The Chicken or The Egg?

[aready]

So I am brand new to this affiliate thing. I do not have a website currently, but have no fear of getting that done. I have read enough to feel confident in putting one together. My question is, Do you sign up for an affiliate account first? Or do you make a website first?

I have this question because most of the posts and blogs I read say to go with what you love, and find your niche. Well- how do we know what niches are out there without first signing up with an affiliate and picking from those? One that I looked at says that as soon as you sign up someone is going to call you to see if they will accept you. This is fine with me, but will they take me if I am in the picking a niche step, and not the I have a good website with some traffic step.

So- what comes first? And if you are picking a niche without looking through what the affiliate programs offer, how do you know which one to pick? For instance, one of my passions (as many people tell you to follow) is completely obscure, and my not have anything that fits with an affiliate.

If anyone could help me I would appreciate it.

[Linda Buquet]

Hi aready,

Welcome to 5 Star. Yep it's a common delima, but there is a flow that makes sense.

To research whether your niche may be viable you don't need to apply to or join programs.

1st do Keyword research to see how popular and competitive the niche is. (How many searches vs how many competing pages - if you don't know how to do this or what tools to use, ask and we can point you to the right info.)

2nd research affiliate programs to see if there are any and what they pay. Google "key phrase" affiliate program and you should be able to find some if there are any. They typically will have an affiliate info page that tells you all about the program without having to join.

The other thing you can/should do is join Commission Junction. It's the biggest and easiest to search affiliate network. There are other networks that are great or that some affiliates prefer, but simply for researching programs I think CJ is easiest. You can pick a category like health and see all the programs available and their payouts or search specifically for "kidney stones" or whatever the keywords are and see what programs have products that may be a fit.

To answer your question - it's better to have a site 1st ONCE you're sure thats the niche you want to focus on. At least a home page with a few paragraphs dealing with the niche.

Does that help a little?

[JAmieF]

Like Linda said research your niche to see if there is enough interest (You don't want it too popular) as this will help you make up your mind in whether to buy a URL for that niche.

Develop your site first, as a program will accept your application with some content compared to nothing.

If your niche is completely obscure, get to understand that demographic as you may be able to market other products that suits that particular demographic.

[NicheGooRoo]

The advice above is right on point!

I ran into a similar delema myself... I was applying for affiliate and some did not accept me because I did not have my site up yet, and there was no way for them to see if I was indeed in business.

So, in order to avoid this, yes.. It would be better to have youe site up first. Maybe something real basic to start, just to show you have a site.

Research is the best way to figure out which niche to go with.. find something that interest you, and that is not overly saturated or highly competitive!

Good Luck and See you around here...