How to Write Well: 10 Timeless Rules From Legendary Ad Exec David Ogilvy

Writing is easy. Most people can do it. If you’re reading this, you can write.
But can you write well? Does your writing connect with people? Does it engage readers, compelling them down the page? Does your writing inspire action, selling things or services or ideas?
If so, you have a potent skill at your disposal: you can command attention, a valuable commodity. More importantly, you can influence free will.

Download our free guide here for tips to become a better writer. 

David Ogilvy, the creative force behind Ogilvy & Mather, understood this. He respected the potential of good writing.

The Memo

“The better you write, the higher you will go,” Ogilvy wrote in a memo to his management team. “People who think well, write well.”
The note, drafted in 1982, later appeared in The Unpublished David Ogilvy, a collection of incisive letters and speeches by the man hailed as “The Father of Advertising.”
“Good writing is not a natural gift,” he writes. “You have to learn to write well.”

How to Write Well

He closed out the memo with “10 hints” that anyone could apply to make their writing better.
I’ve transcribed his suggestions below, along with some modern context:

1) "Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times."

Full disclosure: Kenneth Roman, Joel Raphaelson, and David Ogilvy were cronies. In fact, Roman served as the agency’s CEO, which explains the front-and-center mention of his book. That said, it’s still a great business-writing resource.
Aside from the knowledge you’ll glean from Writing That Works, reading it over and over and over will acquaint you with the voice, tone, and style of two excellent writers. The more good writing you read, the more good you’ll internalize. The more good you internalize from others, the easier it’ll be to spot and correct the bad in your own writing.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is the product of prolific reading.

How to read more:
Ryan Holiday, an author and media strategist, offers some advice here: change your mindset.
“Stop thinking of it as some activity that you do,” writes Holiday. “Reading must become as natural as eating and breathing to you. It’s not something you do because you feel like it, but because it’s a reflex, a default.”
Holiday cites three main barriers that keep people from reading:
Time: “Carry a book with you at all times. Every time you get a second, crack it open.”
Money: “Reading is not a luxury … It’s a necessity … Books are an investment.”
Purpose: “The purpose of reading is not just raw knowledge. It’s that it is part of the human experience. It helps you find meaning, understand yourself, and makes your life better.”
If you want to read more, make it a priority.

2) "Write the way you talk. Naturally."

Ogilvy, by all accounts, was down to earth, cool.

“His latest book is called Ogilvy on Advertising. Please welcome, David Ogilvy!” said David Letterman in a 1983 Late Night interview. He reached across the table to shake his guest’s hand. Ogilvy shook back without a word.
“The book is very informative,” said Letterman. “Anyone interested in a career in advertising should certainly do themselves a favor and take a look at that thing.”
Ogilvy broke his silence. “Damn right,” he said.
Ogilvy wrote like he spoke, naturally, which enabled his success as a copywriter.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is informal.

How to write informally:
Unless you're writing a legal document, feel free to relax your tone. Use:

• Active voice: “We have noticed that …” vs. “It has been noticed that …”
• Contractions: “can’t” vs. “can not”
• Abbreviations: “t.v.” vs. “television”
• Colloquialisms: “kids” vs. “children”

Informal writing is less cumbersome, easier to read.

3) "Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs."

Reading is hard, you know. It takes energy and concentration and time, all finite resources.
Dense, long-winded writing that meets the intrinsic needs of the author, rather than the extrinsic needs of the reader, won’t get read. Writing should deliver value, quickly, to the audience. The author’s personal satisfaction is irrelevant.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing gets to the point.

How to write concisely:
Concise writing boils down to:

• Awareness: your ability to recognize wordiness
• Discipline: your willingness to cut unnecessary words

These six exercises will help you do both.

4) "Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass."

It’s true, big words make writers sound snobbish and conceited. What’s worse, they run the risk of confusing the reader, making her feel foolish, detaching her from the message.
As a writer, you have only a small window to capture attention. Don’t narrow it even more by using obscure words.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is immediately understood.

How to write coherently:
Cut your risk. Use words even a child can understand. For example, instead of:

• Reconceptualize, write “rethink”
• Demassification, write “breakup”
• Attitudinally, write “with attitude”
• Judgmentally, write “with judgement”

Need help with word choice? Use Hemingway Editor.

5) "Never write more than two pages on any subject."

Take this one with a grain of salt. While “two pages” is subjective, Ogilvy’s point is clear: never write more than is necessary on any subject.
In other words, if you can abridge an explanation without diluting the concept behind it, do it.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing simplifies complicated information.

How to simplify a concept:
The Big Short, an Oscar-winning film about the 2008 housing collapse, was almost never made because the subject matter was too technical for a lay audience. Mortgage bonds; credit default swaps; collateralized debt obligations: all these concepts required explanation …
How did the producers make it work? Cameos and stories.
Anytime a complicated concept was introduced, a celebrity would appear, armed with a quick story. What made these stories so effective and efficient at educating audiences?
Shawn Callahan, founder of Anecdote, cites several key elements

• Familiarity: The stories were told by famous people, like Selena Gomez, Anthony Bourdain, and Richard Thaler, a renown economist.
• Plausibility: The stories were credible, thanks to Thaler’s presence.
• Relatability: The stories took place in recognizable settings, like a casino or a kitchen.

Finally, the stories were metaphorical, drawing parallels between the housing crisis and losing a blackjack hand, for instance.
“If you need to explain something that is complex or highly technical to an audience that might not understand it,” writes Callahan, “then tell them a hypothetical story based on something they do understand, something that’s relatable. And pick someone to deliver the message who is familiar to the audience, someone who is like them and also has credibility.”

6) "Check your quotations."

Take this one literally. As a writer, the information you distribute commands public perception over ideas and events and individuals. It’s a tremendous responsibility.
In the age of self-publishing and Fake News, an author’s integrity is paramount. Check your quotes, your facts. Readers are depending on you, trusting you.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing has integrity.

How to maintain your integrity:
Let your conscience be your guide.

7) "Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning -- and then edit it."

Communication rarely comes out right on the first go, especially when it’s written.
You wouldn’t give a presentation without a dry run, so why send an email or publish an article without an edit? Sure, the writing makes sense to you, the author. But only because you’re so close to it: your perspective is shot.
Distancing yourself from the work is the only way to regain objectivity, ensuring your message makes sense.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is clear.

How to write clearly:
Richard Lanham, an English professor at the University of California, developed a system called The Paramedic Method. It's designed to help writers clarify their sentences with a simple, two-step process:
STEP ONE: Identify the problems in a sentence.

• Underline prepositions (e.g., about, to, in, across)

• Circle forms of the word “be” (e.g., is, am, are, were, was)

• Box verbs (e.g., run, hide, jump; running, hiding, jumping)

• Highlight the person or thing performing the action

• Bracket wind-up explanations

• Cross out redundancies

STEP TWO: Fix the problems you found.

• Rewrite or delete unnecessary prepositional phrases

• Replace forms of “be” with action verbs

• Put the action in the verb

• Put the person or thing performing the action into the subject

• Delete unnecessary wind-up explanations

• Eliminate redundancies

Lanham’s method streamlines the editing process. For more context and examples, click here.

8) "If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it."

As far as I’m concerned, if your name is on it, it’s important. After all, your writing speaks for you long after you part with it. In that sense, every word counts towards your reputation, your legacy.
With so much on the line, you should have an insurance policy.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing needs an editor.

How to find an editor:
You could ask a coworker to lend a fresh perspective, like Ogilvy suggests. But you have other options, too. It’s not 1982; leverage the internet. Try:

• Reddit: Post your content in a relevant sub-reddit.
• Twitter: Tweet your content at a writer you admire.
• Inbound.org: “When you can’t just tap someone expert on the shoulder, turn to the inbound.org community to help and be helped.”

As long as you're polite, tactful, and appreciative, someone will give you their time. But you have to ask.

9) "Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do."

Business writing, specifically, always needs a goal.
Whether it’s soft (e.g., influencing a general belief) or hard (e.g., driving a specific action), a goal will focus your message, making it more cohesive, not to mention easier to write. Moreover, nobody wants to invest their professional time reading a dead-end message, one that leaves them thinking, What now?

TAKEAWAY: Good (business) writing has purpose.

How to give your writing purpose:
What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to:

• Inform, driving home the features?

• Influence, driving home the benefits?

• Entertain, driving home the brand?

To know for sure, write your call-to-action first. This will give your writing direction, funneling every subhead, paragraph, and sentence towards the same point.

10) "If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want."

In business, nothing is more intimate than a smile and a handshake, a pat on the back. Writing is void of these elements. Even the best writing can’t replicate human interaction, the sensation of being face-to-face.
People are irrational. We like to think we operate logically, but emotions are what ultimately move us. And while reading words can be a powerful experience, nothing replaces eye contact.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing, sometimes, doesn’t work.

How to avoid writing:
Ogilvy said it best: don’t write. Get in front of the person. Get on:

• Skype
• FaceTime
• A plane

And if you’re down the hall from the person, walk to them. They'll appreciate it. And you’ll be in a better position to get what you want.

“Good writing is not a natural gift,” wrote Ogilvy.

“You have to learn to write well.”
Now, you have his advice. The rest is up to you.


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4 Tricks to Boost Your Email Click-Through Rates

Want to know how to increase the click-through rate of your emails?
To increase email click-through, you need to nurture your list. Email nurturing is essential because no one wants to engage with an email sent by a stranger.
On average, 13+ promotional emails are hitting the inbox of your subscribers daily from various brands. It goes without saying that if you don’t build a relationship with your subscribers, it is hard to get your emails noticed, let alone receive clicks and engagement.
Let’s take a look at a few tricks that could help you boost your email click-through rate.

1. Create a scarcity effect

Creating a sense of urgency (the scarcity principle) is the best way to persuade your leads to engage with your emails. Urgency works because when you put a deadline on a specific action like the purchase of a product before an offer ends, people automatically lean towards taking that action by engaging with your email.
Litmus’ email campaign is a perfect example of using urgency to drive people to complete an action based on urgency. It persuades users to purchase tickets before they get sold out by showing the exact number of tickets that are left for the event.



There are two types of urgency you can make use of in your email marketing campaigns: time-based urgency and scarcity-based urgency.
Time-based urgency entices prospects to engage with a campaign by providing only a limited timeframe. Whereas scarcity-based urgency capitalizes on scarcity to make it work just like the Litmus example mentioned above.

2. Send personalized emails

The best way to improve email click-through rates is to send more personalized emails to your leads. When emails are personalized on the basis of your individual subscriber’s unique behavior and interests, they are more likely to engage with your emails.
Now, it’s next to impossible to manually personalize emails. This is where segmentation comes in.
Email segmentation allows you to classify your leads on the basis of common interests and behaviors. This way you can send targeted emails to each individual group addressing the needs of their concerns and behaviors.
Some ways to segment your email list are:

• Ask your subscribers’ email preference
• Know their locations
• Pay attention to purchasing behavior

Email segmentation isn’t scary as it seems to be. With a tool like OptinMonster, one of Constant Contact’s integration partners, you can easily build a hyper targeted and segmented email list based on visitors’ location and user activity. Combining with its exit intent technology, you can rapidly grow a hyper segmented email list by prompting a targeted popup form to abandoning visitors at the precise moment they’re about to leave.



After building a segmented email list, you can start sending personalized emails to your subscribers. Here are a few ideas for email personalization:

• Educate your leads: Let’s say you recently launched a mobile app. Based on users’ activity, create a segment of leads who probably didn’t know it existed. The idea is to teach a subscriber what they mightn’t know about your product or services.
• Notify your customer about an activity: For example, if a customer recently added a product to the cart but didn’t complete the purchase, you can notify them to complete the purchase.
• Send product recommendations: Send a personalized email promoting products that you know your leads are more likely to buy.

3. Ask email preferences

Sending too many emails can be annoying to your potential customers, which makes them unsubscribe from the list. To make your list active and to boost click-through rate, it is essential to know your subscribers’ email preferences.
You can ask your subscribers how often they wish to receive your emails and the types of email they want to receive from you. This way, you can ensure that you’re not annoying your leads, keep them longer on your email list and more importantly, keep them engaged with your emails.



By asking email preferences of subscribers, Bonobos maintained strong user engagement ratios, sent 2-3X more emails to highly engaged contacts and also increased engagement with lower-engaged contacts due to reduced frequency.

4. Create a win-back email campaign

The harsh reality of email marketing is that an average of 60% of email lists are full of dead email subscribers. Since every subscriber is costing you, you need to make your list active by regularly cleaning up your inactive emails from the list. Additionally, having a high number of inactive leads can even adversely affect your email deliverability and cause your emails to be delivered to spam.
Before you clean up your list, you need to take the last step to make your leads re-engaged with your emails by creating a win-back email campaign. According to a study, an average open rate of win back emails is 12%. This rate is respectable since all leads were identified as inactive before.
One of the best ways to persuade your inactive leads to engage with your emails is to make an offer they can’t refuse.
Another strategy to make a list engaged is to send an unsubscription notice to your leads who haven’t engaged with your list for a while.



In addition to unsubscription notice, Sidekick also provides an option to users to remain in the list by clicking the ‘Keep me subscribed’ button.

Evaluate your email click-through rates

If you feel that you could do better, you can follow these recommendations to boost your click-through rates.
What is your favorite trick to boost email CTRs? Let us know by commenting below!


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5 Common Affiliate Marketing Scams To Watch Out For

 Affiliate marketing is a legitimate industry. There are no two ways about that. Don't let anyone tell you the whole industry is a scam!

However, there definitely are some affiliate marketing scams that we've seen people fall prey to. This often happens to newbies and leaves them with a bad taste in their mouths.

We don't want you to become disillusioned with affiliate marketing, so keep reading and stay safe. 

Affiliate Marketing Scam Examples

Like any other online industry, there are plenty of scams doing the rounds in the world of affiliate marketing. Scammers (unfortunately) are always trying to find new ways to make money off innocent affiliates. 

These are some of the most common affiliate marketing scams we've come across.

1. Fake Affiliate Marketing Training

Most newbie affiliates like to do a training course to get started in the industry. There will be hundreds of people trying to sell you a course, an e-book, a webinar and various other kinds of information. Do your research before you pick your training program.

Many of these training programs are often nothing more than a rip-off. You don't actually learn anything useful and you're out whatever money you spent, as well. At the most, you might get an e-book that is full of fluff and no real, actionable lessons. So make sure do your training with a well known name. 

Check out AffiloBlueprint - a step-by-step system for newbies that shows you how to build an income from your website. 

2. Get-Rich-Quick Offers

The reason affiliate marketing gets such a bad rap is because of the proliferation of get-rich-quick offers everywhere. They promise you will make thousands of dollars overnight, or that you can just work 2 hours a day and have $5,000 in your bank account at the end of the week. 

Don't fall for it. 

If anyone tries to sell you a "secret system that works," don't believe them. Legitimate affiliate marketing takes a bit of time to learn and while you will make money from it, it doesn't happen overnight. You need a strategy and you need to implement it well before you make any income.

3. No Product/Service to Sell

Affiliate marketers make their money by promoting someone else's product or services. If a company is promising you thousands of dollars in income, look closer. What is it that you're actually selling? If there is no actual product or service, it's nothing more than a scam.

These affiliate marketing "opportunities" are designed like pyramid schemes where no one is actually making any money. You make an investment to join the program and after that, money is just passed around from one person to the next. These schemes are totally illegal! You will lose your investment, and you're not going to make any affiliate income from it, either. 

4. Pay-To-Join Programs

Real, legitimate affiliate programs are free to join. An authentic affiliate program should be risk-free for affiliates. You should never have to pay a fee to sign up to a program. If you are asked to pay a fee to join, steer clear. It is most likely an illegal multi-level marketing scheme. 

Be sure to check out our forum post on how to tell the legitimacy of an affiliate program. 

5. Domain Name Scams

This was a popular scam doing the rounds a couple of years ago. Say you owned the domain abc.com. You would receive an email (usually from China) telling you that someone is trying to register the domain name abc.cn in China. They are emailing you out of concern as they have noticed you own the .com domain. They want to make sure your trademark is protected in China.

If you fall for the blatant lie, they will tell you as the original owner of the particular business name, they will give you preference. So you have the right to register the abc.cn domain name with them, first. You will be sent a price list and they will make money off you by making you purchase a domain name that you didn't ever need.

There are a few other variations of this type of scam, so beware of any random emails concerning your domain names. 

How to Avoid Internet Affiliate Marketing Scams

The rule of thumb before signing up for any affiliate program or affiliate training course is to do your due diligence. There are some well known and reputable programs and courses in the industry (including ours!) but when you're new, it's hard to tell.

Follow these tips to make sure you don't get caught up in an affiliate marketing scam.

Ask Google

The easiest way to find out the legitimacy of any affiliate program or training course is to Google it. If it's a well known scam, you will more than likely see reports about it online. If you can't tell just by searching for the name, try searching for variations, such as "[affiliate program name] scam" or "[affiliate program name] ripoff." You can also search for "[affiliate program name] reviews," etc. 

The Company Website

If Google isn't yielding much information, head straight to the company website. Legitimate companies in the affiliate marketing industry always have professional websites. If this is not the case, it should raise a red flag for you.

Genuine Commission Percentage

As an affiliate, you will make money off commissions. If a company is offering a ridiculously high commission percentage, don't believe it straight away. It's not impossible (some programs really are quite generous), but it's better to do your research and see if they really pay out their affiliates. Also, make sure the products and services they offer are genuine and of good quality.

If It's Too Good To Be True

Image credit: Farces of Nature

The bottom line is, if something is too good to be true, you are better off being suspicious about it. Be wary of unrealistic offers, easy money schemes and any businesses (especially foreign) offering to help you with something out of the blue.

Use your common sense and you have nothing to worry about. There are hundreds of genuine and completely legitimate ways to make money as an affiliate. Be aware of the affiliate marketing scams, but don't let them keep you up at night!

Do you know of any other affiliate marketing scams that we've missed? Let us know and we'll add them to the list.

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: How to Make Your First Affiliate Marketing Sale in 7 Steps

 The lure of affiliate marketing is undeniable; who can resist passive income?

But to make that passive income happen, you have got to put in some work first. 

To succeed in affiliate marketing, there are a number of crucial steps you must take before you earn that first affiliate profits. And these steps are, well … not passive.

The good news is that if you’re determined to make this work and are willing to put in the time and effort, you’re already well on your way to affiliate marketing success.

All the work you put in is to help you make your first affiliate marketing sale. There is nothing like a first sale to motivate you and make you keep at it. 

So, what do you need to do to get started?

7 Steps to Earning Your First Affiliate Commission

We've broken down the process into seven steps for affiliate marketing beginners. Following this guide will set you on the right course and have you earning your first commission in no time.

1. Choose a Niche

Before you even begin building your first site, you’ll need to decide which niche you’re going to target.

Obviously, if you don't know what your site is about or who you're going to target with it, you can't really build a site around it...can you? 

If you’ve already figured this one out, way to go! This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult and overwhelming steps.

If you don't quite know what your niche is yet, here's some advice that you might find useful. 

Some key questions to ask yourself when determining your niche are:

• What topics am I already passionate about?

It's much easier to work on something if you're passionate about it. Plus, when you have a passion, you're usually quite knowledgeable about it too, so that definitely helps. For example if you have a passion about about makeup, your niche of choice might be makeup related, too. 

• Is there money in this niche?

While following your passion is definitely the recommended option, sometimes the possibility of making money in a profitable niche trumps passion. So, you might not necessarily know much about your niche, but if it's likely to make you money, you can always learn more about it, right? 

For example, KitchenFaucetDivas is clearly a site that was built for profit, not passion. Unless of course there is someone out there with a serious passion for kitchen faucets! ;-) 

• What topic could I see myself easily writing 25, 50, or 100 blog posts about?

The topic you choose must have enough depth that you can create a lot of content for it. This is important for building an authoritative site, for search engine optimization, and most importantly, for the end user. If you don't have enough content about a topic, you're not going to be taken very seriously as an authority on the topic and it's unlikely you can convince someone to make a purchase from you. 

MoneySavingExpert is a great example of a site with a topic for which you would have a never ending supply of content ideas. 

• Is there room in this niche for another affiliate marketer?

There are several profitable niches that are also very popular among affiliate markets (e.g., weight loss). Before jumping on board with a hugely popular niche, make sure there's enough room for you. That is — will you be able to make money and compete with already established marketers? If not, keep looking. 

• Is there enough interest in/demand for products in this niche?

The niche you choose might draw enough interest from your audience when it comes to reading and acquiring knowledge, but are they willing to buy relevant products too? Without consumer interest in products, your niche isn't going to make you much money. 

• Are there affiliate programs available in this niche?

This is obviously a crucial factor to consider. You might come up with an idea for a niche you know a lot about, but are there affiliate programs for the niche? No affiliate program = no sales. Time to look for a different niche. 

Additional Resources for Choosing a Niche

Want to learn more about choosing a profitable niche? Here are some excellent resources we recommend for further reading:

• Free Lesson: 7 Steps to Finding Profitable Affiliate Niches
• Expert Interview: Matt Carter: How to Find a Profitable Niche
• From Chris Ducker: 4 Proven Steps to Finding a Profitable Niche
• From the Affilorama Community:
  • Do I Look for a Niche With Easy Keywords?
  • How to Look for Other Products in a Niche?

2. Research Affiliate Programs

Once you've decided on a niche, it’s time to find out what’s out there in terms of programs and products to promote. You've probably already done a bit of research for this while researching your niche — now you need to dig deeper. 

Choosing an affiliate program will take some work, but don’t be afraid to invest a significant amount of time into it because this is, of course, where your income will come from. Choosing the right program will make it well worth your while!

When choosing an affiliate program, keep these key points in mind:

• What type of merchants use the program/ affiliate network? 

You want to make sure other similar sellers are also using the network, as this can help you gauge your likelihood of success with the particular program.

• How much commission are you likely to make from the products?

Make sure you sign up for programs that are profitable and generate a sufficient return in on investment. Some tips:

• If using ClickBank, products should have over a 50% commission (preferably 60%), and have a high gravity rating (meaning they’re in demand).
• For CPA (cost-per-action) programs, commissions should be over $1, and products shouldn't be overly restrictive in how you can promote them.
• For physical products, look for commissions over $40.
   
• Do you want to be associated with the products and services?

The products and services you will be promoting to your audience must be relevant and good quality. Make sure you believe in them and know everything about them, because this will be crucial to you delivering the sales pitch to your audience. You need to build trust with your audience so make sure the products and services you choose to promote are trustworthy enough. 

Ads like the one below often lead to sketchy products — do you want to be associated with a product that promises results that may or may not be true?

• What kind of support does the program provide?

Be sure to check what kind of customer support you can expect from your affiliate program once you have signed up. Do your research online and if possible, speak to other sellers using the program to get their thoughts. Can you speak to someone via phone or Skype or do you have to wait 72 hours for email responses? Be clear on this because trust me, you will need support at one point or another. 

Additional Resources to Find the Right Affiliate Program

We've given you a few quick tips to help you choose an affiliate program that is right for you. For more information, be sure to check out the following: 

• Free Lesson: How to Find Affiliate Programs
• Free Lesson: How to Choose an Affiliate Program
• Free Lesson: 10 Alternatives to ClickBank
• From Marketing Land: Choosing an Affiliate Network for Your Business

3. Build a Site

Steps 1 and 2 are all about research  and figuring out what's possible and profitable. Now, it's time to start putting your research into action. 

Assuming you don’t already have a website built, this will be the next step. Fortunately, building a site isn’t as complicated or labor-intensive as it was in the past.

If you're a newbie to building sites, the easiest way to set up a site is by using WordPress. The WordPress CMS is very easy to use and while coding skills can come in handy, for the most part you will not require any tech knowledge to set up your site. 

You need to follow a few steps to have your site up and running:

• Buy a domain.

Your domain is the address for your website (e.g., www.affilorama.com) so this is the first thing you will need to do when setting up your site. Considering there are millions of websites on the internet, it's possible that the domain name you want may already be taken by someone else. So make sure you have several options in mind. Be sure to read our advice on how to choose a good domain name. 

There are several places you can buy a domain, including our very own Affilorama Domain service. Other well known options are: GoDaddy and NameCheap. 

• Purchase and set up hosting. 

If your domain is your address, hosting is like the actual house within which your site will live. It's your own little slice of the internet — the place where all your website files live. Hosting is very affordable these days, so don't unnecessarily scrimp on costs. Go with a reputable, reliable provider because your affiliate marketing business depends on it. 

For more details on how to choose a reliable host, make sure to read our free lesson on What to Look for in a Hosting Provider. Some affordable and reliable hosting providers we recommend are GoDaddy, HostGator and BlueHost. 

If you purchase your domain and hosting from different companies, you will need to link the two together. Don't panic, it's a simple process. Check out our lesson: Linking your Domain with Your Hosting.

• Install WordPress.

Once your hosting is set up, you need to install a content management system (CMS) for your site. We recommend WordPress because it is easy to use and a beginner (like you!) can quite quickly figure out how it works. Most good hosting providers will have a one-click install option for WordPress, which means it will only take you a couple of minutes and you will have WordPress installed on your site. 

• Install your theme.

A WordPress theme provides all the styling of a site that you (and your audience) see on the front end. There are thousands of themes available, so choosing one might seem daunting at start. Our advice: go with something simple and easy to customize. You can always change it later. 

The AffiloTheme is a great option. Completely customizable, and built specifically for affiliate marketers, you can use this WordPress theme to bypass much of the initial learning curve other affiliate marketers will experience. You can also search for themes on a site like Theme Forest. 

• Create content.

Finally, once your site is ready, it's time to create content for it. The content you create must be relevant to your niche but also interesting and engaging enough to keep your audience coming back. You should also ensure the site content is search engine-friendly. More details about content creation in Step 4. 

Additional Resources for Building Your Site

For more information on building your first affiliate marketing website, we recommend the following resources:

• Free Lesson: Affiliate Website Building
• Free Lesson: 7 Crucial Site Building Mistakes You Need to Fix
• From the Affilorama Blog: How to Build an Affiliate Website using WordPress
• From the Affilorama Community:
  • What is the best website builder for SEO 
  • What is the Best WordPress Theme for Affiliate Sites?
  • How to Structure Micro Niche Websites?

4. Produce Excellent Content

Now that your site is set up and you’ve joined an affiliate program, you’re ready to begin perhaps the most time-consuming (but potentially rewarding) part of the affiliate business: Producing content.

This is where the overused but truer-than-ever phrase “content is king” comes into play.

Your goal for your site will be to establish it as an authority site in your niche, and the main way to do this is to consistently produce unique, high-quality content.

This could consist of:

• Product reviews.

Your affiliate site model could be based off writing reviews about different products or services. This is a common model and if done well, can prove very useful in generating affiliate income.

For example, The Wire Cutter is focused on writing reviews of several different kinds of products and helping their readers make the best decision about the product they want to buy. After reading a review on their site, if the user clicks through to the product/service using the affiliate link, The Wire Cutter will earn a commission from. 

• Blog posts that address common problems, questions or issues relevant to your target market.

Creating blog content is a very useful and effective way of consistently building content on a site. When creating blog posts, it's a good idea to do some keyword research to figure out what it is that your audience is interested in and searching for online. Also, be sure to research competitors, forums and social media to narrow down on topics for your blog. 

For example, Security Guard Training HQ has a very extensive blog on a variety of topics relevant for anyone interested in security guard training, jobs and more. 

• Evergreen content.

If you are building a site that has the potential for information that will never age and remain useful for your audience, you have the opportunity to create what is known as evergreen content. It's important to carry out extensive keyword research before planning any evergreen content for a site like this, as your site could hugely benefit from the proper usage of keywords within such content. 

For example, the content on Super Weddings is useful whether you're organizing a wedding today or next year. All the content on the site is created accordingly. To make things easier for the audience, it is separated into categories to make it very convenient for the reader to find what they're looking for. This, of course, is also very good for SEO. 

• Informational products.

Giving away a free informational product such as an e-book, an email series or a mini course is a popular tactic many affiliate marketers use. Usually, your readers will have to provide their email addresses to receive the product from you. You can then use this to sell to them via email marketing. Additionally, an informational product can generate interest in the actual product you're trying to sell. If your product is popular enough and brings enough traffic to your site, you could also monetize the traffic in other ways, such as AdSense.

A good example is DatingMetrics, where you're tempted with a Free Texting Crash Course in exchange for your email. The real marketing will begin once the user has downloaded this course. 

The type of content you create for your website will largely depend on your niche, as certain types of content perform better in some niches than others.

Remember: Purchasing generic content is NOT an effective method to build your site. While it may be tempting to populate your site this way, in the long run it won’t help you to position yourself as an expert in your niche (and ultimately means less traffic and fewer sales).

Additional Resources for Creating Your Content

• Free Lesson: Content Creation
• From the Affilorama Blog: 3 Content Marketing Tips for the Busy Affiliate
• From CopyBlogger: Three Killer Content Strategies for Building Affiliate Marketing Assets
• From the Affilorama Community: 
  • Where Can I Learn How to Create Great Web Content?
  • Do I Post Articles in One Go or One at a Time?
  • What is the Current Google-Friendly Article Blueprint?

5. Build an Audience

Building an audience for your site will, in some ways, follow naturally once you start producing excellent content. An interested audience will not only bring you consistent traffic but also result in consistent sales for you. 

So how do you start building an audience for a completely new site? Here are some ideas: 

• Promote your content via social media.

The easiest and most common way to start building an audience for a website is via social media. Depending on your niche and industry, you can choose from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and several other niche and location-specific networks. Building up an engaged and interested following on social media is a great opportunity to build relationships and once you have their trust, promote your products and services to them. 

I'll use MoneySavingExpert.com as an example again. The site has over 66,000 likes on its Facebook page and it connects with the audience by sharing links to content but also asking money-saving/budgeting related questions. The highly engaged readers then visit the website, where they read content and no doubt make purchases.

• Guest post on high-traffic blogs.

While your site is still new, it's a good idea to start capitalizing on someone else's audience. Continue focusing on building your own content, but also considering writing content for a few big, high-traffic blogs that are relevant for your niche. By writing content for a bigger site, you are able to get in front of another audience and showcase your expertise on a particular topic. This will eventually lead to more traffic to your site, as well. 

• Build an email list.

Let no one tell you that email marketing is dead. An email list is crucial for every affiliate marketer. You can start building up your email list with a lead magnet (like the information products mentioned previously) or even just by encouraging your audience to sign up for your updates. You can then push your content to this audience via email and also direct them to your affiliate offers. Don't be sleazy about the sales, but if you build up enough trust with your email audience; when the time comes, they will not mind purchasing a product from you. 

• Use basic SEO techniques to increase search engine traffic to your site.

Organic search remains an important source of traffic for any website, so it's important that you optimize your website for search engines as well. When creating your content, you must always do so keeping the reader in mind first, but don't forget to follow a few basic SEO principles as well.

Learn SEO yourself or hire a good SEO marketer to help you maximize on-page and off-page SEO opportunities for your site. If your site starts to appear in search results for terms relevant to your niche, it will be a huge boost towards building your audience (and your sales)!

• Invest in paid advertising.

Many affiliate marketers use paid advertising to generate additional traffic to their site and drive more sales. Paid advertising on social media is often a good place to start, as these networks tend to be more affordable.You may also want to consider taking out inexpensive banner ads on small niche sites. Depending on your niche, Google AdWords could also be a good option to drive some paid traffic to your site.

Additional Resources for Building Your Audience

If you're interested in learning more about how to build an audience and start generating traffic for your site, check out the following resources:

• Free Lessons:
  • Marketing Ideas
  • Search Engine Optimization 
  • Pay Per Click
• From the Affilorama blog: How to Drive Organic Search Traffic to an Affiliate Site in No Time [Case Study]
• From Blogging Tips: 30 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website
• From the Affilorama Community:
  • How to Increase Traffic

6. Promote Affiliate Offers

Finally, the part we’ve all been waiting for!

This, my friends, is where things really kick into high gear. Many fly-by-night affiliates will jump right to this step and bypass steps 1–5 completely. And this is what will set you apart.

Once you’ve shown that you can offer something of value in your niche, it’s time to continue adding value by promoting products that will be useful and helpful for your audience.

You can promote your offers in a number of ways. It will depend on the type of site you've built and also what you're selling. Some ideas include:

• Product reviews.

Write honest, real reviews about products. Build up trust with your audience, and remember that they rely on your opinion. Don't just point out all the positives of a product and gloss over the negatives. An honest opinion will be valued. Add compelling images and make mention of useful features, specifications and other details. 

Your product review can then link to the page (with your affiliate ID attached), where your audience can make a purchase if they're interested. If do, hooray! You've made your first sale. 

• Banner ads.

You can put up banners on your site, to promote your affiliate offers. Most affiliate programs will usually provide their own creatives when you sign up for their offers. All you have to do is insert the banner on a highly trafficked page (your affiliate tracking is usually embedded within the code). Banner ads in the right locations can do a great job of driving sales.  

Below are some examples of banners that Templatic provides to its affiliates. 

• In-text content links.

This is a very common way to promote offers. For example, you will often see a blog post with links to certain products or services. If the reader clicks through and makes a purchase, the blog owner will make a commission. These in-text links blend in with other content on your site and are a great way of promoting an offer within your content, without being over-the-top salesy with banners. 

• Email promotions.

If you have built up an email list, you could also promote your affiliate offers via email promotions. Just make sure you build up a relationship with your audience first instead of going for the hard sell straightaway. The emails you send out must contain your affiliate links to products so when your audience click through. the sale is attributed to you. 

• Discounts and giveaways. 

Many affiliate programs will often run promotions with good discounts or giveaways that might be attractive to your audience. For example, if you're an Amazon Associate and the site have a big Holiday Sale, it would be the perfect opportunity for you to promote discounts to your website visitors. This is a great way to promote your offers while also providing good value to your audience. 

When promoting affiliate offers, just make sure you are fully aware of all the terms and conditions attached to your affiliate program. Some programs can be strict about how they allow you to promote their products. For example, some may limit you to banner ads and links only, while others will allow you to use paid advertising, but won't allow email marketing. 

Also, make sure you have a disclaimer on your website that advises your audience that you may have links that promote affiliate offers. This is necessary for several affiliate programs and also a basic courtesy to your website visitors. In the U.S., the FTC mandates disclosure for affiliate marketers (and anyone issuing endorsements), as well.   

Additional Resources for Promoting Your Offers

• Free Lesson: Writing Product Reviews
• From Shout Me Loud: How to Promote Affiliate Products on Your Blog
• From the Affilorama Community: 
  • How Many Products to Promote in Each Website?
• The FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking

7. Rinse, Lather, and Repeat

Now that you're done with Steps 1 - 6, Step 7 is simply to keep doing what you're doing. Yes, seriously!

Your ongoing work as an affiliate marketer will be to repeat steps 4 - 6 on a continual basis. Building a site up to a point where it can make you consistent income takes a bit of work and you must be willing to constantly create, promote, market, innovate and of course, sell. 

Review of Key Points

It can feel overwhelming to do all the necessary work involved in setting up your site and building your reputation. But trust me, once you’ve made that first sale, all the hard work will be worth it!

To sum it all up, making your first affiliate commission requires a bit of work but if you break it all down and follow it step by step, it won't seem so overwhelming at all. Here's a quick recap of what you need to do:

1. Choose your niche.
2. Research different affiliate programs and products.
3. Build a site.
4. Produce excellent content.
5. Build an audience.
6. Promote your affiliate product(s).
7. Repeat steps #4–7 on a continual basis!

As you can see, there is a tried-and-true strategy when it comes to affiliate marketing for beginners. Put in the work, and you’ll soon be reaping the rewards of your first sale. 

Do you feel overwhelmed about making that first affiliate sale? What’s holding you back from getting started? Let us know in the comments below and we'll be happy to help. 

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