I've only been at this affiliate marketing business for 1 year now, so still consider myself a "newbie". During the past year, I have learned soooo much and have made some big mistakes that actually killed the first website that I worked so hard to develop (and it was beginning to bring in some nice money too). So, If I knew then what I know now... here's what I would have done differently:
Get High Quality Hosting
In an effort to do things as cheaply as possible, I got dirt cheap hosting ($36 a year). My site was down about 20% of the time, and it usually took tech support 2-3 days to respond to my issues. The hosting company went out of business suddenly a couple of months ago and took my site with it. I could not move my site to another host because they had my domain name locked up
(see next item). I now use Hostgator, (as recommended by someone on this forum) which allows for unlimited add-on domains, has never gone down, and has outstanding support.
Purchase a Domain Name
I got a free domain name for my first site, as part of the deal with the crummy cheap hosting provider. When they went out of business, my domain name could not be unlocked since it was registered to them, not me. As a result, I lost my site completely. I now purchase my domain names to ensure they are registered to, and controlled by me!
Use a Blog as a Partner to Your Website
My first site took 3 months to get picked up by Google (and also to generate a sale). I started a blog to help promote the site and within a few weeks traffic picked up considerably. For my next site I started the blog first, and posted regularly for 2 weeks while I was working on my site. I uploaded my website, linked to it with the blog, and found it in Google, Yahoo, and MSN within a couple of weeks! I pretty much had "instant traffic" to the new site.
Write Lots of Articles
I have learned that there is a direct and immediate correlation between the number of articles (and frequency of submitting) that you write and the amount of traffic you get on your sites. I have also learned that the more articles you write, the better you get at writing and people start seeing you as an authority on your topic. This results in a lot of great backlinks when others start including their articles on their sites. It also generates even more traffic, because people email your article to others (who hopefully pass it on to even more people).
Develop a Mailing List
This is perhaps the most important lesson I have learned, and I wish I had realized the benefit of a mailing list sooner. I just started using a mailing list/monthly newsletter 45 days ago, and am already seeing sales that are generated from the links in my newsletter. I think this is terrific since my subscriber base is still very small
(I average only 3-8 new subscribers each week so far). I use AWeber autoresponder,
(recommended by someone on this site I think) which is easy, quick, and has terrific tech support.
Utilize Deep Links Whenever Possible
In the beginning, I always used the link to my index page within articles, forum posts, paid ads, etc... I started using links to inner pages (with appropriate keywords) recently and saw my traffic jump. My logs show visitors entering all over the place now, onto pages that are more targeted toward the exact thing they are looking for.
I've learned lots more lessons, and am learning more every day. I wish I would have found this forum earlier on, because the advice I've been given has really helped me out. Reading what seasoned professionals have to say is not only motivating, but really helps me make better decisions and plan my goals. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to reflect on this topic - aside from learning from other's experiences, it also makes you realize just how far you've come
