When I build affiliate marketing sites I like to spend a good amount of time planning the site out and establishing exactly what I want to achieve with it.
I usually start off with a simple site and when it starts making me money, which in most cases is within a month, I then look at developing the site into an authority site and maximizing the commissions.
The thing to consider when you want to grow a site into a much larger authority, is how you set it up in the first place. I have one site which is a health site, and the domain is a very generic health related one. I also have other sites which are much more specific and focus on one product only, and the domain name reflects this.
There are advantages of both styles, and I have both kinds of sites making me great regular affiliate commissions everyday. However one thing I like about building sites on a generic domain, whether it be health, electronics, music, weight loss etc…. is that you can grow these kind of sites as large as you like. It’s simply a matter of finding more keywords and products to promote and off you go.
Google likes domains that are a little older too, so another advantage of working on a site for a longer term approach is that new pages tend to rank in Google fast and respond very well to backlinks. This means you don’t have to start from the beginning with a new domain everytime you want to make more money.
Even if you don’t have time right now to build a new site like this, it’s not a bad idea to buy a generic domain, say in the electronics niche, and put some content on it, get it indexed by Google and leave it to age for a while. This way you can come back to it in year if you like and you have an older trusted domain to work with in Google.
With my health site for example, I just look for more products to review or more keywords to drive traffic to offers I’m already affiliated with, and grow the income this site makes every month.
One of my domains, that is 5 years old, is growing larger and larger every month, and new pages seem to fly to the top of Google, for longtail keywords. Now I’m in the process of training my SEO manager on how to find new keywords for this site, get the content written and getting it to rank and earn money from these new pages. This particular site will serve me well for the longterm as a great money earner that is easy to work with.
So my point is to think about a new website and work out the best plan you can take with it, and ask yourself if you can see potential in the longer term to develop it into an authority site in the niche.
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Hi Matt,
Thank you for a great post, and it’s very much the stuff I am doing right now. I have a couple of “thin” affiliate website that I have very limited expansion possibilities. As you mentioned, the reason for that is that the domain reflects the product.
Now, I almost always consider my domains, so they at least can be able to carry 50+ pages.
With that in mind, it’s actually not that hard to crank out a extra couple of pages even if the domain has it’s limitations, there are so many variations of an article and it’s topic.
Hey Matt
Great post, I learned a lot from you, just a quick question if thats ok, does domain age matter?
So the older the domain the more chance of you ranking high is what I took from the blog post, would that be correct?
Should I then go out and buy expired domains?
Thanks Alex
Hi Matt,
You have pointed out some really good points in this article. What do you usually do to allow a website to start making money in a month’s time? I would love to hear your comments on it. Are the steps found in the 12-part coaching video course that you have outlined on your blog?
Regards,
Edmund
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Hi Edmund
I have a course coming out in 3 weeks which explains everything I do to make money with affiliate sites, you might want to check that for an answer to your question.
Matt
Thanks Matt, would this be similar to what Lisa Parmley does?
Matt,
How does the generic health site rank against some exact match domain sites?
I’ve gone for fairly targetted sites, often exact match, which gets the commissions moving quicker.
But if you’re getting the money rolling in within a month you are doing incredibly well. Mine tend to take a few months to get any sort of traction in Google.
Thanks
Joe Hughes
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 8:00 am
Hi Joe
Sometimes you will need more backlinks than the exact match domain that you are competing with, but this has never been too much of a problem for me.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I have a very simple approach to this – if I want to build a large site, I am building news site, if I want to make affiliate commissions within a month, I am building a niche specific site with keyword rich domain name.
The best strategy is to build tens of small niche sites and then supply traffic from a broader news site.
Kind regards,
Peter
That’s exactly right, once you have an established site you should continue to add onsite articles to increase it’s authority and maximize commissions.
@Matt, to get a site to start making money within a month to a few months is really about your Domain choice and Keyword research. Anytime you can buy the exact name or include a keyword phrase you want to rank for in the domain will help rank you quicker for that term.
Another strategy is targetting keywords with “intent” and low volume keywords, as in under 2,000 searches a month. Typically these keywords can rank faster in the serps.
In addition to your domain choice, good keyword research you need to have a backlinking strategy. Getting backlinks from a variety of sources on a consistent basis will really help your site to rank for its terms. Article marketing still seems to be one of the best ways to get backlinks, although it can be tedious if you’re not outsourcing it.
Hope this helps, good luck!
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 7:59 am
Thanks for adding some great value in your comment Jamie
Matt Carter
hey thank you very much, Matt. yeah, this was something that I asked myself and others. that is, the “set it up and forget and then come back” approach. And now I remember Courtney Tuttle of thekeywordacademy.com has mentioned the exact same thing in an interview.
Anyway, thank you very much.
Nice strategy Matt, Age does matter but Quality can make up for it. Even a lousy looking site can rank well with good targeted content. My strategy is; put them on the first page with targeted content, then keep them there by more targeted content with constant updates. Seems to work for me. Looking forward to your next post,Tim
Hi Matt,
Great info. I have a few sites sitting around not doing anything, too busy with my main sites. None of these sites have any real content on them. My question is, how much content is enough to satisfy Google and get it indexed so I can sit and wait for it to age?
Thanks!
Dr. Alex
Morning Matt,
My first review site is very specific in its domain name and I’ve often wondered if that was the best way to go.
Good to have the two types, and their strengths, explained in such an easy to understand post.
Thank you!
Hi. Matt, good step by step tutorial explaining how to create an authority web site from scratch will be helpful for newbie internet marketers
Great stuff – very encouraging as at times I feel like giving up!
Thank you. I have many domains that are aging with no content on them so your advice helped me there.
I have always drilled down to the core sales point with my domains on niche sites. I am developing some new sites and I think I’ll spin a couple of them using this strategy you have outlined. Thanks for the idea!
Hey Matt, thumbs up for this information on Authority sites… I have been heading towards that direction with a couple of new sites. Now, I feel quite confident and motivated to to go head on.
Thanks for the good content as always Matt.
The problem I have is the bad habit of buying up good keyword domains when I find them then not having the time to develop them! Any advice on the best places to get good content created to use on them?
Good advice, Matt. Reminds me that I have an old generic domain which needs a complete overhaul.
For more specific sites, I find the challenge is to not make them so targeted that you have little to write about – particularly true if you are using the manufacturer’s name in your domain.
Good Point and building authority site for each niche should be the way that affiliates should be building sites anyway. The main reason Google catches with every thing that has to do with IM and what affiliates are doing to earn income and market. So down the future who knows that mini highly focused niche websites with less than a certain number posts/pages or sites that has not been updated regularly will have a hard time.
Search Engines Rank Pages not websites for a certain keywords. Spiders fetches pages related to a search term before they even know the name of the websites.
So does this mean google is up to something? I’ve been reading that it is best to concentrate on Authority sites.Google kinda hates all the marketing junk out there huh? Well , I mean, there job is giving content people are searching , not just pitch after pitch. Say can you tell me why we are asked for our site when we post on blogs?
thanx
Serj
Hey Matt,
Nice post!
You made me think about some old rather generic domains I have that need some reworking, trying to make them grow as authority sites.
Most of the current advice from marketers points to building highly targeted domain names in order to harvest some low hanging fruits, but your approach to authority sites is also good to take into consideration.
Thanks again for such good tips
A good idea Matt.. I had a few doamins that expired recently and I just let it expire. Thinking back now , I should have renewed and built sites on them as they were now at least a year old.. Well u live and learn
Thanks for the regular advice
Very good bit of information here for me as I have sites that I have set up that will benefit from this method.
I now know my long-term aims will pay off if I keep at it.
Thanks Matt
Hello Matt and Thanks again for the great blog post. I really like the way you give valuable and useful information. I think Tim Millar also makes a very good point that by focusing on great content you are using the best strategy to rank well in the search engines. Add good keyword research and you definitely have a winner : – )
Keep up the good work.
Good stuff. The fact that many of my sites were created with little or no planning now makes me cringe. On the other hand, it’s taught me to be a MUCH better planner. No pain, no gain 🙂
Thanks for the post. Thinking about larger categories makes a ton of sense.
Cheers.
Great post as always Matt. I have to admit that building an authority site is a sure fire way to guarantee recurring income. Its advantages are manifold and include respect with from and within your niche, SEO advantages like you mentioned and the ability to have a massive pay day when and if you choose to sell. It does take work but the dividends can be phenomenal.
Hey Matt,
Great article as always. I also have multiple sites, some for single products, others are planned for authority sites like you talk about in this article.
I find the authority sites are well worth the time and effort you put into them, once they start ranking and get some PR it’s easy to rank them for medium competition keywords in a matter of days. 🙂
I think the mistake I made when I started out was seeing the whole picture from the get to and so I started out trying to create authority sites, when I might have made more money with smaller focused niche sites.
I have started to go back to a green thing I started last summer and got 20 post goings to add pages for related, loosely, affiliate products. Now I need to work on getting traffic.
Sue
Thats a good Idea letting them age a little. I have a few sites and the older they seem to get the better. Thiings are starting to roll with them. Thanks for the invite.
Glenn
Hey Matt,
I totally agree with what you are saying.
I have had a somewhat generic domain for about 3 years now and I hadn’t done much to it apart from promote the pages that I originally put on it. I am starting to reap the benefit from those original pages now though.
I got encouraged so a couple of days ago I thought that I would add a page that is product specific and it has gone straight to No. 6 in Google without any promotion. As you say, Google respects older sites and rewards them appropriately.
I am going to create loads of other product specific pages on the site from now on and also my other older domains that I have that need updating.
I am finally starting to see a breakthrough to bigger things.
Thanks mate.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 7:48 am
Great stuff Martin, another example of the power of authority sites.
Matt
Thank you Matt, I actually made that same mistake with my first ever site and as a total newbie launched into the make money online niche, no experience and no idea of what I was doing, a year later and several WP blog based affiliate sites earning money from other niches I went back to my first site and totally revamped it, result it is now getting great traffic and that’s mainly down to your help – Thank you and please continue to give such excellent content.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 7:47 am
Great to hear John!
Matt
Thanks Matt, good as always. I found this out the hard way by going with a tight niche site and then finding that just one off target post on it, caused traffic with that keyword. Now I wish the title/domain name was broader and I could expand the subject in a relevant way, with the interests of my visitors.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 7:47 am
Hi Celie
I have done the same thing many times, and now I always take longer when planning sites and make sure I leave the potential for an authority site if need be.
Matt
I could have done with this information ages ago. It’s a good idea and one I’m going to implement shortly. Thank you.
Plymouth Roofer
Nice Post Matt. I like the way you start the process with a simple site and enhance the site if it starts making money. We all know that every niche site will not be profitable. Therefore we can make the winning niches larger and more profitable sites.
Spot on Matt,
I am experiencing the same with a older site of mine that has a relatively ‘broad’ domain name. I just kept adding content to without an exact plan. Now when I add a well optimized page it ranks in a flash. I was surprised , but reading this post it now makes sense to me.
Nice one. Cheers,
Andi
It is great to know the worth of aging a domain, and I thanks for it as it is confirmed now from a great maestro like you.
Har
Good post Matt,
Just wondering, if one authority site can substitute 10 smaller ones?
What do you prefer, building smaller ones, or building foundations for the big site?
Cheers
A
Revitol Scar Removal Cream
Matt Carter Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Hi Alex
I have small sites that make me $2500 a month, so I can’t say I don’t like this style because it works for me, however I do like my authority sites because it is so easy to add more content and get more cash coming in.
Matt
There are benefits of growing authority sites. This can be done in order to concentrate your efforts in a few sites. However in some small niches this might be difficult to implement.
This decision has always confused me – but I think this is definitely sound long term business advice. Thank you for the clarity.
Thanks Matt – good advice.
A mixture of thin affiliate, exact match sites and authority sites seems to be a good strategy as both have advantages. A larger site also gives you the opportunity to pass on some internal pagerank.
Good plan. Find something that works then build on it. The more information that you have, the more recognition it will receive.
Great advice as always.
You brought up a great point about buying domains and putting content on them, whether you use them now or not. I’ve found domain age to be big factor in ranking and authority.
Thanks for another good post.
Thanks Matt…. I have an older, trusted site and now I’m looking to flip the content to Spanish. There happens to be a couple of products I can push in that niche that have products in Spanish. Your blogs are great and I appreciate the input
thanks for the reminder of this Matt. I too have a few domains I’ve kind of lost track of. I will resurrect them and build them up. Including a generic health one too, lol
thanks for the reminder of this matt. I too have a few domains I’ve kind of lost track of and I plan on resurrecting them and building them out. Including a generic health domain as well. lol
Man……I’d love to see some examples 🙂
A
Revitol Scar Removal Cream
Great information as always, it would be possible to have a free copy of the rapid rewritter Matt?
Cheers
Matt, thanks for another encouraging blog post. I am plugging along with my sites, most of which are not getting traffic or sales, but I do have two that are doing OK. And they are the older ones, so I can see your point.
Hi Matt,
Your tips are always welcome. I’m working right now on a domain name more generic than i used to before just to test. Your post come at the right time for me.
Thanks!
Hey Matt,
Thank you for addressing this subject. It is something I struggle with from time to time. You took it and boiled it down to the key points. Thanks again.
Thank you for the article, Matt. I have both types of sites – generic and buying keyword optimised. With my generic web site I just noticed Google offers in SERP “Show more related posts from mysite.co.uk” and all my blog articles can be accessed from Google 1st page which is great.
Does it mean I am kind of considered as an authority site for the particular keyword?
I have also found if I have a authority site and build small niche sites on particular products that are related to the authority site I then link them to each other-one point tho,I use different hosting companies to do that-feel having one hosting company for all domains is not good as Google picks up on that-seems to work for me-Great post Matt
Interesting little blog and definitely food for thought as I am exploring the possibilities of doing a website on Sleep Apnea. As usual I find benefit in reading what you have to say, and I am very surprised by the loyal following that you have, which has to be a credit to you.
Hi Matt,
I was thinking to give up this chase but found your emails inspirational and always making sense. For which I thank you.
I’ll stick a while longer, I think!
Michael
I love the idea of buying an address and letting it age. I think I will throw up a few sites I have been thinking about but do not have the time to get off the ground at the moment.
Thanks
Thanks Matt, as a total newbie I’m really trying to figure out my way around. I have a couple of older hobby sites which I was going to let expire but maybe I’ll hold on to them and see about creating some authority sites out of them. Thanks for the fresh idea,
Jim
I have a website in the health area with a generic domain that I was thinking about expanding by added other affiliate products, you have re-enforced my belief in that what I an about to do is the right way to go.
Neil
Hey Matt,
I really enjoyed this post, it’s a heck of a concept. I am fairly new to affiliate marketing, I do web design and have run an e-commerce store before. If I am following this correctly, one could build a site with a broad url name and treat it just like an e-commerce store, building pages for affiliate products instead of listing product to drop ship. Thank you very much for your continued tutelage, I will be doing this.
Chaz
Thanks for sage advice. I see now that I’m trying to combine both approaches to get the best results. Thank you for encouragement.
Hi Matt, How do you manage to earn money on the new site only after 1 month?
Ludmilla
Thanks Matt! Love reading your blog posts. So, how old should a domain be to be considered ‘old enough’?
Hi Matt
Thanks for your info on growing authority sites.There are lot of great points to note in your blog post and only we wish if you can conduct a course on affiliate marketing on how to make money within a month
Thanks
Thanks Matt, i really like your approach of making real sites and doing ethical marketing and grow your business on real internet marketing principles rather then looking for some miracle soft wear or loop whole, great stuff as always Keep it up Bro i really like your work and following you.
Matt,
just a quick and easy question. When you create an affiliate site, you do your keyword research to find the best keywords to target. Then you build the site, and then you do your SEO. Do you typically set your sites up as WP blogs? Post 5 articles in the blog, then do your SEO. On the blog you have banner(s) linking to whatever you’re promoting and maybe an opt-in.
Is this generally how you do it?
Best wishes!
Thank you Matt, I always learn new things from you.
I look forward to your new Course. And thnak you for your good affiliateprogram R W
Best
Ralph
Hi Matt
Interesting post… when I started my website I wanted to provide as much info as possible for a long term business, as opposed to quick affiliate promotion.
As time has gone on, my traffic has been increasing every month since I started so I guess that there’s a lot to be said for ‘aging domains’. As for becoming an ‘authority’ site – well I can only hope so!
Bringing_up_your_new_puppy/a>
I always look forward to your blog posts because they are ‘real’ and offer useful tips that are much appreciated.
Thank you
Hi Matt,
As you say, leaving your site for a while (although I understand that not everyone is in a position to do this) will definitely help in the long run.
I have built some local directory sites that way. Build, get some listings then leave and go on to the next. One of them just recently went up 2 PR’s!!
Keep up the great work
Jonathan
Hey Matt,
just a quick and easy question…
When setting up one of these affiliate sites, you do your keyword research to discover the keywords you want to target, then install WP, then put 5 articles in the blog, and add banners to the product you’re selling.
Then you do your SEO to rank for the keywords that you picked. Is that generally how you do it?
Best wishes!
Matt Carter Reply:
February 5th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Hey Stormtooper
yeah that how I do it, obviously there is a lot more to it, and I have a full course coming out in 3 weeks which teaches everything I know about SEO and affiliate marketing.
Matt
Hi Matt,
This is a great post. I have noticed that individual pages on itunes and amazon can reach number one positions in Google for keywords that you wouldn’t normally associate with those sites. It seems to reinforce the point you are making about bigger sites having a better chance of getting additional pages ranked.
Great stuff
Thanks for responding to my question Matt!
Really looking forward to the course! You already have 1 buyer here…
Best Regards!
Thanks matt point taken
Hi,
Nowdays I prefer going more generic domain names than product name keywords. The reason is most of the cpa offers that I promote really dies off in a month or two leaving me the product name domains without any affiliate links.
With generic, you don’t have that problem and like you said, it will grow overtime.
Thanks for an interesting post. Had heard about the aging of domains but didnt really know what people were meaning but you have described simply and clearly how this would help to build a long term business. Will look out for more posts
Hi Mat, This is a great post and an interesting twist on the argument for niche sites. I take note, though, that you are not saying we should not go for niche sites. What I like most is the fact that new pages created, after your site has been around for a while, can be ranked much sooner. I am going to start building my first site on one broad niche, more planning to build some authority first and then see how I take this forward.
I have a number of very generic named websites that could fit any and all categories. Is there such a thing as being too generic or could you set up a site like this to become an About.com sort of site covering a wide range of product and/or service categories? I don’t want to try to build one of these sites out only to find that I need a domain with a more generic niche name instead of an all-encompassing one.
Thanks.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Hey Candee
I think it is best to be more specific and not as generic as About.com, like weight loss for example.
Thanks
Matt
Would it be effective to use sub-domains with a generic domain, ie.
XSitePro.TunedToSavings.com?
Thanks.
Candee
Matt thanks for your article…working on many new affiliate now 🙂
Cheers,
Jorge
Fantastic points as always. Authority sites are more work and have to be planned much better than the 1-3 product sites but as someone brought out, having a network of sites will retain traffic and increase conversions.
Cheers
Matt are ther any JV for the new course
Great post as always Matt.
Thanks for your article.
Working on many new affiliate now ;))
Hi there Matt
I attended the Webinar last night with Mark Long and Kelly Felix and grabbed a ton of useful tips from them.
I have been wondering how to build the larger/authority sites and i think i have a better idea from your article as well as the responses above! Needless to say my mind is in hyper-drive now with excitement!
Awesome stuff!
Excellent advice, I was struggling myself to understand the difference and pros/cons of simple vs authority. I found myself wasting time till I found this (and the blog in general – it’s amazing just how much there is here. The free stuff alone puts many paid courses to shame).
Hi Matt,
I am still in the early stages of learning all about Internet Affiliate Marketing. I am working on both kinds of sites, authority and smaller, more specific niche sites. What I like about the smaller sites is that they don’t take as much time or content. But I like larger sites with lots of valuable content, as I like to give a lot of value to my visitors, so they want to come back again and again.
So far I have not decided which kind of site will be more profitable in the long run…
This is exactly what I am doing now. After creating 10 niche websites which are ticking over to produce a minimal income, I soon realised I’d worked on each site about as much as I could – what I want now is the opportunity to grow a site as large as possible, and this is a long term plan I have in place.
Thanks for confirming my thoughts!
It is a good idea to get a old domain..but it cost too much time…I like quick and fast way to promote my site…
Don’t know exactly where to put this post. First my website is useless since Amazon pulled their affiliate program out of California because of sales tax issues. I don’t exactly understand what the problem is except California wants more money. So everyone, including me, who is a California resident can no longer be an Amazon affiliate. What a bummer. There is a thread about it on the Warrior Forum, but I thought I’d like to get some input from Matt and anyone else who would care to comment. One of my questions; is there anywhere else where you can find physical products to promote? Amazon is so good; they have so many products and are extremely helpful in helping affiliates. Does ClickBank have any physical products, in any niche. Well, thanks for any comments or suggestions.
Dorothy
Chaz Reply:
July 17th, 2011 at 9:24 am
Hey Dorothy,
I feel your pain, I had my account canceled as well, the only thing that saved me was that I had moved one month prior. I showed them proof of address and it was reinstated.
I looked at you site, I use socrates as well.
This may be inapropriate or cold, but if you decide to sell any sites because of this, I’m interested.
With that being said, I hope that you can get something worked out so that you can keep them and be profitable.
Chaz
Matt,
I have begun to grow my few sites into authority sites, I just continue adding optemized pages and over the last couple months my page rank has grown by two on each of my sites!
I am so happy that you shared this idea, I had been trying to figure a way to buy more domains without realizing that this option was available. Now the only additional cost has been my time and that has been well spent!
Thank you.
Hello Matt,
These are such helpful tips. I am so glad I found you.
You provide such good information.
Thank you.
Brenda