Understanding affiliate marketing and setting up your website.
Affiliate Marketing 101
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
What is affiliate marketing?
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Getting paid each time you refer a customer to a business and they complete an action or sale.
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Different ways to get paid!Cost Per ActionGet paid when someone completes an action, such as installing a toolbar or submitting their zip code.
Cost Per LeadGet paid when someone completes a lead capture form
Cost Per SaleGet paid a commission when someone makes a purchase
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Users click an ad or text link
on your website
User goes to advertiser’s website and opens bank
account
The transaction is recorded by the affiliate
network
Affiliate network sends
you a check each month
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Affiliate Marketing
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Getting StartedBuilding your affiliate marketing
strategy
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Which type of affiliate do you want to be?Dating, education, business opportunity, retail, gaming, business services, financial services, travel, local lead gen, books, and more….
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Research which offers are available to your nicheMost affiliate networks list the offers that they have on their website. This will also help you determine which networks you want to work with.
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Most networks won’t approve you without an active websiteWait to apply to any affiliate networks until you have your website up. So far we’ve just ensured that there are relevant offers for us when we’re ready to start promoting.
Pro Tip
So, let’s build a website…
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Building a Website
Part Two:
Don’t worry, it’s actually pretty easy…
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Step One:
Set Up Your Hosting
We’ve got you covered…
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Special Bonus:
Promotion Code:BAMARKETING101
We’ve teamed up with Dreamhost to provide you with 15% off your hosting plan and a free domain registration! Use the promotion code below to get these freebies.
www.dreamhost.com
Disclosure: We are compensated by Dreamhost when you sign up. After all, this is an affiliate marketing guide isn’t it?
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Step Two:
Buying Your Domain
Owning your piece of the internet…
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Things you should avoid when you’re buying domain names…
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1. Really Long Names
http://www.awesomepersonalfinanceonlineblogsite.comhttp://www.sallysamazingcouponblog.com
Bad Names:
Good Names:
http://www.familyfinances.comhttp://www.buildingabudget.com
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2. Filler Words
‘Online’ ‘Best’
‘My’ ‘Blog’Filler words aren’t great for SEO. Avoid them where possible.
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3. Uncommon ExtensionsStick with the more popular top level domain (TLD) extensions. These include .com, .org, and .net.
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Things you should do when you’re buying domain names…
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1. Find Keyword Oriented DomainsFind domain names that have your most important keywords in them. Google puts significant value on domain relevancy.
https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool https://www.wordstream.com/ppc-free-trial-money
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2. Consider Premium DomainsYou can buy a premium domain using sites like snapnames.com and buydomains.com. Not recommended if you’ve never bought domain names before.
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Once you set up a hosting account, point your domains by updating the DNS.http://wiki.dreamhost.com/DNS
Feeling stuck? Dreamhost also has free 24/7 live chat to help customers!
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The Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Step Three:
WordPressThe most used framework on the Internet…
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WordPress is free web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.
Yep, we said free!
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Download WordPress:http://wordpress.org/latest.zip
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Follow these guides for help setting up WordPress.
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/WordPress
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Next, find a theme…
http://bankaffiliates.com/publisher-resources/elegantthemes
Disclosure: We are compensated by ElegantThemes
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Another Good Theme Resource
http://bankaffiliates.com/publisher-resources/themeforest
Disclosure: We are compensated by ThemeForest
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Now, let’s add some plugins to finish things up!Plugins are (usually) free extensions you can add to wordpress to increase functionality, improve SEO, and much more.
On the next page we’ll list out our favorites but you can browse on your own by visiting this link:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
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Easily Adding Plugins
In your WordPress dashboard hover over the “Plugins” tab and click “Add New”.
Step One:
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Easily Adding Plugins
Search by the name of the plugin to view a list of closest matches.
Step Two:
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Easily Adding Plugins
Click “Install now” to add the plugin. If prompted, click OK to continue with the installation.
Step Three:
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Easily Adding Plugins
Activate your plugin to turn it on and start using it!
Step Four:
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Add these plugins• All-in-One SEO• Google XML Sitemaps• WP Contact From 7• Ultimate Google Analytics• W3 Total Cache• Digg Digg Alternative• VM Backups
There are many others that we will recommend in other guides but these are the best to get started with for your base configuration.
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BOOM!You just
built your first
website!
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http://www.bankaffiliates.com/signup