Two months ago, I wanted to try Amazon Associates, affiliate program of Amazon, to make some money through affiliate marketing. Although I was not new to affiliate marketing and Amazon Associates, I had no experience with it. After combining my SEO experience with affiliate marketing knowledge I managed to make $500 from two different ( one targeted US traffic the other targeted UK traffic ) sites at first try. Here the steps I took:

Find a niche

I’m aware that you get sick when an affiliate marketer tells you to find a niche. Yes, it might be a common cliche but in order to start working you have to find a niche. This might be GPS devices, drum sets, toasters, sd cards for phones anything you can imagine, but it will be more profitable to find a niche with higher search volume. Read the next step.

Use Google Keyword Tool

Actually, you have to know the tricks of using Google Keyword Tool correctly for quicker and better results. But for now all we need is to know the basics. So, in order to know the search volume of our niche keyword, enter the keyword to “Word or phrase” section, choose your language ( English ) and country ( UK or US ) and  finally press search button. If your keyword’s local monthly searches are over 60.000 I can suggest you to work on that keyword, else, find a better keyword with higher search volume.

Register a Domain Name

Pay $9 and register a domain name. Domain extension matters, if your target country is USA, find a direct match domain name ending with com,net or org. Co domains are also said to be efficient but I have no experience with .co domains. Be sure not to register a domain name with info extension since it will be hard to make it rank better. If you target UK, co.uk extesion will make your work easier. You can also target Canada and purchase .ca extension domain name. Your domain name has to include your keyword within it. For example it must be like cheapGPSdevices.com or cheapcarinsuranceonline.co.uk. Feel free to add some extra word or letter to the end of the domain, but don’t add extras before the exact keyword like onlinecheapcarinsurance.co.uk .

Install WordPress

No doubt that WordPress is the most powerful CMS, so take advantage of it! Install SEO plugins like All in one seo pack, headspace2 and google sitemap generator. Also remember to change your permalink settings.

Post Some Articles or Reviews

Let’s say that your niche is cheap gps devices, then you should publish 300+ words articles about gps devices  in your blog or 150+ words reviews for different gps devices. Both will be effective but I recommend the second one. Keep posting articles or reviews every two or three days.

Get Some Backlink

Submit your articles to social bookmarking sites like Mixx, Digg and others and exchange links. If you don’t want to be busy with this process I can recommend you to work with TheBacklinkBuilders.com like I did.

Feed Your Site With Articles

Keep adding new reviews, articles because your website has be updated regularly till your site ranks.

The Results

I explained the process I followed briefly. And here the results after a month.

Target country : United Kingdom

Domain Extension : co.uk

Google.co.uk rank: #4 of first page

Revenue : £224 = $360

Time spent : 45 days

Target country : United States

Domain Extension : com

Google.co.uk rank: #2 of first page

Revenue : $177

Time spent : 40 days

After working a month I managed to make $537. Yes, it is not that much money but with the right strategy I managed to monetize my niche blogs which can be considered as a great success. Time to make the revenue more stable! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them by leaving a comment below and do not forget to like us on facebook and follow us through twitter!