There are only 2 steps to this process! 

1. Buying the domain name
2. Setting up the forwarding

I have always used GoDaddy.com. Click on the link and look aroud the site, get familiar with it because the more sites you become an affiliate of, the more you’re going to use it.

When you get to the GoDaddy home page, look for the big Search box that says “START YOUR DOMAIN SEARCH HERE”.  This is where you’ll start your search for the Domain Name you want. The one you’ll create to forward to your affiliate link.  Is this starting to make sense?  I hope so! Because this is something you CANNOT screw up.  There’s no wrong way, or bad way to do it, ok? So no stressing.  Right? Right! Bliss —-that’s what we want!  Get excited!  You’re about to own your own website!!!!

Keep in mind you want to pick a domain name that is relevant to the product you’re promoting.

As an example I’ll just use my own website..CreateYourFirstDomain. I am promoting a membership product that teaches step by step by way of video, along with everything else possible to get your own website up and running in no time.  It is visual and much more detailed than my blog posts. It also offers FREE hosting with membership.  It’s awesome.  And it is relevent to the product itself.

Anyway, I’m sure you get the idea!

Just type the words into the search box and then choose .com, .net, .biz, .org, etc. and press go. If the domain you chose is available to buy, it will say that your chosen domain is available with a green check mark. If it’s not available, it will tell you “yourdomainnamehere” is already taken with a big red X. Then you’ll just have to think of another name, type it in as before, and click go again until you find a name you like that hasn’t already been taken.

It really doesn’t matter what ext. you use, either .com, or net, or whatever….but research has shown that .com works better than the others.  So at least keep that in mind. And in my opinion, an easy to remember, to-the-point domain name is good when available.

But again, you can’t mess it up so just go for it!

When you find a domain name that you like, and hasn’t been taken, click “add”to the right of the domain name, further down on the page you’ll see “continue to registration”. Now you’re going to be driven through a bunch of questions asking if you want ‘this’ or ‘that’ with that.  lol  Your answer will be “no thanks” on each page. You don’t need any of that so just keep “no-thanking” them.

Now, since this post is essentially for the newbie I’m going to assume you don’t have a GoDaddy account yet.  So you’ll have to go to the right of the page and click “create” to create your new account. You only need to fill in the stuff that has the little asterick* beside it…a company name is not necessary.

After you’re done filling out your personal info, click continue to pay. At this time you may be saying “No thanks” several times again.  Pay for your domain….Done! <<–Bliss!

You now own your own Domain on the internet! <<-Bliss again!

Now we need to set your Domain Name to forward through your Affiliate link to your website.

Ok, here we go!  Yep, more info to follow…

Let’s talk about Clickbank links, since they seem to be the easiest to promote for the beginner.  You will need a Clickbank ID when you register.  It’s up to you what ID you create.  You will use that ID from clickbank no matter how many affiliate products you decide to promote. There are two ways to create personalized Affiliate Links…at clickbank an affiliate link is known as a Hoplink.

The most common way is to create your Hoplink automatically using the Clickbank Marketplace. When you have found the product you want to promote, just click the ‘Promote’ button to the right of the product listing and it will generate your personal Hoplink. Then you can copy the Hoplink address by highlighting it and pushing the “Ctrl” button and “c” button on your keyboard.  Now, put your mouse in a  blank .txt notepad file and hold Ctrl and “v” together.  This will “paste” what you just copied into your new notes file.  Now you can save the file on your desktop. You can copy the Hoplink address and paste it anywhere you want to promote the product!

My Clickbank ID is 4045863.  So, an example of a clickbank Hoplink for me would be: http://4045863.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net <<<this is not a genuine link, just an example. If you decide to create your link manually to make the HopLink work, you just replace VENDOR with the vendor’s ClickBank nickname. Some ClickBank vendors will have their nickname listed on their product website if they have a page for affiliates.

As a final note! Be sure to TEST THE HOPLINK so you’ll be comissioned for every sale you make! To test your HopLink to make sure it’s working correctly, you can either enter your HopLink directly into your browser’s address bar and hit Enter, or click on your HopLink directly if you’ve already posted it somewhere online. Once you’re on the vendor’s website, click their Buy Now button so you’re taken to the ClickBank order form. If you scroll to the bottom of the order form, you should see [affiliate=yournickname]. Mine would look like [affiliate=4045863].

1. Find a Product to Promote – Being an Affiliate can be a wonderful experience! There is no customer service, no inventory and no shipping of products involve.  None of that to deal with. You are simply using a coded link that will send people to the personal or company that DOES have to deal with all of the things I mentioned above.  If someone you referred to the site or person buys, you make a sale!

That’s all there is to it.

There is no such thing as THE PERFECT PRODUCT to promote.  I am unconcerned with WHAT you promote as I just want to show you HOW to promote it.

You can choose to promote a product from Clickbank or anything you want – you just have to sign up to be an affiliate for whichever company you chose and get your affiliate link (it’s usually free to be an affiliate for most companies).

Let me use an example.  For instance, if there is a hobby that you love, and you know a lot about it.  There may be an affiliate program that you can join and get paid to promote it. However, for most of you, I recommend starting by promoting products from Clickbank.

ClickBank is the largest provider of digital products in the world.  Publishers from all over the world list their eBooks on Clickbank to sell them and then people like you choose to promote them by being an affiliate.
Once you sign up for a free affiliate account with Clickbank (easy to do), you are qualified to promote any of their thousands and thousands of products. Once you’re a seasoned affiliate, you may wish to promote ALL of their products!

The commissions are HUGE.  We’re talking, 50%… 60% … even 75% commission for a sale. This is the best part to their huge variety of digital products.  And Clickbank pays like clockwork once you start making sales.

Now let’s talk about how to find that product on Clickbank you want to start with.  Your first affiliate products! The easiest way is to use the “Marketplace” feature on their website.  Some people like to use a site called cb-analytics.com. Go ahead and check out the site.  There is a lot of stuff going on there.  At the top are 3 lists of products that are grouped by different metrics of something Clickbank calls “gravity”. You’ll see Top Gravity, Top Gravity Gain, Total Top Gravity. Gravity is how Clickbank presents the popularity of a product.

If one unique affiliate sells ONE copy of their product in the last 8 weeks, that product is awarded ONE gravity point. If one unique affiliate sells ONE HUNDRED copies of their product in the last 8 weeks, that product is still only awarded ONE gravity point.  So, for example, if a product has a gravity of 250, that simply means that 250 unique affiliates have made at least ONE sale of that product in the last 8 weeks.

Gravity can tell you 2 important things:

1.  How well other affiliates are converting that product into a sale, and

2.  How many other affiliates you are going to be competing with in making a sale.

I try to promote products that have a gravity of at least 32, but I stay away from products that are being promoted by HUNDREDS of affiliates as your sales will likely be less because of the competition.  So if you’re a beginning/newbie…stay away from the HUGE gravity numbers.  Those are more than likely being promoted by what we Super Affiliates.  The seasoned, know-every-trick-in-the-book affiliates that are hard to compete with.

I’ll write about Step 2 – Getting Your Affiliate Link!

Follow Your Heart’s Desire. If your Social Group subject is focused on something you don’t really care about, your followers will eventually realize it. Find something you’re passionate about and you will motivate them to join you on your journey. Don’t pick a subject just because it looks profitable. And don’t promote anything with greed in mind as you will soon give up. Remember, give people want they want and you will get what you need, Choose what makes you happy!

Do it Your Way. Your followers need to have you, your style and your personality stamped on whatever it is you’re promoting from the very beginning. Let the content reflect your own passions and keep yourself accountable for consistent, relevant updates. This is of vital importance for list-building to succeed. Of course this takes time.

Don’t Hesitate to Ask for Help. As soon as you’ve gotten your group up and running, ask for whatever help you need. Ask people to post responses, comment, and moderate on your behalf. Generate as much interest as possible by starting great discussions and asking people to join in. The more people you can get involved, the better!

Try to Keep Everyone Interested. Ask engaging questions. Offer good advice and always be positive. You want to keep people coming back for more. Avoid the temptation to post news that your readers can find anywhere.

Offer Encouragement. Use your social marketing group as a way to thank them for continuing to come back and contribute. Maintain contact with your list every day.

Now enjoy what’s coming your way! Following these steps will help to establish a sound following for you and will help to drive traffic to your list. The premise behind list building is knowing how to generate and drive the interested to your selected niche. Practice these steps and you will be list building.

List Building can put your website on the track to success. Check out my free ebook that tells you every step to building your online business including list building – http://www.createyourfirstdomain.com