1. Organize your keywords, merchants and Google PageRank with the chart provided a little later.
a. Decide on an industry
b. Decide on a few potential merchants
c. Determine the number of product pages, – preferably 5-6, but with a minimum of 3 d. From your keyword list choose a popular
Primary keyword to represent each of your 5-6 product pages
e. Do a PageRank and Backwards Link check at Google before committing to your first choice of a Primary keyword
f. Decide on the name for each navigation bar button (usually the Primary keyword exactly, unless too long)
g. From your keyword list pick one or 2 next best keywords to become Tier-1 Secondary
keywords for each product page
h. From your keyword list and more importantly your research, pick another 15-20 words to become Tier-2 Secondary keywords for each product page (NOTE: during the research process, as you gather the information necessary for the topic, your notes will naturally include related Tier-2 keywords)
2. Research and write 250-300 words (or more if necessary to cover the topic) of content, – while keeping in mind the visitor and the rules for
keyword density, – into a word processor. (NOTE: I recommend that you write your content in a text editor (I.e. Microsoft Notepad), and NOT in Microsoft Word which has a tendency to include unwanted code that will corrupt the HTML of your page.) 3. In the ez-WebBuilder name your navigation bar
menu.
4. Import into ez-WebBuilder each of your 5-6 pages of content and fully and partially optimize the HTML.
5. Name each product page file as the corresponding products pages’ primary keyword.
NOTE: Please open the Keyword, Merchant and PageRank Chart and print it.
You will need to fill this out as you organize your merchants and keywords for your 5-6 product pages.
This chart becomes a handy blueprint for reference while writing your content and optimizing each page.
It is an indispensable tool.
Please don’t take shortcuts here.
And, I suggest that you work in pencil with an eraser handy. Trust me, you’ll go through a lot of paper if you don’t.
Get both charts by going to the Worksheets Appendix at the back of this manual.
Baby step #1:
Pick your merchants
NOTE: from this point forward you will need to have your Merchant, Keyword and PageRank Chart handy.
The use of this chart will be self-explanatory.
I suggest you use pencil, since various ideas will suggest themselves to you as you go.
In Step-2, Finding The Right Topic For You, you developed files on the various merchants for each topic you were considering.
Now it is time for a careful review of those files.
Assuming that you already know which topic you plan to represent, you need to pull those files and select the merchants that, at first glance, would be a good fit.
The list for my BBQ site is as follows:
1. TheGrillSuperStore.com – 10-12%
2. Barbecues.com – 6%
3. Wal-Mart.com – 6%
4. Instawares.com – 6%
5. Amazon.com – 8%
6. OmahaSteaks.com – 8%
The percentages shown above are respective of the commission rates.
Baby step #2:
Categorize your product pages
You have no idea of the tremendous competitive advantage you will have against other publishers who participate in Affiliate Programs by determining what types of merchants you plan to represent before you even write a single word of content.
This gives your site focus.
Spiders love focus.
Readers do too.
NOTE: As you may remember, we are only working with merchants we found by doing a Google search for affiliate programs for the sake of simplicity. But the fact is that in addition to the numerous independent affiliate programs available, there are several good affiliate networks to choose from. You will find a list of other affiliate networks in the Recommended Resource Appendix at the back of this manual.
So, now that I have an idea of whom I plan to represent, – I need to take it one step further.
To do that, I group my merchants into their product pages, – because this will be VERY helpful in suggesting the best choices, – for many, or all, of my primary keywords, – as you shall see.
Here are the merchants I have selected for the site organized by “product pages”:
1. BBQs
a. TheGrillSuperStore.com b. Barbecues.com
c. OmahaSteaks.com 2. Grills
a. TheGrillSuperStore.com b. Barbecues.com
c. OmahaSteaks.com 3. Smokers
a. TheGrillSuperStore.com b. Barbecues.com
c. OmahaSteaks.com 4. Portable
a. TheGrillSuperStore.com b. OmahaSteaks.com
5. Accessories
a. TheGrillSuperStore.com b. Instawares.com
6. Plans
a. Amazon.com
Can you see how the above list (1-6) suggests the Primary keywords for my 6 product pages?
1. BBQs 2. Grills 3. Smokers 4. Portable 5. Accessories 6. Plans
And I thought that since my keyword research shows that many are also looking to build their own BBQ, – I decided to add a page of BBQ plans.
Now, I probably won’t create a Primary keyword or navigation bar button for the last merchant on my list, – steaks (OmahaSteaks.com – 8%), – but I will toss them into the mix of merchants on a few of my product pages to see how well they do with my visitors.
And if they under-perform, – I yank them.
Baby step #3:
Get your Google eyes
Although I deal comprehensively with link-popularity in Step-8, Building Traffic from Multiple Sources. I need to get your attention on this subject before you decide on which keywords to use as your Primary keywords.
Google, as many of you know, is the king of search engines.
Not only are they more widely used than others, but also they feed the databases of several other search engines.
And so, if you want to be successful with affiliate
programs, then you will need to know about some recent changes to the algorithms at Google, in order to rank as highly as possible with them.