Day after day, we go through the task of approving or declining affiliate applications, and day after day, we see the exact same newbie mistakes. Of course our goal is to help all affiliates, especially those that need it, but more so, how about some preventative measures. Stop the CYCLE!
5. The Dreaded Free Domain. The first thought that is going to come into an affiliate manager’s mind is .. ‘This affiliate isn’t serious about my program.’ Why? Because you, newbie, need to invest the pocket change of $10 to purchase a domain and hosting for a year. If you can’t invest that small amount of change .. then where is your faith that affiliate marketing is going to work for you? Where is your drive … where is your #GETSOME attitude!
Additionally, there are some serious potential SEO side effects, as well as the unknown. SugarRae, Rae Hoffman, gives you a really good break down as to why this is a major no no.
4. Spelling Matters … most of the time. This one is pretty simple. If you are targeting a specific niche, product, demo, whatever, then make sure you spelled the word correctly! (yes I realize there are situations that you may say .. wise up, BUT usually not the case for newbie affiliates).
3. HowLongIsAbsolutelyTooInsanelyLongForAKeywordRichDomainName.com? That’s right .. I went there. There is a line between a nice keyword rich domain, and writing a blog post with no spaces in the address bar. When a person says, you need to have a keyword rich domain, be sensible. RedVinylRainCoat.com is a nice specific niche, but RedVinylRainCoatTwoButtonsZipperPocketsWithASash.com is bit over board and overly specific. You do want to make money, right?
The first domain gives you a bit of room to beef up your site, to find variations of red vinyl raincoats to give your users a choice within the specifics they are looking. SEO does not live and die in the domain. Your domain is only PART of the equation, so leave some of those keywords to the content, and other pages & links.**
2. Keywords Not Just Adjectives. While you are sitting in front of GoDaddy, staring at the search bar for a domain, frustrated that, Apron.com and cookware.com are taken, don’t just start adding adjectives. PrettyApron.com can potentially be a great site, but if you are just starting out, something that broad may be a bit ambitious to start with. Think about a specific type of Apron you may want to target. SilkAprons, PurpleAprons, MensAprons. **
1. Income, Money, & Malls OH MY …. God, do I have to look at another one of these?! One of my biggest pet peeves in affiliate marketing, is domains like these … JohnsCashMachine, and MelaniesMegaMall or even SonyasMoneyGenerator. Yes, of course we have to look at them. Maybe the site is actually pretty good .. maybe it’s the next FatWallet or Angie’s List, but no .. 99.9% of the time, it’s a banner farm, template that they bought off someone that said they could make a million dollars overnight, or just someone that has really put no thought into their domain, business plan, or marketing plan AT ALL. Let alone their target audience, or what it is that they want to promote.**
**The moral of the story here is, do your research before you choose your domain. What do you want to market, is there a market for it? Is there a niche inside of a niche that is exploding with searches? What do you think will do better .. JennasDepartmentStore or EyelashMakeupBeautyTips/./com.
Tools for Keyword Research:
WordTracker
Google Suggestions
Raven
WordStream
WordTracker
Just to name a few…
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