Affiliate neophyte requesting feedback on plans

[cosmicpixie]

Hi there to all,
Great forum, i'll be making use of all the info here.
I work as a Tarot reader and Astrologer (please, no jibes!). My first website is up and running (URL in my profile) and was done for me by a friend of my partner's. It needs tweaking with text size and positioning and I'm working on gathering a list of 100 or so companies to exchange links with (that's for starters) to help with search engine placement and am gearing up to learn about ppc, ad words etc etc...

Initially I was just going to have a few affiliate schemes going but given the nature of my business and the massive amount of subjects associated with mind-body-spirit/New Age stuff I don't see why I shouldn't maximise my plans and pack a load in...I've come across quite a few sites doing this by way of linking visitors to an affiliate ~"merchant shopping area" by way of a home page link....so that there is a "site within a site" almost, completely devoted to shopping

My plan is to do this and take vistors to a new page where there is one category list for UK buyers (I live in the UK but have a dot com site) then one category list for USA buyers.....certain products/services can get displayed in both if they are something like ebooks or stuff sent via email instantly....

Each category "list" would contain a number of links ....e.g

~Divination products,supplies & gifts
~ Crystals & Stones
~ Psychic Development courses
~ Wiccan/magical supplies
~ Aromatherapy
~ Natural Health products
~ Meditation & Relaxation
~ Medium & Clairvoyant tools and supplies

etc etc...you get the picture

Each link would have it's own page and that page would be devoted to supplies/products from various companies....their banner would appear and I would put a write up beneath each

I really don't want to overcrowd my site by plastering it with banners...which is why i like the idea of having my merchant area neatly organized and looking like a "shop" rather than a big billboard.I would selectively choose a certain number to display here and there in box ads or banner ads on other web pages of course and where possible, drop links throughout the site amidst the text for my various services and general information and will have details of all products/services mentioned in all e-mails sent to clients who buy one of my own services....so word of my "shop" will be mentioned wherever possible

As said, the site is in its infancy but I'll be working hard to market and promote it and to learn as much as I can about what it all involves. I have 5,000 flyers and loads of other paper marketing paraphenalia and have a few regular ads for my site in popular magazines to do with new age stuff.....I will also be embarking on getting as many retailers as possible to take my gift vouchers sale or return in exchange for commission and have all sorts of plans outside of internet marketing which i won't go on about here but suffice to say i am very serious about making this work!!! I havent spent the last 9 months working my rear end off for no return only to just sit back and expect it to all "happen" by itself

ANYWAY my question really is to do with how sound is my idea? I know many people just seem to have a certain number of affiliate schemes going so display several ads only and these appear on all web pages....I, instead, will have one main home page link into a large shopping area but will still have certain ads displayed here and there and reminders about "visit our shopping site" wherever I can possibly fit them into the text.....so basically i will have an affiliate site within a content-rich website

are there any things i should particularly consider or need to seriously re-think ? I've seen some of the "big fish" sites in my field doing similar things and it must be working for them? I've seen their link lsitings too which is why I've been spending hours compiling my list to get as many sorted as possible !!

Once this site is completed and campaigns all set up (I'm doing an amazon A-store right now to link to my site as well, not enough hours in my day right now!) I want to do a second site centering around ANGEL card readings and have a similar "shopping portal" there too...I was left entirely unimpressed with the Angel reading websites that appeared on the first few pages of a google search and think i can do way better , and have links to all sorts of angel products/gifts etc as well as other related stuff

Then there is always a scope for a third site, which would likely be an automated astrology service, where i don't have to actually type in the data and manually email reports....and so it goes on!!!

I'm not dim and work hard and learn fast and want to really get my head around the whole concept of internet business, but can only see myself concentrating on sites that are of familar content to me....i know there may be heaps more cash to be made in some other filed, like selling music or whatever,but i want to stick to what i KNOW about

thanks for reading

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.Thanks.

 

[cyberworkspace]

well, all in all it sounds like a pretty solid concept.

you mentioned it yourself and you will realize this soon to be so true: time is the limiting factor here.

so, the only thing i see, would be, to concentrate on your core competencies first and to think about expanding then. this would include imho to setup only one central store for all needs but having different sections.

i am no insider in the new age business but i could imagine, that people that are interested in tarot cards might fancy a look at those angel cards as well. (i probably got it all wrong and those two very different subjects but people who believe in new age are probably open minded to take a look at other new age offers as well).

this way, you could concentrate on building one shop, centralising your payment interfaces and catalogue keeping there and would save some considerable time that would otherwise be spent on maintaining three shops.

the time saved could then be spent on producing fresh content for your main portals which will probably have to be your unique selling proposition regarding your competition.

good luck on your venture

 

[cosmicpixie]

it's nice to have some encouragement, thanks
I do offer other psychic card readings on my exisiting site and amongst them is one type of angel reading. However, there are many different types of angel readings and it is a type of service particularly aimed at people who tend to be suffering in some kind of way and needing support and comfort....so it is a slightly different market you are approaching compared to tarot or astrology, or though yes,there is definately a link .
The reason i have begun to think of a second site is because i have come across a fair number of sites owned by people who happen to run other sites in similar ,ralted fileds....i was thinking that a 2nd site could simply concentrate on one area of readings, one theme....all advertising for my existing site is geared towards "astrology" and "tarot"......and i am sensing room on the net for an angel site of more quality and rischness....but anyway, that is just an idea and may not happen if my exisiting site takes off and i do only have "X" amount of time in my life , true. I would almost definately consider the automated astrology site though as i wouldn't have to do much with that beyond getting it noticed and maintaining its profile ....you but it "already made" for you....completely different kettle of fish to the current site . But I've enough on my plate at the moment and am already pulling far too any 1 am finishes in a week and feeling like I'm on amphetamines !!!! I never reealized how much research and study and learning was going to be involved, it's like being on a college course, my poor brain............

 

[cosmicpixie]

ps) my initial plan was to do what you suggested and have just one central store (ie not one for the UK and another for the USA) but someone recently said something to me that seemed to suggest people viewing my site, for example, in america, would be on a different server to me in the UK and would only pick up on ads in their own locale?? i don't wuite understand what they were on about really as whenever ive surfed the net, many sites from the US pop up and i have no trouble clicking on their ads......perhaps the person was talking about geo-targetting with regard to my advertising and with me being on a UK server i should target UK audiences? will make that audience my focus but am aware my site will have a secondary audience in other english speaking countries

obviously i have some learning to do here but i think going back to plan A and having one main shopping portal is probably simpler and i can make a point at the top of the portal page about their being scope for buyers from all english speaking countries

 

[NoelKuhl]

Are you setting up like a page with list of the items you sell with price etc like a shopping website? I think it is very hard to push a shopping portal website especially if you're new. Shopping websites tend to work only when the user is already ready to buy. But I consider my job as an affiliate to get them ready to buy (or find them when they are). There's too many options and too much clutter and it's too hard to optimize.

It's one of my first mistakes also, trying too push too many items in one site. Just my opinion since I'm only doing affiliates PPC since October last year , but I think you should focus on pushing one product for now like the angel cards (whatever that is hehe) or phone psychics (they pay out huge, like 75$ for a sale but probably convert low.) Then make the content of the site act as a useful presell for that affiliate product.

 

[cosmicpixie]

Hi there,

my website is based around astrology services and various card readings,like the tarot. It is a "content rich" site if you like. I wasn't expecting to make a killing through a shopping portal affiliate site that gets linked to from my home page, but given it's little skin off my back (except in the time spent initially researching and compiling lists-the rest my webmaster does) and won't cost me anything except what i pay to my webmaster....i thought "why not" add it to the site....and just see hoe it pans out for me, kind of like an experiment I guess.

I've already got some premium rate number services which have box ads on all my web pages and are also on my business cards and distribution flyers.

I'm working on my Amazon a-store to add on to the site, again as an "experiment"

I was going to make text links to affilate products in amongst my general web page services descriptions/information pages.....as well as putting a few box ads around the site to some selective products.....and then the main shopping portal will be a separate section of the website.

I haven't done any pay per click campaigns yet for my site but when i do, i was going to have one campaign for my website in general and then pick one affiliate product to campaign through ppc and take the visitor to a special landing page with that product on it (is it legal to do that, given the url of the landing page will contain my web addy followed by product name?)

I have come across some "shopping portal" sites that were simply affiliate sites with absolutely no content or link back to a website containing relevant information /articles or whatever to the affiliate products...one in particular was very well laid out and easy to navigate and just looked like a normal website really....pictures of the products on display and not just company banners, only "so many" items per page, all box ads flush with one another and not higgledy-piggledy about the pages....just like browsing a normal E-commerce shop basically

I just figured it can't hurt to give it a go?

how long has your website been up, the one with all the affiliate products that you say aren't really generating much interest? what is it you are selling? (am i allowed to ask?!)