Part 2 : Hits and misses

As a "former" journalist, you'll have been well versed in communication skills, but how did you go about learning the skills needed to build and promote a website?
I read a simple article in an Internet magazine which described how to create a website. That article was all I used when I built my first site. After that, I mainly looked at websites which I liked and clicked on View/Source to learn how they did things. I prefer simple, fast-loading sites so that's how I try to build mine.

One day when I get the time I'll learn to use web building software. I still use raw HTML.

To learn about website promotion, first of all I wasted endless hours searching for free information on the Net, and when I found it I had no way of knowing if it was reliable. Eventually I stumbled upon Jim Daniels' "Insider Internet Marketing". That's the book which really got my business started on the Net. It's written in beautifully simple, easy to understand language, and covers all the basics.

Since buying Jim Daniels' book, I've become a marketing manual junkie, buying just almost every marketing book and course I see. Corey Rudl, Ken Evoy, Declan Dunn, Patrick Anderson, Mark Joyner, Michael Campbell, Jonathan Mizel, Thomas Harpointner, Chris Pirillo, Daniel Gray, Rob Frankel, Shannon Kinnard, Jaclyn Easton, Kevin Bramlett, Daniel Barnett, Peter Kent, David Siegel, Monique Harris, Neil Shearing, Rick Beneteau etc, etc . . . their books and ebooks are in my library.

I figure if I learn only ONE good idea from a marketing book, I will have received my money's worth several times over.

Also, if some of the books cover the same ground, that's OK. It helps drive things into my brain if I read the same bit of advice told in different words.

And what have been the best promotion methods for you?
Search engines, word of mouth, links on other sites, posts to e-mail discussion lists, and buying search terms on GoTo.com and, more recently, Sprinks.

With hindsight, would you have gone about anything differently? Did you make any mistakes?
ANY mistakes! I've made HEAPS of mistakes. First, after my first site was online I wasted months experimenting, tinkering with HTML. I should have hired a bright university student to build a simple, attractive website for me and teach me basic HTML.

Second, I should have bought good marketing manuals much earlier.

Third, when I switched to a database system for the directory I should have hired an expert, instead of a student. (For three months we ran TWO directories simultaneously, one hidden from the public while we fiddled with it, trying to get it to work properly. That was a long nightmare. The student's original estimate for the job was three days!)

I've been so bogged down I've tended to spend about 5% or less of my time on promotion - thank goodness for the wonderful friends who have promoted AssociatePrograms.com for me.

If I were starting again, I'd create a very SMALL specialist website, like Lisa Irby's AffiliateBlunders.com or Wayne Porter's AffiliateHelp.com, and I'd update one section once a week. Then I'd spend 95% of my time on promotion.

What role does the newsletter play in the success of AssociatePrograms - any tips for would be epublishers?
The newsletter plays a vital role. It helps people get to know me, helps build friendships and it regularly reminds people that AssociatePrograms.com exists. I earn revenue from up to three classified ads in each edition, and receive additional income from commissions from affiliate programs which I promote in the newsletter.

I've often been told by readers that they like it when I include a few personal snippets, such as describing how Joanna and I achieved our goal of owning a house by a beach, in "My view of a sub-tropical bay".

Occasionally, I have a little fun and cover a topic which doesn't really have anything to do with affiliate programs and marketing, such as "Why men don't listen and women can't read maps". That sparked a lot of friendly e-mails.

One edition which received an utterly astounding response was my "Open Letter to a thief" - which I wrote after a thief stole massive chunks of AssociatePrograms.com and published them on his site. I was awed by the support I received. I was still answering the flood of e-mail nearly a week later. As I said in the following week's newsletter, I had no idea I had so many friends.

Continued...