Affiliate Website Development - Motivation

[seemly]

It's been a while since there has been any real action in the forums related to affiliate marketing, and I know that people don't want to share URLs, specific markets, due to not wanting to create competition for themselves, but I wanted to see if I can help motivate others into developing their portfolio of domains.

I have had some minor success in years gone by, and still see the trickling benefits from some legacy affiliate sites, so the last week or so I have been scratching up on keyword research techniques, reading some articles, and developing my own theme locally ready to build out some of my domains.

I am going to post semi-frequently here with updates as to what I have been up to, and what steps I have planned next.

I'm probably going to turn this into a blog series (I don't currently have a blog) just to keep myself accountable, but also to keep track of myself (like a diary).

If this is likely to help motivate you, and/or you want to share your progress too, post below!

 

[CreativeMix]

I'm at the same place so I'm looking forward to reading more. You said, "some of my domains", how many are you planning?

 

[seemly]

I'm at the same place so I'm looking forward to reading more. You said, "some of my domains", how many are you planning?

At this stage, 2-3 tops. Mainly because I am aware of how much time it takes to create a content strategy, then to generate the content and publish it.

I'm also more than aware of how disheartening it can be for the first 6 months or so when you see no results for the amount of effort put in, so I am setting myself up for a relaxed (in emotion, but busy in effort) 6-12 month period, with around 1-2 hours a day of work on these projects at most.

Working on 2-3 projects in different niches can also prove beneficial to prevent boredom in a subject matter, and stopping growth.

 

[CreativeMix]

Do you mind me asking what the topic/industries will be and why you chose them.

 

[seemly]

Topic/Industry: I'm not fully decided yet. Mainly they will be around outdoor activities.

Reason: This is an area I have interest in, and will prevent a slump in driving/maintaining effort through boredom. It will also allow me to build out future projects in related niches.

 

[monaghan]

Would be an interesting read, I had many simple FSB and similar sites, however, due to apathy, my usual Amazon commission email says no commission earned, it would be good to start turning these back on, even a few quid a time would be incentive to keep going.

 

[seemly]

Would be an interesting read, I had many simple FSB and similar sites, however, due to apathy, my usual Amazon commission email says no commission earned, it would be good to start turning these back on, even a few quid a time would be incentive to keep going.

Yeah, I setup a fair few FSB sites and a couple did alright, which was surprising since it was all primarily spun content using the integrated functionality provided by FSB at the time.
Ultimately automated feed importing, publishing products with spun content, and releasing the website to the wild isn't a solid foundation for success. Who would've thought...

This time I am doing things manually and building my own Wordpress theme.
I chose Wordpress primarily for the following reasons:

1. Ease of creating content and developing the initial functionality I want to display content.
2. The plethora of available plugins that reduces the need to build every piece of functionality myself just to get started.
3. If I decide on an exit strategy, Wordpress is a familiar platform for any potential buyers.

Initial targets:

1. Build the basics of the Wordpress theme, including core content I want to include.
2. Research and define the content strategy, taking into consideration things like seasonal market effects.
3. All content will be written by me until the site(s) earn enough to consider outsourcing.
4. Have the patience to work for 6-9 months without expecting results, then keep going...

 

[monaghan]

Have to agree, the days of automated feeds I think are long gone, Google's getting too smart these days to do much automation.

WordPress used to be pants, but has matured well over the last few years and the code has been cleaned up significantly. The auto-update makes it much easier for the non-tech to deal with. I use Drupal for my 9-5, but that's far too complex for a simple site.

 

[seemly]

I decided to build my wordpress theme on top of Rareloop's Lumberjack, which itself is built on the firm foundations of Timber.
I have also implemented the tailwind CSS utility framework into my theme, as I like how I can break chunks of code into their own components.

Throughout my theme I make use of ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) for flexible repeaters and easy configurations, making the theme highly customisable for my needs.

 

[seemly]

One of the things I am trying to do is make the most of any spare time I have. Working remotely since lockdown 1, I have a spare 45 mins before work that I initially used to build out domainsaleshistory.uk, but now I am using to build my affiliate theme.

Because there is so much to do so I can release the initial MVP (minimum viable product) I just break things down into smaller, more achievable tasks. This mornings task was to get the dynamic footer navigation functionality working, and looking how I want it to look.

Task achieved.

It will probably receive future tweaks, but at this stage I am more interested in implementing the basic functionality and making sure it looks acceptable. Once this has been achieved I will setup the first site and start building it out, making notes of functional changes I want to make and/or any new features I want to add.

 

[dragon]

This is awesome well done for getting started!

What are you defining as results? Commissions, Traffic, Clicks & Impressions in GSC?

Assuming you're doing this as an SEO-only play, how are you researching target keywords?

Will you be using any tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, etc?

How much content do you intend to publish weekly?

 

[seemly]

This is awesome well done for getting started!

What are you defining as results? Commissions, Traffic, Clicks & Impressions in GSC?

Assuming you're doing this as an SEO-only play, how are you researching target keywords?

Will you be using any tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, etc?

How much content do you intend to publish weekly?

Thanks, @dragon!

I will be doing this as an SEO-only play, and initially I will be creating a list of topics I want to create articles about. From here I'm not going to worry too much about specific keywords at such an early stage, as any traffic will very much be from longtail anyway.

My logic behind this is that if I worry too much about optimising instead of generating interesting and more natural content, then getting the initial steps complete will slow down the process too much and take away the "fun" element of the project. Also, the articles I write will naturally contain longtail keywords anyway, and once I actually start getting traffic I can start optimising and expanding upon real data.

Don't get me wrong, there will be some very basic keyword search employed, and when I get to this stage I will document and publish the process, but right now, that's not my priority. This might bite me on the ass, but I'm doing this to learn

I won't be using Ahrefs, SEMRush, etc, as that's a prohibitive cost at this early stage. I bought a lifetime license to serpstat.com years ago through AppSumo.com, so I will be making do with that initially. I haven't even looked at it for years, so it might be a pile of shit.

Once I start generating enough income, that is when I will invest in tools to research, optimise, and expand.

Weekly published content goals don't exist. I'm doing this with any free time I have, so even if I release one or two decent articles most weeks, I'll be chuffed to nuts.

The hardest challenge is to get started. The second hardest challenge it to keep the momentum going. Any obstacles will be removed.

 

[seemly]

Yesterday's completed tasks:

1. Modify theme to support custom logo upload, but provide a fallback if one doesn't exist.
2. Add support in footer for newsletter signup form.
3. CMS managed footer navigation.

Tasks for today:

1. Prepare domain and server ready to install and setup a Wordpress blog to publish expanded content of what can be found in this thread.
2. Create the initial content structure of the blog and, if there is time, start building out the home page.

 

[martin-s]

My 2p: don't write anything without thinking about how you're going to generate some links to it.

 

[seemly]

My 2p: don't write anything without thinking about how you're going to generate some links to it.

I think that's valid advice, and appreciated.

I feel that the type of content I am going to aim to write will work fine for generating links (long term), but is definitely something worth keeping at the front of my mind when starting. Thanks, Martin!

 

[ukbackorder]

I bought a lifetime license to serpstat.com years ago through AppSumo.com

Lol thanks for reminding me. I logged in and apparently did the same back in 2018. Now if only I knew how to use it..... let us know how it goes on there

 

[seemly]

Lol thanks for reminding me. I logged in and apparently did the same back in 2018. Now if only I knew how to use it..... let us know how it goes on there

Hah! It was @dragon who reminded me that I had access to at least something to potentially help with tracking rankings/keywords. I couldn't even remember what it was called, and I couldn't find a bookmark, or saved password for it anywhere! I had to log into AppSumo and look at past purchases to remember! I haven't even logged into there for what feels like 4-5 years.

I'll update you with how I get with it. It always seemed slow if I remember rightly, but it has to be better than nothing - right?

 

[martin-s]

Search Console is all you really need to track rankings and build out content. Other tools are a bonus, and Majestic is beyond compare for link building.

 

[donton]

Good luck with it! I put my first affiliate site online in 5+ years a few months back and I was pleasantly surprised at how much organic traffic we've received with very little effort.

I agree with martin-s, by far the most useful tool to me so far has been Search Console.

 

[seemly]

Search Console is all you really need to track rankings and build out content. Other tools are a bonus, and Majestic is beyond compare for link building.

Nice! That's good to hear. At least that means I don't "need" to invest in what I would consider an expensive monthly subscription.