Y2K Today

How To Make An Affiliate Website

We all know how important the internet is when it comes to businesses making money. However what if you want to make money online but don't have a product or service to sell? Well, you could try your hand at affiliate marketing.

Basically affiliate marketing is where you effectively act as a sales agent for companies. What you do is create a website with articles on products and then you link out to companies such as Amazon and eBay. It sounds pretty easy but there's actually quite a lot to learn about it.

The best way to start is to think about what you are knowledgeable about. Perhaps you work or have worked as a roofer or maybe you know a lot about beauty. Whatever it is you ought to think about problems people have in that niche.

So let's say you know a lot about hair care and you can easily write about it and draw on personal experiences. This is great because you can offer advice about products someone can buy if they are having difficulties with their hair. So sit down and brainstorm about hair. Here are some ideas:-

• Dry hair
• Greasy hair
• Frizzy hair
• Fragile hair

If someone has a problem they also tend to search for solutions by typing in things like:-

• How to get rid of
• How to improve
• How to deal with
• How to grow
• How to clean

So the next step is try to guess what people might type in for their particular problem. So what you need to do is go onto google.com and start typing in things like "how to get rid of" and then you will see a drop down menu with different suggestions. So let's start typing in "how to get rid of dry hair" and you will see that it actually appears along with "how to get rid of dry hair ends" and "how to get rid of dry hair naturally."

So what you need to do is then think about what products people can use to get rid of their dry hair. Both eBay and Amazon are bound to have some good products so what you then do is create an article explaining how people can improve their hair quality by using some of these products.

If you don't have an account with eBay or Amazon what you need to do is create your website or blog first and fill it with about 10 helpful articles. Then apply for your affiliate account. It might take a day or so to find out you've been accepted but once you are you can then insert links into your articles.

In terms of creating the actual website you have a number of different options.

For those just starting out it might be a good idea to look for one of the free solutions. Blogger is actually owned by Google and you can quickly create a blog with very little knowledge of HTML and web design. There are templates included which aren't the most pretty themes in the world but they are more than adequate for affiliate marketing. Anyway, you just want people to click on your affiliate links because this is what will allow you to earn money. If the person just reads your content and then leaves you won't have made a dime from them.

There have also been other options for creating affiliate websites but you have to be very careful because Google has kicked them out of their index because the sites that are created are of a very low quality. They are basically just filled with adverts and have very little to no helpful content on them. Build a Niche Store is one such program that has had a lot of difficulties because people were building thousands of them and the content was just gibberish. Niche Devil was also launched last year promising to create instant riches but the sites created with them were promptly de-indexed.

Another free option is to use the self-hosted version of WP which you can install via Fantastico if it's offered by your web host. There is a free plugin which you can install which is called WordBay and allows you to show eBay ads in your article.

I also like using MyStarterBlog with the NicheMate plugin as it allows you to create a simple blog with eBay auctions inserted in the content. The only problem is that the NicheMate plugin no longer works for Amazon products however it still works great with eBay.

Whatever system you use to create your affiliate sites make sure you provide useful and well-researched content. The search engines really don't like what is known as "thin affiliates" meaning the website has been created purely with the intention of making affiliate money and offers no value to the searcher. The last thing you want to happen is to have a website ranking well for your keywords and bringing in money only to have them de-indexed and all of your hard work down the drain.

How To Make A Website

If you want to create an online presense then getting yourself a website setup should be very high on your list of priorities. I've alread talked about what you need to do to buy a domain name and get hosting, now I will explain what you need to do to create the actual website.

The most important thing you need to consider is what you want from your website. Some people simply want a place to add a little bit about their company and what products or services they provide. You will want information about who you are, what you do, how customers can contact you along with photos and possibly other media such as video and audio.

A website like this can be very simple and shouldn't cost you a lot of money. You can either contact a web designer in your local area, a web designer in India who will be pretty cheap or you could try to create the website yourself. There are many different ways you can achieve this and with so many free and inexpensive templates available you can create something that is actually pretty professional looking.

FrontPage - One of the basic ways to create a website is with MS FrontPage. This is very easy to use and if you are familiar with other software from MS then you should be able to use FrontPage pretty easily. The only thing is that a lot of people don't like using it because the quality of the HTML code is pretty poor and some web hosts don't offer the FrontPage extensions you require.

Kompozer - Kompozer is another option which is pretty similar to Frongt Page but it's totally free to use. If you want to create the site just look for CSS templates on the web and follow the instructions on how to edit them.

Thingamblog - Thingamblog is what Y2K Today is created with and it's very simple to use however it's more geared towards people who want to make a blog rather than a website but if you know how to edit the templates you should be able to get it looking the way you want.

There are many other options you should look at too including Weebly, BlinkWeb, Blogger and Tumblr. However if you are looking to create a website to sell phsical products on then you should look at what ecommerce solutions are available to you.

Free Ecommerce Website Tools - When you sign up for a web host account many of them include a feature called Fantastico. Basically it's a way for you to install a variety of free website building tools. On the left-hand menu you will see a list of ecommerce software which comprise of Zen Cart, CubeCart and OS Commerce which are all free.

However if you have never created a website like this you might not fully understand how difficult it can be. Sure, when you first install it with Fantastico you will find it really easy however when it comes to making the site perform the way you want it can become quite tricky. You will also find that they are all very basic and don't offer a complete solution. So you end up having to pay for someone to customize it for you. This can end up being very costly and if you are new in business you might not have the money to spend.

Magento - Magento is another free system that you can download and install on your server but you need to know how to do this and some people might find it quite difficult. Mangento, however, does have a lot of fans because it's a lot more advanced and offers more options such as up-selling to customers in a similar way to Amazon.

There are a number of developers who are experience in Magento so it's probably a good idea to contact them about setting up a website for you. Developers in India are obviously going to be a lot cheaper than developers in the US or the UK. However there are issues relating to language differences and also time differences.

Make sure you spend a good amount of time thinking about what you want from your ecommerce store. Have a look at other websites (particularly Amazon) to see how the lay their products out and how to encourage customers to spend more money.

As you can see there are loads and loads of options when it comes to creating a website. Although a lot of people talk about how easy it is to create a website, if you have never done so before it can be very confusing. Just try and take your time and don't rush into anything. If you are going to outsource the work make sure you find out what work the developer has done in the past and don't simply go for the cheapest.

How To Buy Website Hosting

First of all, before you go buying hosting for your website you need to understand what it is in the first place. Basically if you buy the services of a web host, that company will store you website and serve it up to any visitors that land on it. The host has a special kind of computer called a web server and when someone types in your website address or clicks to your site via the seach engines or by some other means they will be able to view your website's text, images, video, audio and anything else that you might have added to it.

There are a number of different types of hosting that you can buy and the prices will vary enormously. It can seem really difficult at first if you have never paid of hosting before.

Shared Web Hosting

This is the most frequent type that people buy and is a great choice for beginners who don't have much money to spend and only have a small website will relatively low traffic levels. They are also set up for you to start using straight away and the hosting company will ensure that the web servers are keept secure and running correctly.

The problem is that you are sharing the web server with potentially thousands of other websites. If you have a lot of audio or video on your website and you get a sudden influx of traffic you might start using up more than your fair share of resources. Although they are advertised as being unlimited in terms of bandwidth, they are limited in terms of resources. It's kinds of like a car. There are some cars that are really light and fuel efficient whilst there are other cars that are very heavy and use up a lot of fuel.

If your website starts using up too much "fuel" then your account can be suspended. It might be that you have a 100 sites on the one account and if one site starts using up too much in the way of resources and your account is suspended, the other 99 sites will be suspended too.

Reseller Hosting

These are set up for people who want to make money selling hosting to other people. However it's also used by those who have a lot of websites. Basically it's pretty much the same as shared web hosting but you create a separate account for each website you want to host. If one of your websites starts to get a lot of traffic and uses up too many resources then the good news is that none of your other sites will be affected.

Virtual Private Servers - VPS

VPS is pretty similar to shared hosting. There will be less people sharing the web server so you have the ability to use up more resources. However you can expect to pay more for your hosting if you decide to go down this route.

Dedicated Hosting

If you have a very large website that gets a lot of vistors and uses up a lot of resources on the web server then it's probably time to think about dedicated hosting. This is really fod advances users and certainly not something that you will be considering if you are just starting out selling homemade candles or that kind of things. If you don't have any technical knowledge then you should opt for server management from the company you are using.

Dedicated server hosting is where customers have an entire server and all its resources dedicated to their personal use. Dedicated hosting typically offers the following advantages and disadvantages. Because you are using the web server yourself and you aren't sharing it with other users, the costs will be considerably higher.

What Companies To Use?

This is something that comes down to personal choice but you really need to spend some time looking at the packages that are on offer, pricing and also reviews that are posted on the internet. One of the most trusted companies is HostGator however there are some others such as MidPhase and WestNic.

If you are looking for free hosting there are a number of companies about but often they are more hassle than they are worth and don't provide very good service. The only company that I would suggest you trying is 000WebHost

How To Buy A Domain Name

If you want to set up an online business then you will more than likely want to buy a domain name. A domain name is effectively your virtual address where you will send visitors who are interested in your products and/or services. There are many different things that you will want to take into account such as...

Location - If you are in a country such as the UK then you will probably want to consider a domain that has co.uk at the end of it. This is because you are making it very clear to both the search engines and to customers that you are in the UK. However if you are more of an international company then you will want to aim for .com. The problem is that finding a .com that hasn't already been registered can be a bit tricky from time to time which means you should look at alternatives such as .net, .org and .biz. There's even a .us domain extension which can be useful for those in the United States.

Keywords v Company Name - If you offer a particular service such as cosmetic dentistry or dog training then it's a good idea to have these keywords in the domain. It really makes it clear to people and the search engines what it is you do. Whereas Smith and Co doesn't really mean anything. Ultimately it comes down to personal choice so some people choose keywords and others choose their company name.

You will also want to try and keep the domain as short and memorable as possible because if you resisted something like dentalservicesthatoffergreatvalueinnewyorkandbeyond.com is a bit of a mouthful (no pun intended!). Some people also register domains with dashes in them such as dental-services-in-your-area.biz. Again, this is personal choice but I prefer domains with no dashed because it looks "cleaner."

Pre-Owned v New Domain Name - You can buy a brand new domain or you could buy one that someone already has owned. The benefit of having a pre-owned domain is that often the owner has already done work in terms of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and therefore the search engines already are giving the domain authority for some keywords.

You really need to have an understanding of what you are doing when it comes to buying a pre-owned domain and also how much you should pay for it. Some domains have been used for spam and therefore have been banned by the search engines. If you don't know what you are doing you might have problems getting it indexed and ranking again.

Where To Buy A Domain Name - There are many places that you can buy a domain name and one of the most popular is a company called godaddy.com. Before you buy you ought to do a search for godaddy discount coupons because they can help you save some money. However they do try and sell you other products that you don't actually need such as email and also other domain extensions. Personally I never buy any of the up-sells. You also have the option of how many years you want to buy the domain for. There's a lot of debate as to how many you should buy. Some people say that you should 10 years because the search engines give you more benefit of the doubt because you are proving to them you are serious about your domain and not some "fly by night." It's difficult to know whether it really does make much difference so it really depends on how much money you have to spend.

Hopefully this article will give you a better idea of what is needed when registering a domain name. If you are still stuck and don't know what domain to buy a good site for ideas is domainsbot.com.