to get a feel for hot items within the niche and what people are talking about and buying, here are some ways to do this:

1. Read Industry Blogs – Search in Google by entering “blog + your niche” Check out the top blogs in your niche.

For example, If you are going for a gadget/tech niche you can visit Engadget and Gizmodo.

2. Go to relevant Forums – Search for “forums + your niche”

See what people are talking about within your niche on the top forums. Find out who the customers are, what they want, what they need, what are they looking for, hat are their biggest fears and difficulties etc…

There are lots of forums and blogs for many niches.

How to gage competition and find what people are searching for:

KEYWORDS! As an affiliate marketer this is a word that you will eat, sleep and have nightmares about, it is at the center of your efforts as your sites will revolve around keywords.

A keyword is a word or phrase used to focus an online search. When people search for something online the words they input into the search engine are keywords, which then yield relevant website results for those keywords in the search results.

For example, computer is a keyword and cheap desktop computers is a long-tail keyword, which simply means it is a phrase and not just one word.

Niches and Keywords are synonymous. Simply put, if my niche is laptops then my keywords will revolve around laptops, keywords are just how the niches are searched for by Internet users. I wish someone had explained this to me clearly when I was a newbie, because this can be confusing.

How to find good keywords:

Keyword tools are crucial for affiliate marketing campaigns as they will determine the competition as well as the numbers of people searching for those KW which will determine demand. Your can optimize your affiliate websites to revolve around several good keywords, and then the different pages will show up in different search results for their respective keywords.

I use and highly recommend Keyword Elite and SEOBook Free Keyword Research Tool. Wordtracker also has a free keyword tool that is less comprehensive but is a good product at: Free Keywords at Wordtracker.

Also, Google Keywords Tool, now shows numbers of searches and can also be used to get keyword ideas.

One thing I should tell you is that the results maybe different in all of these tools. I usually use a combination of these tools to check the numbers. Most of my successful keywords have come from Keyword Elite and SEOBook Free Keyword Tool. These tools are meant to be suggestive, to my knowledge there is no tool that exists that gives precise numbers as to what people are searching for. If you can create a tool like that, you will be a millionaire for sure !

Step-By-Step Steps to Building an Affiliate Marketing Website:

Step 1. Keyword/Niche Research:

My niche will be laptop computers and I will use laptops as my main keyword:

Go To: SEOBook Free Keyword Research Tool

Enter the word laptops into the search box

Here are the results showing what people are searching for daily in all 2 major search engines:

Now do a Google search and enter allintitle:”laptops” (The reason for the allintitle and quotes is this narrows the results to true competition of websites that actually have that KW as the title and theme of their site as opposed to just a mention somewhere within their content.)

The keyword tool shows 3,210 searches per day and Google shows the competition as 7,500,000 sites! That is way too competitive, especially since there are big big guns within the laptop niche.

BUT if you look further down the list of the keyword tool you will see the longtail KW – gaming laptops.

The keyword “gaming laptops” has a daily search of 265 and Google search results shows a competition of only 7,350 sites. THAT is a great keyword, a great niche and can be very profitable. (Note: If you are reading this and your results are different for the example KW I am using. results can vary and are based on people’s searches and number of websites in the Google index at the time of research)

Look for relevant targeted KW for conversions:

Look further down the list of those search results in the KW tool and you will see “cheap laptop computers” now that KW has 430 searches per day and only 4,540 results in Google so the competition is VERY low for that KW.

Also, that is a great keyword because it is targeted for sales, for example, “laptops” is very broad and could mean people are just searching for any information about laptops or just surfing the web. But, people searching for “cheap laptop computers” are probably looking to purchase laptop computers which will more likely convert to sales.

Choosing relevant targeted keyword, like those with begin with buy, purchase, cheap etc. are KW that are better targeted for sales and conversions.

Two Keyword Guidelines:

1. I strongly recommend, especially when starting out that you find keywords that are under 500,000 in competition results and have at least 10,000 searches daily across all search engines (but you really want to have as many searches as possible) for ALL keywords you will be using on your site combined. This method will allow you to rank higher and quicker in search results (serps- search engine page results) as opposed to higher competition keywords.

This process can get you ranked higher faster in Search Engine Page Results (SERPS). See that first position which is on first page of search results? That is every Internet Marketers dream! Obviously if your websites show up on the first page of search results, you will get more visitors than if you are on page 5.

Please note: Each keyword has it’s own daily search numbers and so when you combine the daily searches of all your keywords you should have 10,000 or more (this includes home page and sub page keywords).

2. Choose keywords that are relevant and targeted for sales. Find and use relevant targeted keywords and this way you get readers who are PRESOLD and looking for whatever your product or service you are promoting and those visitors are much more likely to turn into sales and commissions for you.

Repeat the above process for any niche/keyword you wish and for every site new affiliate marketing niche site.

Step 2: Buying a Domain

You will now need to buy a domain for your website. I recommend buying domains from All Cheap Web, they have cheap prices and great service. Dot Com domains go for about $6.95 per year. With cheaper prices for .net and .info. By the way, there is really no significant difference between .com and .net or .info domains, but I prefer .com, only because I think it is optimal for people remembering your site URL.

The best technique for SERPS is using your keyword in the domain. This is not necessary to rank for the keyword but it makes it a lot easier. For example if your main keyword is “cheap laptop computers” then you can try for cheaplaptopcomputers.com, but I can tell you that that domain is all ready taken, so you can add more words to the main keyword like, buycheaplaptopcomputers.com or joescheaplaptopcomputers.com, etc.

Step 3. Hosting:

Once you have purchased a domain you need to get a hosting account. I have used several hosting companies and now I only use Host Gator. Hostgator is the best web site hosting company. They have almost zero downtime, their service is impeccable and their prices can’t be beat. Hosting will run you $9.99/month ($7.99 if you pay a year upfront) for unlimited number of domains.

Get first month of hosting for 1 CENT at Host Gator. Enter coupon code, wordpress, 1 cent is all you will pay at checkout, the $9.99 monthly hosting fees will begin the second month of service.

Step 4. Choose a Website Builder

Now comes the fun part. Building the affiliate marketing niche site. There are several options available for this and I will direct this towards those of us who have no technical web building knowledge, have no clue about HTML code and no interest in learning.

The easiest way to build a website is to use a WYSIWYG website builder. What is a WYSIWYG? WYSIWYG is an acronym that simply translates to “What You See Is What You Get” commonly used for word processing programs and website builders that allow the user to type in the information and see it on the screen as it will look live without entering code.

WYSIWYG Website Builders are best because you design your website by typing in content from your keyboard (in English, not HTML), adding designs, colors, pictures, e-commerce AND see your website instantly on the screen as it will be when it is live and published!! HTML and all design codes are configured automatically!

The two WYSIWYG website builders I have used and recommend are Webeasy 7 Pro and CoffeeCup HTML Editor.

They both build beautiful sites easily and quickly and both are search engine friendly. Webeasy 7 Pro includes automatic settings for product feeds for the Amazon affiliate program and Coffee Cup has a member user forum and the most amazing support, you call an 800 number and a living human answers the phone! Ho holding!

Here is a screenshot from Webeasy 7 Admin Builder Panel:

I also use Build a Niche Store (BANS), which is the eBay Affiliate Website Builder. I highly recommend this software as it allows anyone to build great sites quickly and easily, and because eBay has so many product categories the possibilities are endless and you can build unlimited stores.

You can learn more and get all the details about BANS at my post: Review of Build a Niche Store

You can also use the free WordPress Software to build a site or a blog. I built this blog with WordPress and while it is not completely stress free you can’t beat the price (free)! There are thousands of themes available for download and it is very easy to optimize WordPress for search engines.

Also WordPress is very easy to install with Host Gator, it comes as part of their “extra features” and literally takes seconds to download and add to your hosting account.

Step 5. Build your Website and Content

Content! Content! Content! Just like keywords, content is something that must become the center of your affiliate marketing campaigns and what you will spend most of your time on (and may have nightmares about eventually).

A huge factor in your success in building a user-friendly website that will keep your visitors on your site. Landing Pages and Headlines and Welcomes are essential for visitor retention, follow the links and read the guides.

I can’t say this enough – content is crucial in the highly competitive Internet world. Just having a website with affiliate links will not cut it. You have to provide a reason for someone to visit your site over the thousands of other sites that are available, you need a hook and the hook is valuable, information rich, original content.

Also search engines place a lot of weight on content and rate the quality of your site based on content, which is good for SERPS.

For example, if your website is built around golfing. You will want to have at least 6 pages of content about the subject. How-to guides, tutorials, golfing techniques, best places to golf, etc… are some examples of content.

Write content with your visitors in mind, make it so they find your content invaluable, and they will become customers for life.

A good affiliate marketing strategy is to check out your top competing sites and see what they have and make it better. This is where knowing your niche and having interest in it comes in really handy. If you know nothing about golf, building those pages will be difficult.

One thing I noticed about the big gun sites is that they are loaded with information, sometimes too much, where you have to sift through tons of stuff and ads pasted all over the place to find the information you are looking for, and they usually only use the broad KW discussed previously and not the narrow micro KW.

You can use this to your advantage, I am sure that there are many people like me, who enjoy landing on a website that is user-friendly and not so “big” that it takes an hour to find what I am looking for.

So, one of the best affiliate marketing strategies for a highly competitive niche is to make your site “homey”, a “mom and pop type of site”, that is centered around a micro niche as opposed to some large “department store type of site” that has a macro broad niche. And with a micro niche you can focus on that micro content and not have to digress into huge amounts of different information. Make sense? Get tons of ideas for website content at my post Affiliate Marketing – 16 Website Content Ideas.

Keywords for Content Pages:

It is important to choose your keywords for every page of content as well as your overall (homepage) keywords because it is not only the home page of your site, but each page of your website that will be indexed by Google and once again, you want the most searched relevant targeted keywords for those pages.

For example, My main keyword is gaming laptops and my niche is gaming laptops and I write a content page that is a guide to buying a gaming laptop. I will once again research the keywords regarding gaming laptop guide that is most searched for and has the least competition.

I will go back to my Keyword Research Tools and enter the keyword gaming laptops, or guide to gaming laptops, you can try different variations to get the best results and find the best KW for this and every page of content you write.

To optimize your site to show up in Search Engines and for On-Site Search Engine Optimization, please read these guides: Simple Guide to Meta Tags Optimization and 6 Step Checklist for On-Site Search Engine Opimization.

Step 6. Choose an Affiliate Program

It is time to decide on which affiliate program you will choose. Here is a list of the top affiliate programs with tons of merchants with whom you can partner as an affiliate. You can browse the merchants and commission details after you join a program. Even though they ask for your website information when you sign up, if you don’t have it yet you can leave it blank and still get approved so that you could access the member sections.

Once you join an affiliate program you will be able to access product links in various ways, such as RSS feeds, banners and links to place in your site.

Choose affiliate products related to your site niche/theme. For example, if your niche is golfing, then the banners and products you recommend on your site, should be golfing related.

You can also add some Google Adsense ads to your site. Google Adsense is a Pay Per Click affiliate program that automatically generates ads on your site that are related to your content. Google pays you a certain amount, depending on the niche, for every click (no sale necessary, just the click) that your visitors make.

Make sure these do not overtake your content, but pepper them around the content of your site.

Top Affiliate Networks:

Pepperjam Affiliate Network – eBay Affiliate Network. Tip: Sign-up by clicking on the banner on the sidebar of the home page of this blog and get $10 Sign-Up Bonus.

Commission Junction

ShareASale

LinkShare

Amazon Associates

5 Star Affiliate Programs

Clickbank – Digital Products Affiliate Network

Market Leverage

Affiliate Seeking - Huge Directory of Affiliate Programs

Affiliate Scout - Directory of Affiliate Programs

You can also search online for affiliate programs, “keyword + affiliate program” or go directly to a merchant’s website. The affiliate page links are usually listed in the footer.

Step 7. Set-Up Pertinent Analysis Accounts:

Now that you are done with the building portion of the website you will need to set up some analysis tools. All of these are free.

With Google Tools, you use the same user name and password to access all your tools. Sign up for your main account first here: Google Accounts, and then you can log in to access the other tools, including Adsense.

Google Webmaster Tools – Set up your account and submit your website and sitemap so that you can track pertinent data about your site, like indexing stats, keyword rank and other important analysis.

Google Analytics – Submit your site, get the code, follow their instructions and start to track your traffic. This tool provides all pertinent details about the traffic coming into your website. It is crucial to track campaigns and performance of your traffic sources.

You will also want to read my post: 70+ Free Webmaster and SEO Tools, loaded with tools to help with everything from site design to website analysis.

Whew….I think I have covered a lot of information here. Hopefully this will help you to start an affiliate marketing website and you will be well on your way to online success.

Of course it does not end here, next comes the wonderful world of Internet Marketing, Website Promotion and getting traffic, because without traffic there is no money to be made.

Please continue on to Part 2 to start promoting your website:

Building an Affiliate Marketing Website Part 2- Traffic and Website Promotion.