I’m helping one of my friends at school start up his first affiliate site (www.craps-casinos.com), and have watched him go through a lot of the issues I had when I first started. There are so many mistakes that new affiliates make, and can really set you back later down the road. I’ve experienced this first hand, so I made this list of common mistakes that new affiliates make. This should help new people to get started on the right foot.

Affiliate Mistake #1 – Improper URL Structure

On the first affiliate site I worked on, my partner and I set up all of our URL’s as www.mysite.com/keyword1keyword2.htm. This is incorrect for a few reasons. First of all, you have no information architecture at all. Everything is in the root folder, and Google won’t be able to decipher what subpages belong where. Also, by having your keywords crammed in the URL with no dashes or underscores, you lose some style points with Google for not having a keyword rich URL.

To solve this problem, use a folder based architecture. Randy made a great post on PAP linking to this page, which details how you should set up your folders on your website. Also, make sure to use URL structures such as www.mysite.com/keyword1-keyword2/other-keyword/. This way, you get the benefit of having keywords in your URL’s.

Also, you should have the last section of the URL be an index file within a folder. So, it should be www.mysite.com/folder/file/ as opposed to www.mysite.com/folder/file.html. This way, if you ever change the extensions on your pages in the future, you won’t have to do any redirects. To set this up, make folders within each folder, and save your file as index.html or index.php within that subfolder.

Affiliate Mistake #2 – Not Using “Go” Folders

Each affiliate link on  your site will look something like pokerroom.com/affurl=25lkajserlk34j543. By linking to those urls, you cause a few problems. First of all, players will see the URL and might be turned off knowing that it’s an affiliate link or wondering why all those letters/numbers are at the end of the URL. Also, if you ever need to change affiliate links for some reason, you’ll have to find every single affiliate link on your site for that poker room.

The better way to do this is by setting up a redirect folder for each room. This way, you get a clean URL such as www.mysite.com/go/pokerstars/, and if you ever need to change affiliate URL’s you simply change it in the go folder, and don’t have to change it on every page. To learn how to set this up, read my friend MikeBrad’s post at this thread.

Affiliate Mistake #3 – Be an Island

When I first started out, I felt like my partner and I could conquer the industry just with hard work and good content. I would occasionally read the PAP forums, but never really contributed, and only had one or two contacts in the industry with whom I chatted often. Now I know this is a big mistake.

If you’re a new affiliate, I’d recommend networking as much as possible for a few reasons. First of all, you’ll get to chat with experienced affiliates who can help you solve problems and improve on your ideas. Also, you’ll find it much easier to get link trades or one-ways from affiliates that you’re friends with as opposed to emailing a random site asking for an exchange.

Another reason networking is important is to find out about new opportunities. One of my affiliate friends that I chat with often has a great new online gambling site, and recently approached me about partnering with him on it. I feel like it’s a great opportunity, and am really excited to get going on the site. If I hadn’t gotten myself out there and started chatting with other affiliates, I never would have had this opportunity.

Affiliate Mistake #4 – Shoot for the Stars

This mistake is one that I actually didn’t make, but know many affiliates who did. If you’re just starting out in the market, you should pick a niche that doesn’t have much competition, and try to dominate it. It’s always easier to be the big fish in a small pond before you try to be the big fish in a big pond. Plus, if you have a mistake or two with your site, you should still have a great chance at dominating the less competitive keywords.

One important thing to keep in mind with this mistake is that you actually should be shooting for the stars, but not with your first site. I’d recommend setting up a niche site, dominating your niche, and then starting a site targeting a bigger market once you’re a seasoned affiliate.

Affiliate Mistake #5 – Losing Patience

When I started out affiliating, my partner and I would always discuss how much money we’d be making as soon as we got our first site done. Surprisingly, the cash didn’t start rolling in by the truck load once our site was indexed and started to rank. This is an industry that requires patience for a lot of reasons.

First of all, Google won’t instantly give you solid rankings, especially if you’re starting a new site. You’ll most likely have to wait 2-3 months to see significant traffic, and that is with a lot of hard work and dedication. If you’re lazy, you’re probably looking at 6 months before you have a chance to get that first RMP (real money player).

Also, it takes time to build up your empire of affiliate sites. The more sites you have, and the more pages you have on each site, the more traffic you’ll bring in. However, as a new affiliate with just one site, you’re not going to have the traffic or income of a bigger affiliate with multiple sites. Keep working hard, writing content, getting links, and you’ll see the income start to trickle in, and eventually become a downpour.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 1:18 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.