JR's Internet Marketing Strategies » Keywords and Niches

Niche & Keyword Research & Keyword Analysis Step-by-Step Guide

JR — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:01:51 +0000

Keyword research is one of the, if not THE central aspects of making money online, blogging and e-commerce. Without proper keywords targeted traffic will not find your site in any of the search engines and you will lose out on subscribers, buyers and any other type of traffic you may be targeting. It's a fact that proper niche research and niche research, keyword research and then keyword analysis are the essential steps in having a successful online venture. Good keywords bring traffic and traffic brings money.

There are two parts to keyword research for any one website
1. The main niche research for the main keywords of the site that is done only once when initially creating and launching a new website.
2. Ongoing research for keywords that is conducted on an ongoing basis for internal pages for content that is constantly added to a site. This guide will focus on the main niche niche research and site wide keywords.

The purpose of this guide is to look at the search for keyword phrases as it pertains to making money online, and the best way to make money online is with affiliate marketing, where some commission is made by promoting particular products. Often times people can also launch review type blogs, where they just post about various products and make money with Adsense ads or other type of advertising that is peppered around their content.

Whether you want to build affiliate marketing sites or blogs, and make money with eBay products by using the very easy PHPBay wordpress plugin, or make money with Amazon with the excellent EasyAzon WordPress Plugin, or maybe you want to build a product comparison website with the CompariPress plugin, it starts with proper keyword and niche research.

3 Steps to Keyword Research, Niche Research and Keyword Analysis
There are 3 steps to finding the best keywords, niche research, locating the optimal keywords within the main niche and keyword analysis, here is a detailed look at these 3 steps.

1. Niche Research - Finding Main Niche Ideas and Markets

Overall, to start with you are looking for main niche ideas, for example, laptops, computers, televisions, kitchen appliances, weight loss, credit, mortgage...etc... words that are very general. There are millions of possibilities of things people are searching for. Below are some resources to find niche ideas.

Niche Research Resources

2. Keyword Research - Locating Optimal Keywords within the Main Niche

Most of the time the main niche keywords, such as those listed above, are way too competitive to even try to rank for. For example, the keyword laptop is really impossible to rank for, so we need to find more detailed phrases that people are searching for related to those products, such as cheap laptop computers, still competitive but much less so. So once you find those niches that are of interest to you it's time to use some keyword research tools to find the related longer phrases and keywords for those main niches. Basically you are looking for keywords that have high amounts of monthly or daily searches with the lowest amount of competition possible.

Good Free Keyword Tools for Keyword Research

Remember these tools are just estimates, but it's as good as it gets for getting an idea of the search volumes for various keywords.

If you have the money to spend I highly recommend you check out Micro Niche Finder, this is a premier keyword software suite that delivers a variety of useful features and comprehensive niche and keyword research.

3. Keyword Analysis - Crunch the Numbers

We want those phrases that have a good amount of search volume per month and also those that are low enough in competition to rank for. There are 3 things that you are looking for when it comes to keyword analysis:

I follow these guidelines when doing keyword research

At least 10,000 + searches for all keywords per month
No more than 100,000 competing sites in SERPS when searching allintitle:"keywords"
No more than 1 or 2 PR 3+ sites in first page of SERPS for particular keywords. A lot of high PR sites is an indicator that the keyword is very competitive and it will be very difficult if not impossible to rank.

Search Hot Keywords with Comprehensive Info with Free Toolbar

JR — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:02:10 +0000

I found a great FREE keyword toolbar for Firefox Browser that really offers some comprehensive information and provides a great resource in your search for hot keywords. It has tons of options for providing the most comprehensive information for a particular keyword and niche research that I've ever seen.

Cash Keywords offer all the features listed below with 1 click access plus numerous other optional user set features for personal use, such as desktop features, 1 click access to Windows Media Player and a whole lot more.

Cash Keywords Toolbar Offers Valuable Keyword Research Features:

1. This feature is my favorite, as it makes finding affiliate products and services very easy and accessible. 1 click access to keyword related affiliate programs from several popular affiliate networks, including Clickbank, Affiliate Scout, Amazon, and others, very useful!

2. Keyword search results with 1 click in popular keyword tools, including, Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker and Adwords Keyword Popularity tool.

3. Keyword popularity and results in groups like Google Trends, Blog Pulse, Yahoo Buzz and several others.

4. Keyword trends in popular news sites like, Yahoo News, Google News, Topix and others.

5. Keyword related results in popular answer sites like, Yahoo Answers, Google Groups, Askville and others.

6. Provides any sandbox information related to the particular keyword.

7. Keyword results in the most popular article sites like Ezine, Article Dashboard, GoArticles, Article Base, Article Factory and others.

8. Keyword results in all the best video sites like, YouTube, Vimeo and others.

9. Keyword results in all the popular photo sites like, Flicker, Photo Bucket and others.

10. Results for Google Insights, Alexa, Compete and more.

11. Plus, Wikipedia results, US Government, Creative Commons and lots more great features that make this keyword toolbar highly useful and comprehensive for keyword research.

12. It is also very easy to customize for individual user needs and settings, so you can pick and choose which options and features you want to include or not.

This tool is really useful and offers just about everything you ever wanted or needed to know about the keywords your are interested in.

Cash Keywords is truly a gem and it's FREE, so I highly suggest you all download it and try it out for yourselves.

Find Content Ideas with a Great Niche/Keyword Question Research Tool

JR — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:10:56 +0000

Another great tool from Wordtracker, Keyword Question Tool.

Enter a keyword and it will provide a list of questions related to that keyword that people are searching for. This is a great keyword tool to find what questions people have related to your niche. The phrases are pretty long tail and so they are great for website or blog content ideas, as well as for finding some good site-wide keywords.

Remember that adding content regularly to your websites, especially affiliate websites is important, it keep the site fresh, makes the search engine spiders visit a lot and brings more traffic when you have lots of pages all over the SERPS!

About Using Trademarks and Brand Names in the URL

JR — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:25:09 +0000

Time and again I see little niche sites using trademark brand names in their url's. This is a truly reckless and a very stupid thing to do.

Here you are spending valuable time, working hard on your site designing, promoting, link building and your site has high search engine rankings and making you money and then the brand name company notices you and it's over. At the very least your site will have to come down and at worst the brand name will sue you for copyright infringement.

It is illegal to use any copyrighted brand name trademark within the url or as the name of a site, many people do not even think of this fact and find great keywords that include brand names and use them.

Most of the big companies have a long page of legal terms that list all their trademark names and their variations and they clearly state how they can be used.

When doing keyword research for Internet marketing we inevitably come across tons of great keywords that use trademark names and especially within the electronics and computer niches, Apple ipods, Dell laptops, Sony, Acer laptops, the list is endless and it is really tempting to use them in the url because the ranking power increases greatly when using keywords in the url, but for the long term this is way too risky.

I was reading a blog post the other day, I didn't save it or I would link to it, but the marketer made the mistake of using Dell in his url and Dell had contacted him and demanded he take his site down. Of course, the site was ranking on page 1 for the keyword, which is how Dell noticed him, and making money and now that's all over.

Did he have regrets? Of Course! It's just not worth it.

Can You Rank Without Using Keywords in the URL?

Yes, but it will usually take more keyword anchor text backlinks, how many depends on the competition for those keywords.

So there are two choices:

1. Choose similar non-trademark keywords for the url and do all the on-site optimization for the trademark kw, such as h1 tags, keyword density, title tags etc... and focus your link building to get lots of anchor text links with the trademark keywords.

This is the best option when you come across really highly searched for trademark keywords that have low competition, well worth the effort.

2. Choose completely different keywords within that niche that do not have trademark names.

Higher Search Engine Ranks with Proper Keyword Research

JR — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:23:59 +0000

Lately, I have been hearing from a lot of people who are struggling with getting higher search engine rankings. Mainly this is happening to them because while they find highly searched for keywords, they are not evaluating the competition correctly. Any Internet marketing campaign starts with keyword research, but doing the proper evaluation of competing sites for those keywords is crucial for rank success.

In a nutshell if you want higher search engine rankings you need to identify the competition for respective keywords in the right way as part of an overall keyword research strategy.

It is not a crap shoot and luck has nothing to do with it. It is true that higher search engine rankings depend a lot on keyword anchor text backlinks, but higher search engine rankings are also closely related to the proper gaging of competition for those keywords.

Higher Search Engine Rankings with Keyword Research

Once you find a keyword, you must look at the competition in two steps, both of which are crucial for higher search engine ranks.

1. Google that keyword like this: allintitle:"keyword". Many people are not doing this, they just search for keyword, this is a mistake.

Searching with the allintitle “keyword” gives you much more precise results of the true competition for the keyword, because it only includes those sites that are trying to rank for those keywords and the results show you those sites that have the keyword in their header/meta/title tag.

But when you search for just the keyword alone then you get all the sites that just mention that keyword on their site in some way and they are not using it site-wide as their main keyword. Those sites that just mention the keyword are easily overcome, as the SE's, and especially Google will give your site much more relevance and weight as your site uses the keyword site-wide.

So those sites that just mention the keywords will not be your true competition. The allintitle:”keyword”, will show you the true competitors for those keywords that you will need to overcome for higher search engine ranks.

Example:

laptop = 202,000,000
vs.
allintitle:"laptop" = 18,300,000

Big difference there that can make or break the decision to use a certain keyword and how easy it will be to rank for it.

2. Look at websites on the 1st page results. Many avoid doing this, another mistake! See what sites are sitting on page 1 of SERPS and specifically their Page Rank. If they are mostly PR0 - PR3 then the job to get to page 1 and achieve higher search engine ranks will not be very difficult. But, if page 1 is full of PR4, PR5 + sites then it will be difficult to outrank these sites.

First, time is on their side, they are aged and have authority and logistically it will be difficult to catch up. Second, it will take tons more effort and many more backlinks to get to page 1 because you will have to outrank those those sites. I am not saying it can't be done, but, it is very hard and any seasoned honest SEO will tell you to look elsewhere.

Also, look at their Yahoo backlinks, age of domain and number of indexed pages, all are good indicators of their strength and how difficult it would be to out rank them.

If you look at page 1 results for allintitle:"laptop", you will see that it's all authority sites and no way that a small niche site could ever get to page 1 for that keyword.

These steps should be taken not only for your site-wide keywords, but also for the keywords you will use on your inner and sub pages, that is if you want higher search engine rankings for all your website/blog pages.

Tools for Evaluating Page 1 Results

There are two great browser add-ons that will give you all necessary information to evaluate those sites on page 1 directly from the SERPS. These tools are also vital for any Internet marketer to have because they show all possible information about any websites on the web, including your own.

SEO Toolbar for Firefox - Aaron Wall's (of SEOBook) SEO Toolbar for Firefox browser shows all pertinent info for whatever site you are viewing, like highlighting no-follow links and pages, page rank, number of index pages in major search engines, site age, Alexa, DMOZ listed, Yahoo backlinks, MSN links and lots, lots more. Must Have!

SEO Quake Toolbar - Similar to the Firefox SEO Toolbar, shows pertinent SEO and Internet Marketing information for any website but this one is available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Both of these when enabled (one click on their icons from the browser status bar) will show all selected information in SERP results under each website listing.

They are both similar, however you really need both, because only the SEO Toolbar highlights all no-follow links in red on any website. And, only Seo Quake places the information toolbar at the top of any website page you are visiting and not just in the SERPS so you can view all those stats on a page by page basis.

Make sure once you installed these, to activate them by clicking their icons in the browser bottom status bar, when they are on they will be in color, when off, they are black and white.

Now go get some higher search engine ranks!

New Google Search Based Keyword Tool – Optimize Your Pages

JR — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:58:23 +0000

Google has launched a new keyword research tool intented for Adwords research, to find more PPC keywords, BUT, this tool can be used to find relevant and longtail keywords for any website pages or blogs and blog post titles.

This keyword research tool is different BECAUSE it is based on YOUR SITE, not just on general words.

Lots of Research Options:

1. You can just enter your URL

2. Enter you URL and enter specific keywords to research

3. Set up additional filters, like monthly searches, competition amounts, like low and high and more.

The results are:

Based on actual Google search queries
Matched to specific pages of your website

Just log in with your Google info, enter your information and get:

1. Set of keywords related to the pages of your sites/blogs

2. Actual number of monthly searches

3. Competition

4. Cost of PPC bidding for each keyword, this can tell you how valuable that keyword phrase is.

How to Use This Information:

This tool is not meant for researching new site keywords but the best way to use this tool is to get good keywords and long tail keywords when writing blog posts and adding additional pages to your websites using keywords that people are searching for.

This tool is new and still in beta, but I found some cool keywords for this blog, check it out: GOOGLE SEARCH-BASED KEYWORD TOOL

Search Engine Optimization – Are you Dominating the SERPS?

JR — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:27:44 +0000

How cool would it be to have your websites ALL OVER THE SERPS? (search engine rank positions also known as search engine result pages).

Thanks to article marketing this is fairly easy to achieve. Article marketing brings direct traffic and provides quality one-way backlinks, for search engine optimization and lots of them, if like me, you are using Article Marketer for article submission.

BUT, did you know that article marketing provides the unique opportunity for a large amount of exposure to your websites by dominating the SERPS?!?!?

Doing comprehensive keyword research is crucial for the success of websites, not only for search engine optimization, but also to hone in on popular niches and what people are searching for. Website keywords play a crucial role in gaging demand and facilitating success in the Internet marketing world.

While, many of us spend a lot of time on keyword research for our websites, we do not always do the same for the articles we write, or we just use the same keywords for articles as for our websites. This is a big mistake!

First, if you are using the same keywords then you are basically competing against yourself. Second and most important, you are limiting your website exposure within search engine page results (SERPS), which should always be the goal of any search engine optimization campaign.

Article marketing provides the unique opportunity to be all over the SERPS by using different keywords for each article, and thereby giving searchers access to your sites from within the articles.

Website Keywords vs. Article Keywords

Website Keywords

For example, if my website's MAIN KEYWORDS are: buy digital camcorders, cheap camcorders, used camcorders and I have correctly optimized my site for these keywords then my website will rank in the SERPS for these searches.

Article Keywords

Then, for all my articles, I will research additional keywords and find: how-to buy a camcorder, camcorder review, top digital camcorders, camcorder buying guide, etc... And I will use these to write articles.

Following this technique will give your website massive exposure and allow you to DOMINATE THE SERPS! The more articles with different keywords you write the more exposure to your website!

The Advantage of Using High Competition Keywords with Articles

I advise in, Step-by-Step Niche and Keyword Research, that you look for lower competition keywords, as this will help your websites to rank higher and faster. But, because many quality article sites, such as Ezine Articles, rank very high in search results, you can safely go to for the more popular/highly competitive keywords, like 1,000,000 plus competition, for your articles, because you will piggyback on the article sites ranking ability.

Keyword Optimizing Your Articles For Better Ranking

The same as with your websites, it is crucial to help the search engines to relate your articles with the keywords you want to rank for, remember, it is not humans who crawl the web, but algorithms.

1. Make your article title interesting, engaging and clickable but be sure to have the keywords in it.

2. 3-5% keyword density throughout the article body.

3. Use the keyword at least once in the first paragraph and the last paragraph.

4. If possible, bold the keyword, maybe once or twice (at most) within the article body.

Following such simple search engine optimization techniques will lead to great Internet marketing success for a long time to come and eternal SERP domination!!

What do you guys think? Are you writing articles? Are your articles all over the SERPS?

Internet Marketing – Role of Commissions in Choosing a Niche

JR — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:28:36 +0000

I've written before about step-by-step niche research and the importance of choosing a niche you know and have interest in, along with other important guidelines.

Today I want to address the importance of the commissions you can earn with the niches you choose.

I was doing some marketing today and it reminded how much is involved in getting traffic, promoting websites and all of the tasks involved in Internet Marketing. Just building the niche website can be a huge task for those of us who are not pro web designers.

So here is a bit of advice, that may help some of you who are just starting out in affiliate marketing, or anyone looking to expand online campaigns.

When choosing a niche, consider the commissions you will receive from the affiliate programs that you will be participating in.

AN AFFILIATE MARKETING PAYOFF SCENARIO

Look at it this way, let's say I build a website around some niche, and then I choose an affiliate program or two with products I will promote. My commission is 5% of each sale I make and that will equal about $5 per sale. Then I spend lots and lots of time and effort to promote my sites. Then some weeks later I start to get some good traffic, and then slowly sales trickle in, let's say I get 5 sales a month, this means I earned $25. Now, I will be very excited at first since I did get sales, and in today's competitive Internet market place THAT IS GREAT!

But, then I may look back at all the effort and wonder, $25??????? Is it worth it? Maybe in the long long run, when and if my site really hits big and there is a huge amount of converting traffic when I have 1,000 sales a month that brings in $5,000, but that could take some time.

Now, let's say, my commissions averaged about $20 + dollars per sale, then 5 sales would give me $100, or $30 per sale, then I would have made $150 for those few sales! That is certainly a much better payoff and as more sales trickle in, is a much bigger motivator to keep going!

Now it is true that there are several ways to monetize websites besides affiliate links and products, like Adsense, Yahoo Ads, relevant banners, but these sources are not usually the greatest money makers, they are often supplemental money sources on a niche site, and really only pay off well once there is a lot of traffic coming in, which takes some time.

All I'm saying is that if you plan to sell golf balls, and make a few cents per sale, it may NOT be worth the effort! Maybe 7 years ago, small commissions were explosive, because the competition was so low that you could get all the traffic, but unfortunately, not anymore!

MAKE THE MOST YOU CAN FOR YOUR INTERNET AND AFFILIATE MARKETING EFFORTS!

When looking at commissions, remember there are lots of different affiliate programs and some may pay better than others for the same niche products/services, so be sure to do the research.

Commissions of the main affiliate products you will be promoting is just another factor to consider when choosing your niche, considering the amount of work involved in getting sales it's a worthwhile consideration.

What do you guys think? Have you experienced this? Do you go for the big bucks? Is this a consideration in your niche decisions?

Niche Research with Google Insights

JR — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:46:31 +0000

I wanted to let you guys know about Google Insights, a new tool that gives online search trend information for niche and keyword research for Affiliate Marketing and niche website research.

Google Insights Offers Several Search Filters:

Country/Region and Sub Regions, like US states
Categories
Time frames, like last 30 or 90 days, certain years

Niche Research Results:

Shows a graph of searches to see interest of the niche over time. Also shows trend and niche popularity results by US states!

I think the best data is the Top Searches and Rising Searches, which can give you ideas on the volume and therefore popularity of searches, as well as the searches that are rising.

By the way, this tool works with broad searches only, so no quotes or allintitle. It is more geared for general niche ideas and the trends of their popularity on the net.

Google Insights is not a tool that should replace your regular keyword research tools that give you more detailed information, such as number of searches BUT, it can be used to enhance your niche research and offer more insights into the trends of what people are searching for.

Internet Marketing – Bright Ideas Should Never be Forgotten!

JR — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:00:48 +0000

When do you get your best ideas? For me, it is usually when I am driving, or at the supermarket, or doing anything else BUT actually working. Often great niche, Internet marketing, website promotion, link building ideas will pop into my head and by the time I get home, of course, they are long gone.

It is a fact that when we are actually sitting at the computer and working on our websites or affiliate marketing is when we are least creative, mostly because we are too focused on the task at hand.

But when our mind is just drifting around, such as when driving, working out or washing dishes that is when the best ideas can just pop into our heads.

I think for the most part that these ideas are truly the best because they are not forced they come naturally as an inspiration and as the old saying goes, the light bulb goes off.

This is so most important in the field of Affiliate Marketing for niche ideas. When you are out and about and seeing things and people in the world around can trigger some great niche ideas, even while watching television or a commercial, there are so many possibilities for a niche to creep into your mind.

Don't Let These Great Ideas Be Forgotten

That is why I started carrying and having a notepad and pen with me at all times. In fact, I have several, strategically placed so that I am always armed and ready. In reality, these spontaneous ideas are easily forgotten and unless you write them down, you will lose them.

Don't Let These Great Ideas Go To Waste

Also, it is important not to waste these ideas by just writing them down and then not referring back to them, implementing them and developing them. Because, these ideas are often the greatest ones you will ever have you may miss out on a great opportunity.

What do you guys think? When do you get your best ideas? What do you do with them?

List of 195 Keyword Suggestions – Now Go Find Your Niche!

JR — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:58:02 +0000

One of the most important Internet Marketing Strategies is finding a good niche. This is not always easy, if you are struggling to find a niche here are 195 keyword suggestions that you can use to find niche ideas.

These keyword suggestions will generate everything people are searching for within those phrases and will help you find your niche and micro-niches.

You can refer to my post, Step-by-Step Niche and Keyword Research for a complete how-to niche guide, which will explain important numbers and how to use the keyword research data.

Plug these keyword suggestions into your favorite Keyword Tools and find your niche. I use Keyword Discovery. You can also use SEOBook Free Keyword Research Tool and Wordtracker Keywords.

Also, you should always check these keyword suggestions with the Google Adwords Tool that now has a new added feature that shows numbers (instead of the old bar graph) of current monthly search volume as well as average monthly search volume for keywords.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

I use Keyword Discovery and it returns comprehensive results with actual numbers of competing websites, but if you are using one of the free tools, then MAKE SURE to always search for the competition for keywords of interest directly from the Google search query which will give you actual numbers of competing websites: allintitle:"keywords."

195 KEYWORD SUGGESTIONS

where
where can
how
how to
how can
how do
instructions
tutorial
guide
need
desire
want
top
best
great
greatest
highest
lowest
steps

keys
key
ways
way to
rid
rid of

improve
decrease
increase
get
obtain
guidance

online
quickest
fastest
slowest
where can
quality
best
optimal
common
fresh
new age
new
old

cure
solve
learn
advice
review
reviews
product
easiest
easy
start
stop
use
used
fast
fastest

weird
odd
bizarre

directions
produce
learn
remove
fun
delay
find
locate
killer - (you'll be surprised what you'll find)

trick
pimp - (again, you won't believe what you'll find)

buy
save
cheap
cheapest
shop
shopping
lowest
highest
purchase
seasonal
holidays

free - (be careful to make sure you can monetize these niches, you can always use adsense)

best buy
best deal
deal
deals
coupons

product - (you can also enter specific product names, like Nextel Cell Phones-works great, lots of people are searching for specific products)

home
remedy
remedies
pain
pleasure
secret
formula
recipe
recipes

upkeep
health
lose
gain
weight
acne
baldness

aging
luxury
luxurious
money
sex
relationships
love
romance
affairs
marriage
wedding
weddings
bridal
engagement
jewelry

baby
babies
children
teenagers
women
men
parent
parents
parenting
family

movies
dvd
celebrity
celebrities
television
tv

music
mortgage
loans
cable
satellite
cell phones
mobile
ringtones

isp
video
video games
toys
games

computers
laptops
software
downloads

hobbies
hobby
sports
gardening
pets
dogs
cats

business
work
family
education
school
career
salary
pay

clothes
shoes
accessories
jewelry

vacation
travel
traveling
surfing
tanning
tans

This should be keep you busy for a while . No go find your Niche!

Step-by-Step Niche and Keywords Research

JR — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:10:13 +0000

When you are building an Affiliate Marketing Website or any type of Online Business site comprehensive niche research is required to make sure that the niche you focus on is profitable, popular and can make you money.

WHAT IS A NICHE?

Basically a niche is a certain segment of the population where you intend to concentrate your Affiliate and Internet Marketing efforts and is the theme/subject of a website or blog.

Some examples of niches include:
Relationships, Skiing, Health, Video Games, Real Estate, Stock Market, Insurance, Stamp Collecting etc... as well as the sub categories or Micro Niches within the major categories.

For example, within the macro niche oh health there are several micro niches which include, weight loss, acne, balding, vitamins, staying young, aging well, conditions/diseases...etc.

Because of the high competition factor on the Internet, it is a good idea that you stick with micro niches, and especially when first beginning your Internet Marketing campaigns.

You can also go deeper into the micro niche with a double micro niche. For example, within the micro niche of weight loss you can go deeper like fat burning foods, low carb diets, natural weight loss supplements..etc.

Finding a micro niches will further cut through the competition factor and yield better results. There are lots of good micro niche markets and the opportunities are endless. And there are affiliate programs for every possible niche.

Deciding on a Niche

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

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. Considering the amount of work involved with marketing and creating a successful Internet business, if you can avoid adding research of an unknown niche in order to create good content on your website 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 today's highly competitive Internet stage it is often best to go into the micro niches that yield enough user demand and searches and at the same time do not yield millions of search results (competing websites) in Google (see steps to this below).

3. Is your niche profitable and is there a demand?
Obviously you do not want to build a niche site if there is nobody searching for it or the products that you may promote within it. You need visitors and sales in order to make commissions, and evaluating the demand is the way to determine, or predict how many you might possibly have (steps to this below).

Niche Research Tools:

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.

Get a feel for the hot items within the niche and what people are talking about and buying by checking out these resources:

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 Gizmodo.

2. Visit Niche 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, what are their biggest fears and difficulties etc...

Keywords and Niches

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. So I want to use the most searched for keywords for my website so that I expose my niche website to as many search engine searchers and therefore as many visitors as possible.

Niches and Keywords are Synonymous.

This part is very confusing in the beginning, but a niche is mainly the theme/subject of your website and keywords are just how the niches are searched for by Internet users.

Gaging the Number of Internet Searches (demand) of a Niche with Keywords

For example, if my micro niche is weight loss then my keywords will revolve around weight loss, and I will do my keyword research by entering the main keyword weight loss and then seeing what keywords people are searching for within that main keyword/niche.

The screenshot, shows some of the keywords that come up when entering the main keyword "weight loss" in SEOBook Free Keyword Tool (partial screenshot of keyword results).

So my niche is "weight loss" and all the words circled in green are the keywords that people are searching for in that niche and that I can use on my website to allow people to find my site from search engine results.

Another example is to look at it backwords: Let's say my niche is weight loss and I use a keyword that does NOT show up in the tool, then my website will sit in search engine results for that keyword, BUT no one will search for it and therefore no one will ever find my website. Make sense?

Here is the Niche Nutshell:

Niche = Keywords = Website shows up Search Engine Results = Website Visitors

Optimal Niches Should Have:

At least 10,000 searches per month combined for all keywords you may use within the niche. So, according to the above keyword research results, I know that the niche of "weight loss" is a good niche, because all the available keywords add up to at least 10,000 searches (note: the screenshot only shows a few keywords, the list runs long beyond what is showed).

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

Gaging the Competition of Keywords within your Niche

Competition from other websites is another crucial factor of your niche/keyword research.

The best way to gage the competition is by doing a simple search in Google like this: allintitle:"keyword" (the allintitle and quotes narrows the results to true competition of websites that actually have that keyword as the title of their site as opposed to just a mention somewhere within their content). and then seeing how many websites return in the results.

So I picked the keyword "weight loss pills" from the keyword tool results up above and plugged that into Google and what I get back is 35,300 competing sites, for that keyword.

Recap:

The SEOBook keyword tool showed a total of 1266 daily searches for "weight loss pills" and the competition is 35,300 sites.

What does this tell you?

That "weight loss pills" is a great keyword within the weight loss niche, because the searches are high and the competition is relatively low. And, actually "weight loss pills" could be a double micro niche and you can build a whole website just around "weight loss pills."

Analyzing Competing Websites:

It is also important to look at page 1 results in Google SERPS for competing sites.

Some things to look at:
Page Rank - If page 1 of SERPS is full of high PR sites and big guns within the niche then it will be way too difficult to get to page 1 which is ultimately the goal.

Conversely if there is nothing but PRO-PR2 then it will be fairly easy. Make sure that you only consider those sites that are direct niche sites, as opposed to say article sites and indirect sites that happen to have some content related to the niche.

Age of Sites - Age of the sites is important in that Google will favor older more established sites.

Overall, you want to stay away from keywords that generate lots of results on page one of big gun sites, like PR4+ or more than 3 PR3 sites. In this case, look for the micro niche keywords within that niche.

Keyword Research Numbers:

You want to have at least 10,000 searches combined for all keywords you want to rank for within the niche.

If you are new to this business, I would suggest less than 25,000 "allintitle" in competition results so you can learn how to rank and get your feet wet anything over that will be more difficult and something to tackle once you have experience

Good Luck!

Simple Guide to Meta Tags Optimization

JR — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:25:37 +0000

What are Meta Tags?

Meta Tags are HTML codes that are inserted into the header on a web page. Meta Tags basically describe the website and give search engines a glimpse as to what your website is about. Fortunately, most good website builders, allow you to fill in the Meta information in English and the Meta tag is created automatically in HTML.

Here is how the code looks in your HTML header.

Title

There are some who say Google pays no attention to Meta Tags for Search Engine Optimization value, I say YES THEY DO! Meta Tags are an important facet of your SEO efforts and Meta Tags optimization should be a concern for every webmaster. In fact, Google Webmaster Tools suggest that you customize your Meta Tags and they actually analyze them for you within the Tools Dashboard.

Now, I am not saying that by filling in a few lines of Meta Tags you will instantly go to page one in Google, what I am saying is that Meta Tag optimization is an important part of SEO and they should be customized.

A huge and necessary benefit of Meta Tags is in allowing you control of how your website presents in search results for the attributes within Meta Tags of Title and Description. This way you have every opportunity to create interesting, relevant and clickable titles and descriptions that can greatly help your Internet Marketing efforts. DO NOT leave this to chance.

Again, some may say that Google generates their own descriptions and ignores the Meta, I SAY NOT!! Every single one of my sites, shows my title and my description from my Meta Tags, and not just for the home page BUT for every page of my site. And, I would NEVER leave this to search engines to generate on their own.

Meta Tags Optimization for every page of your website:

Your meta tags on every page of your website should be different. First of all, for every page of content, you should be doing keyword research and picking optimal keywords anyway, remember that you are striving for search engine exposure for EVERY page of your site as per what people are searching for and not just the home page. The more pages that are properly indexed in serps for your keywords the more exposure your website gets. And the Meta Tags should be optimized with this same concept in mind.

For example, my sitewide keyword is laptop computers, and that is one of the keywords that I want my site to show up in search results for. So, I will use that keyword for main site Meta Tag.

Then I write a page of content on "How-To Buy a Laptop", so I will research that longtail keywords and find the best ones for that content page and use them in that content page Meta Tag. This process will repeat for every page of my website.

Meta Tag Optimization Attributes:

Title - Most Important! By far the most important tag is the title and it must have your keywords in it so that it shows up in those search results.

Also the title should be interesting because this is what searchers will see in the results and so you want the titles to be eye-catching, clickable and most important to the point! Be direct, searchers are looking for something specific, so give it to them.

For example, if my keyword is Buy Cheap Laptops, then my title should simply state, "Buy Cheap Laptops Here" or "Browse and Buy all Models of Cheap Laptops", "Save Money and Buy Cheap Laptops at our e-store" and NOT "You can Buy Cheap Laptops" that is vague, and they may click on the next site on the list that tells them in the title that it has what their looking for.

Description - Most Important! Description should be no more than 200-250 characters. The description should include your keywords and elaborate on what you offer. Once again, this is your chance to hook a click-through, be precise and get to the point of what you are offering as related to your title keywords. Make it eye-catching and interesting.

Keywords - Least Important. This attribute is least important because whatever keyword you want to rank for and have Google relate your site to is best achieved through keyword density within content and backlink anchor text. However, there are some search engines that do crawl and utilize your KW in Meta Tags and you should still add your keywords as suggestions for Google, it can't hurt.

Here are a couple of examples of good Meta Tags:

HOME PAGE:
Title: Buy Cheap Laptop Computers. Many Used Cheap Laptops Available.
Description: Browse and buy all brands and models of cheap laptop computers, including new and used cheap laptops.
KW: Cheap Laptop Computers, Used Cheap Laptops, Laptops,

CONTENT PAGE:
Title: Simple Laptop Buying Guide. How-to Buy a Laptop Made Easy.
Description: Not sure how-to buy a laptop? Please read this simple laptop buying guide that details all the features that are important in choosing the right laptop.
KW: laptop buying guide, how-to buy a laptop,

For WordPress blogs, use the All-One-SEO plugin to create meta tags for home page and each every post and content page.

The Importance Of Anchor Text In Backlinks

JR — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:59:12 +0000

Backlinks = SERPS and Higher Page Rank

One big component of Internet Marketing is Search Engine Opimization (SEO), which is basically optimizing your website to rank in natural search engine results with both on-site and off-site techniques, and a big part of Off-Site Search Engine Optimization is an effective link building campaign.

Backlinks to your site from relevant quality sites are essential for Page Rank (Google invented way to rank authority of websites, ranges from 0-10, 10 being highest) and Search Engine Page Results (SERPS). The more backlinks you have the higher you will climb in SERPS and the higher your Page Rank will be.

Backlink Anchor Text:

Anchor text is the words visible in the hyperlink of your backlink.

Here is HTML code to backlinks with anchor text:

KEYWORDS = ANCHOR TEXT

The anchor text you choose in your link building efforts is crucial because this gives Google (and all search engines) relevancy for your websites.

The "rule of relevancy" is where the anchor text gives Google relevance for your site for respective keywords and associates your sites with those keywords and the more backlinks you have with those keywords in the anchor the higher in SERPS you will climb.

So basically the way to rank in SERPS for your keywords is to use them in your anchor text.

For example, if I want my website to show up in search engine results for the KW "cheap laptop computers" I will put that as my anchor text when I build links.

This anchor text method should be used in all your link building efforts and for all the KW that you want to rank for.

Just make sure to vary the anchor text in different links by adding other words so the linking looks more natural. For example, Buy Cheap Laptop Computers, Joe's Cheap Laptop Computers, Cheap Laptop Computers for Sale etc...

Building An Affiliate Marketing Website – Step-by-Step

JR — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:12:39 +0000

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 is
important to make sure and do the proper keyword and niche research and keyword analysis 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.

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!

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

UPDATE: While BANS is still being sold, it is no longer supported by the original developers, I still use it, but there is no more updating of the software so down the road it might have issues, there is a forum of users who still help each other to fix problems.

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.

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. Also if you're new you might be interested to check out make money online for beginnners.

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

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