Q: There seems to be a lot of fast-talking scheisters out there wanting to teach the subject of affiliate marketing. I’m wanting to build a solid affiliate marketing business over time, not a quick cash approach. What’s the best ‘first step’ in learning how to build a solid affiliate marketing business?
A: First of all, I wanted to look up scheister, so I could be sure to spell it correctly.
I checked in with my old, hard cover Webster’s New World Dictionary to get a dictionary definition for anybody not familiar with the term.
So, a scheister is a slag term, especially for a lawyer, who uses unethical or tricky methods. Also described as a pettifogger.
Now I am not familiar with the word pettifogger, but it doesn’t sound like a good thing to be.
As far as the first step in building a solid affiliate marketing business, I would suggest the first step would be to start up a blog.
Just go out and get a hosting account, which can run as low as $7/month or so. Pick a host that will provide a free installed of WordPress, which I would suggest for running your new blog.
You will also need a “theme,” which is essentially the layout of your blog. These are really easy to install on WordPress. There are many available for free.
Plus, purchase a domain name, which will run you about $8/year.
After that, start blogging about am issue to topic that interests you.
Populate the blog with some content, and then link it up to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts.
When you’ve got a week or two of content, start testing out some relevant affiliate offers on your site. You’re not going to see much activity for a while, because you don’t have much of an audience, yet.
But stick with it.
This is a great time to learn, because you’re not investing much money into it. Consider the process an education.
As you’re learning, search on Google for affiliate marketing blogs and forums to interact with others and pick up tips on improving your site.
You can go months with an investment of $50, so it’s a pretty low threshold. Good luck.