Publisher Programs to Support Build a Niche Store
October 15, 2007
I have received a few calls and emails from people wanting to get straight to the meat and potatoes of Build a Niche Store - in other words… lets get started with the optomization and menu building already! :-) I know exactly where you are coming from and I felt the same exact way when I got started with the eBay affiliate software, I just wanted to get deep into it and begin marketing the Niche site I had in mind!
While I would love nothing more than to get to that section immediately, I think there would be voids in certain areas if you do not fully understanding the reasons for certain things… I read a message just yesterday on the BANS forum from a new user who wanted to know why the admin section has a field for a ClickBank ID and if it was needed to run the affiliate store. The main goal of this series of posts, is to help a completely new user build their own niche store and have a very good understanding of how it works. To that point… Those of you wanting to go deep only have 1-2 days left to wait!
Lets start today by talking about the affiliate programs you should to join.
After you have completed the upload of Build a Niche Store to your server, it is logical to immediately begin configuring the script to display auctions and begin the customization. The first time you setup a store however, you must have some affiliate accounts created in order to complete your first store. After you have these ID’s in place, you can choose whether to create a new site ID with each install, or just use the original one we create this morning.
Listed below are the programs I am enrolled in. NONE of these affiliate programs cost you anything to join! Be ready, you MUST be 18 to join most affiliate programs and they will ask you to provide a SSN or Tax ID number. In addition, most will make you submit a W9 tax form before sending payments - they have to report where they are sending money to the IRS, just as you will have to claim your earnings at the end of each year! Surely you didn’t think the Gov’t was going to miss out on a cut!?
Commission Junction (Must Have)
Commission Junction (CJ) is the manager for the eBay affiliate program. Your store is completely useless if you do not have a CJ account. Setup is quick and easy by visiting the CJ Signup Page. The site is secure, so you don’t have to worry about the personal information you will be providing. During the sign-up process there is a question about offerring incentives to visitors - make sure you DO NOT select yes!
After you sign up and get accepted, you can enter your account management section and click on “Get Links”. Type “eBay” into the search box and click on the find button. The result list will show several eBay programs, you should choose the one you wish to join. Ex: eBay Australia - tick the box to the left of the eBay Australia program and press Apply to program. If you are a putting up a .com for the US eBay program, just tick the first box, eBay Stores, and apply to the program. There will be a pop up window with terms you must agree to before you are accepted. Read the terms and scroll to the bottom to apply!
After you are accepted, you can navigate back to your “Account” link and click on “Website Settings”. Choose the website description you created during signup and the PID is the number you will be using in your BANS setup.
Important: In the upper right of the CJ screen, there is a section that says: “Account: Your name, Account Number” This IS NOT your PID and should never be used or confused as a PID (Publisher Website ID).
Tip: Create a NEW PID for every Niche Site you have! This will allow you not only to measure the performance of your individual stores and see which are providing the best conversion of visitors to dollars, but also have a set of metrics with earnings history, if you ever want to sell it!
After you have your website PID written down, you can close the CJ window.
ClickBank Affiliate Program
Much like CJ, ClickBank is an affiliate manager for different companies, including Build a Niche Store! They offer many different programs you can promote via your store or blog or however you choose to promote them! For the purpose of BANS, you will want an ID in order to proudly show off how you developed your store with Build a Niche Store, and if a website should happen to click that link and setup their own BANS store, you will receive referral benefits from Adam and Kelvin over at BANS.
The signup page is pretty much the same thing as any website registration. Once you have applied and are accepted, you will be provided your userid (You can choose) and ready to start referring visitors for commission!
Google Adsense
Google Adsense is a program that shows “Contextual” link blocks on your website, meaning, the ads displayed will be relevant to the Niche you are promoting! Since we chose Grill related items, the ads will be about Grills! Earnings with adsense can vary depending on the product. For instance, a site about Lawyers may pay up to $50.00 per click on your ad… in other words, If you have a Niche Site about Law or Lawyers, when someone visiting your website sees the Google adsesne block of ads and clicks on one of the link, you are paid a referral fee for sending that visitor to the advertiser, in this case a Lawyer.
Adsense earnings have a WIDE scope and there is no easy, definitive way, to know what you will make on a click from your site. I have some sites that earn $3.00 and up, and others that earn .03 per click. It all depends what the advertisers are willing to pay and how competitive the market is for the terms that are pulled from your site.
Auction Ads
Auction Ads is another way of showing eBay auctions on your website that are relevant to the Niche. I like to use them on pages that do not have the BANS products showing. (ex: Dale Earnhardt Jr. News) You can see the AuctionAds running at the top of the news section. Each ad block is able to be configured to show keyword driven ads, as well as setting the lowest price to show! Signing up for Auction Ads is quick and painless!
Note: I am sure one of the existing BANS users who reads this will want to know how I am pulling keyword focused rss content into a BANS content store page! I have almost completed the guide for this and will update it to the MODS section soon!
Over the course of promoting your Build a Niche Store, you will likely find several additional affiliate programs that may benefit you to join. For the purpose of this project, I am only going to discuss those listed above.
Tomorrow we will actually install our Niche Grill store and begin tailoring the new site to our Niche! I will also begin posting information on the leaderboard of the Win a Niche Store contest that is in full swing!
Until then…
Please feel free to add comments with the affiliate programs YOU use on your own stores, and any additional feedback you feel may help us grow!
Mark
Comments
Got something to say?