Do I need to create a website froms scratch or am I approcahing this all wrong?

[newbietoAM]

Hi there! So I am not sure how to approach this idea and the internet has only made me more confused.

Let's say I wanted to create somehere that only sold red items. So ultimately I'd want all the red items from other websites centralised in one place with filters for different things eg. price, size, etc. This would come from affiliate links from different brands' websites for these red items. I have some questions if anyone would be kind enough to help me get my head around this:

Is creating a webiste from scratch the only way to go about setting this affiliate marketing business up?

I can't seem to find examples of something like this specifically online.

If anyone has any resources or advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

 

[Graybeard]

I would call this an aggregation resource website.
How many items do you anticipate displaying?

 

[T J Tutor]

I am not sure how to approach this idea

The very first thing you do with an idea is finding some level of "proof of concept" through a number of steps that include brainstorming (like asking questions and fielding answers here, gathering info from others with different perspectives, researching your concept making copious notes, testing the various options gathered, and track of your progress in a binder or digital app. Ideas are not a plan, they are simply a thought surrounded with possibilities. These possibilities must be gathered and considered, some tested. All of this is the simplified version of the process, but nonetheless cannot be ignored and/or shortcut. One of the methods of refining data collected I've used, depending on the idea, is the SCAMPER Method. SCAMPER is an acronym for seven practices for looking at and assembling various arrangements of putting an idea into development. Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Purpose, Eliminate/Minimize, and Rearrange/Reverse. There a load of various guidelines like this out there, but the general idea is that you must keep copious notes, you must test and test and test everything as you refine and assemble, and you must (absolutely MUST) collaborate with others in the industry through the process. This doesn't mean you have to give away all you have learned or gathered, but it does mean you MUST research all of the time and share enough with others to coax good information from them. I'm in the game for decades and I still research daily. Get used to it, it is a part of this business and always will be.

Once you have a refined idea, you can create a plan to help you turn it into a reality. Your plan should include a clear vision, goals, milestones, and a timeline. YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT A WRITTEN PLAN!

the internet has only made me more confused.

Then you have approached this incorrectly. The internet is like the largest library in the solar system and all of the information you require for this project is out there. You just need to develop your research skills. This comes with persistence and dedication. You will become an expert researcher in a short period (a year or so) to pursue the needs you develop as a business person in this industry.

This would come from affiliate links from different brands' websites for these red items.

Well, that all relies on any product you want to represent having an affiliate program. Aggregating products from affiliate programs is going to cause conflicts with the TOS of many of those affiliate programs. This is like trying to aggregate products on your own storefront like Amazon does. Whereas Amazon does have API features that automatically updates on product data and images as well as discontinued items, you would have to be doing this work manually for every product you represent. This is not, IMO, a good business model. I've always seen aggregation models like this are too expensive for people like us and best left to the Jeff Bezos of the world. There are far better models for affiliates to earn.

I think that most affiliate programs worth investing in representing require content sites. however, these are not for beginners in our industry.

Have you any experience and background in online marketing of network offers or affiliate programs?

 

[Graybeard]

I am more curious if he expects 'free traffic' from SEO --this aggregation site for earning money from SEO is predictably a total waste of time today.

 

[newbietoAM]

Hi there! So I am not sure how to approach this idea and the internet has only made me more confused.

Let's say I wanted to create somehere that only sold red items. So ultimately I'd want all the red items from other websites centralised in one place with filters for different things eg. price, size, etc. This would come from affiliate links from different brands' websites for these red items. I have some questions if anyone would be kind enough to help me get my head around this:

Is creating a webiste from scratch the only way to go about setting this affiliate marketing business up?

I can't seem to find examples of something like this specifically online.

If anyone has any resources or advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks so mu

I would call this an aggregation resource website.
How many items do you anticipate displaying?

Hey - thanks for reponsding. I was hoping to start with around 100 and then grow upwards from there

 

[T J Tutor]

this aggregation site for earning money from SEO is predictably a total waste of time today.

YES! I've never been fond of this form of aggregation, most for that matter. Couple it with a newbie and reliant on a tertiary traffic like SEO is a waste of time IMO.

You cannot run a successful business on SEO as the primary traffic source. It's been that way since ads have been available. SEO in the B&M world is like "word of mouth" vs. paid ads. Who's going to win that game?

 

[newbietoAM]

The very first thing you do with an idea is finding some level of "proof of concept" through a number of steps that include brainstorming (like asking questions and fielding answers here, gathering info from others with different perspectives, researching your concept making copious notes, testing the various options gathered, and track of your progress in a binder or digital app. Ideas are not a plan, they are simply a thought surrounded with possibilities. These possibilities must be gathered and considered, some tested. All of this is the simplified version of the process, but nonetheless cannot be ignored and/or shortcut. One of the methods of refining data collected I've used, depending on the idea, is the SCAMPER Method. SCAMPER is an acronym for seven practices for looking at and assembling various arrangements of putting an idea into development. Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Purpose, Eliminate/Minimize, and Rearrange/Reverse. There a load of various guidelines like this out there, but the general idea is that you must keep copious notes, you must test and test and test everything as you refine and assemble, and you must (absolutely MUST) collaborate with others in the industry through the process. This doesn't mean you have to give away all you have learned or gathered, but it does mean you MUST research all of the time and share enough with others to coax good information from them. I'm in the game for decades and I still research daily. Get used to it, it is a part of this business and always will be.

Once you have a refined idea, you can create a plan to help you turn it into a reality. Your plan should include a clear vision, goals, milestones, and a timeline. YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT A WRITTEN PLAN!



Then you have approached this incorrectly. The internet is like the largest library in the solar system and all of the information you require for this project is out there. You just need to develop your research skills. This comes with persistence and dedication. You will become an expert researcher in a short period (a year or so) to pursue the needs you develop as a business person in this industry.



Well, that all relies on any product you want to represent having an affiliate program. Aggregating products from affiliate programs is going to cause conflicts with the TOS of many of those affiliate programs. This is like trying to aggregate products on your own storefront like Amazon does. Whereas Amazon does have API features that automatically updates on product data and images as well as discontinued items, you would have to be doing this work manually for every product you represent. This is not, IMO, a good business model. I've always seen aggregation models like this are too expensive for people like us and best left to the Jeff Bezos of the world. There are far better models for affiliates to earn.

I think that most affiliate programs worth investing in representing require content sites. however, these are not for beginners in our industry.

Have you any experience and background in online marketing of network offers or affiliate programs?

Hi there - thanks for your detailed response. This particular type of product is something that I often need and as a consumer find it frustrating that I have to open up multiple tabs for multiple online stores to find what I am looking for. I find it time consuming and the user experience isn't pleasant. I thought it would be so much easier to have things more centralised for this particular type of product which I now undertstand to be known as aggregating products. The brands I would be displaying already have affilate programs as I have looked into this. What you mentioned regarding having to regularly update he information for each product was not something I considered as I perhaps naively assumed this would automatically update as the products changed....

Apologies as I don't have a background in online marketing or affiliate programs but believed this could be useful to people like myself in search of these items often. If it is unrealistic then fair enough as I am new to this and wanted to see if it is feasible as I am not afraid to do the work.

 

[Graybeard]

I would call this an aggregation resource website.
How many items do you anticipate displaying?

Hey - thanks for reponsding. I was hoping to start with around 100 and then grow upwards from there

You either need a barrel of monkeys to manually code this; or, use apis and datafeeds <<< as the right way.
As I indicated for SEO this is worth very little or nothing as a return for your expense & efforts.

It's possible to segment PAID advertising to align with "your data inventory."

As TJ says: This is not the way to begin Affiliate Marketing ...

 

[rosaurroz]

You can join as many social media sites as you can manage and blog, open your online store etc. throughout them . . .

 

[NathanNebraska23]

Hi there! So I am not sure how to approach this idea and the internet has only made me more confused.

Let's say I wanted to create somehere that only sold red items. So ultimately I'd want all the red items from other websites centralised in one place with filters for different things eg. price, size, etc. This would come from affiliate links from different brands' websites for these red items. I have some questions if anyone would be kind enough to help me get my head around this:

Is creating a webiste from scratch the only way to go about setting this affiliate marketing business up?

I can't seem to find examples of something like this specifically online.

If anyone has any resources or advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

Not at all. There are many different landing page and funnel builders out there. I would recommend Wix

 

[azgold]

I would recommend Wix

It's not a good idea to use a free website, unless you absolutely have no other choice. And Wix would be a horrible choice for landing pages and especially A/B split testing. It's slow loading and has a Wix ad at the top. I see those from time to time, it screams amateur.

 

[Honeybadger]

Ok then im taking the bait!

i have direct knowledge of doing this and have earned affiliate commission from doing it so depending on how much you NEED to earn then yes it can add extra dollars in your account

i would caution advice against it because the amount of hours it will cost you is unlikely to return a profit but that also depends on the value of 1 dollar in your locale could be much easier to simply go ahead and get a regular job for a firm --> including online

as i understand you want to create a website and it displays product pages and the buy link is an affiliate link and your niche is red colored items call it theredshop.com or similar

i can tell you how to do it sure its not that difficult to create

but recent Google pain in the ass algorithm changes will make this alot more difficult than 2 or 3 or 5 years ago but theres nothing stopping you

Pros

1 - very easy to set up

2 - very cheap all you need is a few bucks for the website address domain name

3 - all the software you need is free

4 - you can operate this entirely from your cell from anywhere connected

5 - most products will have an affiliate program and there are endless products because new red colored products come out daily probably hourly

6 - im guessing you have free time

7 - low risk

8 - your gonna learn valuable new skills

9 - ai tools make it alot faster

10 - few barriers to entry and you already have a device internet connection and speak English which is not a requirement but a big bonus

11 - simple exit just stop and dont renew anything

12 - can run on autopilot if you automate new products to add

13 - probably will earn some money over time if tou can get traffic or and provide a best in its field solution

14 - others learn if you do a journey thread and i dont do private messages too many clowns and timewasters

15 - you could start as affiliate site and quite easily convert into a dropshipping business later which would solve alot of your Google problems you could even sell on Flippa if the site is professional or and you have some metrics to show off so use tracking tools very important cos you will learn from tools like Google Search Console which from your product pages are gaining or losing traction

Cons

1 - Google shopping the problem is Google uses meta data to identify product landing pages and they are now aggressively trying to push all product pages into the Google shopping area which is not open to affiliate you must be the seller except in dropshipping as i understand from reading the documentation last month so you will best look for other traffic sources such as links social media email and other search engines but paid ads you will be burning money on this one and probably the affiliate program terms dont allow it

2 - again Google they are aggresively pushing brand names with Google Places listing and you probably wont have that it means brand website get ranking points even if they have worse content although i have ranked 100s of products from Amazon.com above Amazon and then referred the visitor back to Amazon and been paid $1000s honestly this way not 10s of $1000s but a few thousand --> why? cos i create better category landing pages than Amazon and Google does in some cases consider Chrome User Experience Report metrics to rank a non brand page above a brand page but its getting more difficult since AI

3 - it will take time and learning if you make a bummer site you will get bummer results and im not being an asshole but most people quit early on so why waste the time unless like @T J Tutor says you make a proper plan before you start and intend to see it thru until you get results

4 - adding products manually is a fucking pain in the ass you need to hear this now cos you will get bored of it at some point like i did but automating needs to be done very carefully and i got close but in the end its one of the key reasons i stopped so its better to add 10 highly optimized products than 100 badly optimized ones your wasting time trying that

5 - you will need at least front end programming knowledge and backend is a bonus cos you cant in likelihood afford to pay a developer unless you have a starting pot of cash and when tech problems occur as they will you will need time knowledge and patience to solve it

Concluding

no disrespect to anybody here but please dont use Wix maybe in more years it will evolve but right now there are far more superior options​

go with Shopify if your end game is a dropshipping site or WordPress if just affiliate site there are many professional themes and plugin that have the free option and WordPress sites can be engineered to load very fast again no disrespect to anybody here but i use Google Web Vitals and monitor load times on desktop and mobile like a hawk

automate product import but optimize manually what you cant do on auto

use Amazon Associates only at the start and pay for a tool that imports products for like 50 bucks a year thats all dont import manually cos the product prices wont change

if you want a pro tip what i would do is create a brand and add it to a color then register that brand in all the colors and automate the hell out of it then use a multi site WordPress manager plugin very cheap cos if it works you could make a ton of cash running the sites as a group either as affiliate or as dropshipper and potential buyers love portfolios

i mean try something like this

call your brand something with a common word and image like an animal but check its not legally protected

say
Badgers Red Shop - badgersredshop.com
Badgers Blue Shop - ,, ,,
Badgers Green Shop - ,, ,,

good luck pall you will need it and i dont believe in luck!

make a plan and write it or type it out dont forget that

"failing to plan is planning to fail"

 

[T J Tutor]

Not at all. There are many different landing page and funnel builders out there. I would recommend Wix

That makes me want to PUKE!

Your answer has nothing to do with the OP's point!

WIX is horrible for funnels and landers!

 

[T J Tutor]

like @T J Tutor says you make a proper plan before you start and intend to see it thru until you get results

!!!BROTHER HONEYBADGER!!!

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