Learn the basics of how affiliate marketing works and follow our step by step guide to setting up your own WordPress site. Learn how to find affiliate programs that fit your niche and what it takes to get started.

1. Understanding affiliate marketing and
setting up your website.
Affiliate Marketing 101
www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers

2. What is affiliate
marketing?
www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers

3. Getting paid each
time you refer a
customer to a
business and
they complete an
action or sale.
www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers

4. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Different ways to get paid!
Cost Per Action
Get paid when someone completes an action, such as installing a toolbar
or submitting their zip code.
Cost Per Lead
Get paid when someone completes a lead capture form
Cost Per Sale
Get paid a commission when someone makes a purchase

5. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Users click an
ad or text link on
your website
User goes to
advertiser‟s
website and
opens bank account
The transaction
is recorded by
the affiliate
network
Affiliate network
sends you a
check each
month
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Affiliate Marketing

6. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Getting Started
Building your affiliate marketing strategy

7. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Which type of affiliate do you
want to be?
Dating, education, business opportunity, retail, gaming, business services,
financial services, travel, local lead gen, books, and more….

8. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Research which offers are
available to your niche
Most affiliate networks list the offers that they have on their website. This will
also help you determine which networks you want to work with.

9. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers

10. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Most networks won‟t approve
you without an active website
Wait to apply to any affiliate networks until you have your website up. So far
we‟ve just ensured that there are relevant offers for us when we‟re ready to
start promoting.
Pro Tip
So, let’s build a website…

11. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Building a Website
Part Two:
Don’t worry, it’s actually pretty easy…

12. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Step One:
Set Up Your Hosting
We’ve got you covered…

13. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Special Bonus:
Promotion Code:
BAMARKETING101
We‟ve teamed up with Dreamhost to provide you with 15% off your hosting
plan and a free domain registration! Use the promotion code below to get
these freebies.
www.dreamhost.com
Disclosure: We are compensated by Dreamhost when you sign up.
After all, this is an affiliate marketing guide isn’t it?

14. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Step Two:
Buying Your Domain
Owning your piece of the internet…

15. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Things you should avoid
when you‟re buying domain
names…

16. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
1. Really Long Names
http://www.awesomepersonalfinanceonlineblogsite.com
http://www.sallysamazingcouponblog.com
Bad Names:
Good Names:
http://www.familyfinances.com
http://www.buildingabudget.com

17. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
2. Filler Words
„Online‟ „Best‟ „My‟ „Blog‟
Filler words aren‟t great for SEO. Avoid them where possible.

18. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
3. Uncommon Extensions
Stick with the more popular top level domain (TLD) extensions. These include .com,
.org, and .net.

19. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Things you should do when
you‟re buying domain
names…

20. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
1. Find Keyword Oriented Domains
Find domain names that have your most important keywords in them. Google puts
significant value on domain relevancy.
https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool https://www.wordstream.com/ppc-free-trial-money

21. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
2. Consider Premium Domains
You can buy a premium domain using sites like snapnames.com and
buydomains.com. Not recommended if you’ve never bought domain names before.

22. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Once you set up a hosting
account, point your domains
by updating the DNS.
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/DNS
Feeling stuck? Dreamhost also has free 24/7 live chat to help customers!

23. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Step Three:
WordPress
The most used framework on the Internet…

24. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
WordPress is free web
software you can use to
create a beautiful website or
blog.
Yep, we said free!

25. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Download WordPress:
http://wordpress.org/latest.zip

26. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Follow these guides for help
setting up WordPress.
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/WordPress

27. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Next, find a theme…
http://bankaffiliates.com/publisher-resources/elegantthemes
Disclosure: We are compensated by ElegantThemes

28. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Another Good Theme Resource
http://bankaffiliates.com/publisher-resources/themeforest
Disclosure: We are compensated by ThemeForest

29. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Now, let‟s add some plugins
to finish things up!
Plugins are (usually) free extensions you
can add to wordpress to increase
functionality, improve SEO, and much
more.
On the next page we‟ll list out our favorites
but you can browse on your own by visiting
this link:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

30. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Easily Adding Plugins
In your WordPress
dashboard hover over the
“Plugins” tab and click “Add
New”.
Step One:

31. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Easily Adding Plugins
Search by the name of the
plugin to view a list of
closest matches.
Step Two:

32. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Easily Adding Plugins
Click “Install now” to add
the plugin. If prompted,
click OK to continue with
the installation.
Step Three:

33. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Easily Adding Plugins
Activate your plugin to turn
it on and start using it!
Step Four:

34. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
Add these plugins
• All-in-One SEO
• Google XML Sitemaps
• WP Contact From 7
• Ultimate Google Analytics
• W3 Total Cache
• Digg Digg Alternative
• VM Backups
There are many others that we will recommend in other guides but these are the
best to get started with for your base configuration.

35. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
BOOM!
You just built
your first
website!

36. www.bankaffiliates.com/publishersThe Affiliate Network for Financial Publishers
http://www.bankaffiliates.com/signup