AFF - How Do I Set Up My Blog So That It Will Work for Affiliate Marketing?

I was responding to email this morning, and heard a voice in my head that said, when you get the same question more than 10 times, probably it's time to write about it. So what's the question? How do I set up my blog so that it will work for affiliate marketing?

There are several factors that you will want to have as part of your recipe.

WordPress:

First, I recommend WordPress, not Blogger as your blogging platform. Google seems to like WordPress for SEO purposes, and why not get the benefit of search engine optimization for the same content and keywords?

Hosting:

Second, pay for your own hosting. There are some things you can get for free, and they will not impact your bottom line, hosting is not one of them. I'm not going to go into hosting options here, but I highly recommend that you own your domain, and that you have your own hosting, and not be hosted on the WordPress.com site. That way you own your site, and you own your content.

AdSense:

This one is an individual decision, and I recommend split testing here. If you want to only monetize through your chosen affiliates, do not include AdSense, at least at the beginning as you ramp your traffic. Once you get to see the actual keywords (through Google Analytics) that you are receiving your search traffic from, you can always adjust. Bear in mind your commissions will be much higher on an affiliate sales than on AdSense.

Squidoo Lens:

I recommend linking to your Squidoo lens on your blog, this creates some easy backlinking, and Squidoo is quick and easy set up.

RSS Feeds:

You will want to check your specific affiliate product for RSS feeds individually. In the case of ClickBank, many of the products will provide direct RSS feeds for your blog.

Pinging your links:

You should ping your blog when you do significant posts, using Pingoat, Pingomatic, or FeedShark, and Submit 'em now (a Firefox plugin). Also remember that your Squidoo lens is pingable.

Source: Ezine

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