Your Affiliate Marketing checklist…

Every thirsty affiliate marketer keeps asking the same question:

“What do you need to get started in Affiliate Marketing?”

Well, we’ve developed a definitive shortlist, whereby if you just take the time to gather the below items and follow our cue, you’ll be well on your way to a consistent second income. To conquer affiliate marketing and make it’s a successful venture, you’ll need a few things before you begin.

Here’s your Affiliate Marketing shortlist:

- Join an Affiliate Program
- Set up an autoresponder
- Research and Acquire a keyword-rich domain name
- Purchase web space from a reputable web host or hosting service
- Build a blog or website using a CMS
- Develop your creative brain and unique voice

(1) Join an affiliate program — If you’re still unsure of what an affiliate program is check out our post, “Choosing an Affiliate Program.” There we explain in detail what the ‘ins and outs’ are of affiliate marketing.

Once you have strong understanding of what you want in an affiliate program, then choose a market (and an affiliate program) that you are passionate about and motivated to stay with and work on until you start to generate a side income. (Plan on 3 – 6 months to see a small return.)

Or better yet, if you have *your own product* in mind that you would like to test out, then try promoting the affiliate product first and switch your product in once you have all the marketing, promotion, and traffic driving tactics in place.

(2) Set up an autoresponder - If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “the money is in the list,” then you must be aware of the importance of list-building and the immediacy of money that comes from communicating with your list.

What is an autoresponder?

It’s a method for businesses, webmasters, companies, etc. to handle their email marketing. With an autoresponder you can collect email addresses and send out information to that list of emails at any point in time. Most autoresponders cost something to run.

You can have the hi-end expensive ones that do all sorts of tracking and testing (even showing you if a member of your list opened your email, whether or not they clicked on a link, and tracking what their actions are afterward.)

Email Marketing and Autoresponder System

Or you can have a low end one that will simply handle the basics. We chose a mid-range one, called Aweber. It’s pretty much the industry standard in autoresponders and it will give you a good starting point for getting a handle on email marketing. Click here to set up your autoresponder.

(3) Research and Acquire a keyword-rich domain name

This step will take some thought and pre-planning. However, take the time to research what specific words people will be searching for when looking for your product. What words do people use in your market? Are there keywords? Buzz words? Is there a specific vocabulary? Also be sure to choose buying phrases like, “how to” or “[keyword]+training.” Then review the traffic on that keyword. You can check the traffic by typing in the word or phrase into Google’s Keyword Tool. Get an idea of how many searches are done it on per day or per month. You will want to aim for anywhere between 80 – 100 searches a day for free traffic (traffic you’re not paying for.) If you are paying for your traffic, you’ll want to aim for 100+ searches a day.

Go Daddy Domain Registrar

Once you have chosen your keyword, purchase it through a domain registrar. The most popular place to order domains you’ll see throughout the net is GoDaddy.com. We recommend GoDaddy because they offer one of the lowest priced places to acquire domains, their customer service is great (you can always get someone on the phone), and they offer a lot of promo codes to discount prices on domains. We DO NOT recommend you host through GoDaddy. We recommend a different hosting service (see below.)

(4) Purchase web space from a reputable web host

Choosing a web host is a very important decision that you don’t want to take lightly. If your site goes down for any amount of time, you’re subject to the whims of your webhost’s customer service. And trust us, that can be a nightmare.

Echoing our advice stated above, you need a web hosting service that is reputable and has fabulous uptime. Ideally, you can get a low price for all of this. Believe it or not, we’ve found such a service. And that service is Host Gator!

HostGator web hosting service

They have a month-to-month service, which is great if you don’t want to commit to an entire year. We’ve had nothing but positive things to say about Host Gator and highly recommend them. If you’re ready to take the plunge, purchase your hosting account through Host Gator here.

(5) Build a blog or website using a CMS

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “What is a CMS?” CMS is a fancy word for saying “All-in-One” website / blogging software. Basically, in one-shot you can build the skeleton of a blog, manage your posts, and deliver great content to your visitors.

The best service, and more search-engine friendly, is Wordpress.org. You can use Hostgator’s cPanel (short for control panel) and they can. Plus, Hostgator’s customer service will walk you through the entire process of setting it up, if you don’t feel confident doing it by yourself.

Now the big thing about Wordpress is choosing a “theme.” A theme is basically the raw appearance of your website. Themes give your blog a rough outline whereby you can add, your personal touch. The best themes are the ones that give you full-control with little coding and hassle.

Thesis Theme for Wordpress CMS

We recommend The Thesis Theme. It’s a paid theme, but it’s worth it! It’s super-super search-engine friendly (which helps get you more visitors than your competitor’s who are too cheap to purchase it.) This blog runs on Thesis, if you haven’t noticed. Once you have your Thesis theme running, don’t forget to add the Aweber web form (to capture emails). Then you can move on to the last step.

(6) Activate your creative brain and unique

The best way to gain visitors is to create content and draw in visitors (and potential customers.) Remember to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Always be thinking, “What can you offer that your competitor’s can’t?” If you can’t answer that question, then just be you. People are attracted to personalities — all kinds. You’ll end up bringing people to your blog that are like you. Keep the lines open, make sure you keep an open mind as to the opportunities, and don’t stop. Don’t give up. Keep writing. Keep promoting. You’ll see some movement. Just keep doing what you know you should be doing.

And once you’re ready to take the plunge, then be sure to get your hands on the latest product by affiliate marketing expert, Andrew Fox. His product, Affiliate Millionaire, will be released February 23rd, 2010. It will help you skyrocket your affiliate marketing. If you made it this far in the post, then you know you’re in it for the money, right? Don’t stop short, but be sure to go full force. Click here to purchase Affiliate Millionaire here!