Build it and they will come?

Since $500 are barely enough to get significant traction in paid media, I would DEFINETLY start with content marketing. This means post daily or almost daily stuff on your social media accounts, setup a blog with useful posts about a certain topic or produce cool videos.

Important: you have to do something you are good at. Don't setup a Marketing blog where you give marketing advice just for the sake of getting some traffic to monetize. People will smell if you are just a faker (at least if you aren't a very good one). This is the main reason why "go with your passion" is so true in my opinion.

Once you have some traction (content, maybe comments here and there) and the whole site looks "active", you can start to test a paid ads campaign as well. This requires though that you have a funnel in place already, even if its "only" a lead funnel. If you drive traffic without a certain goal its normally wasted.

Really depends on the niche. Different methods for different niches.

Also depends on the site age. How long have you been posting content? It might be best to just keep posting for a few more months before worrying about it.

put the money in the bank and then spend some time learning. Asking this generic question that is asked hundreds of times, in different forms, will not get you anywhere.

You probably do not know much or you would not ask this question. So if someone says "Buy Solo Ads" What are you going to do if you do not know anything about solo ads.

So, learn so you do not have to ask this type of question

al

Thanks for the replies lads. I have the website optimized, I must be on the 100th iteration over the last 3 years. I'm knowledgeable about the content and I have finally found a way to present it in a format that appeals to my target market after a lot of research and trial and error. I have my target market well defined.

If I can get people to my website I'm reasonably confident I can get the email signup or a social follow a reasonably high percentage of the time and I can monitize them over time.

I need to figure out more creative ways than buying Facebook ads which have not been working well for me at all and will start to use Adwords later in the year. I have to do a lot more testing on ads to find what works but that is a process I am working on improving.

I'm looking at placing banner ads on forums that target my niche but in general what I am asking is how would someone successfully launch an affiliate website to the masses on a budget?

I would like to keep it a bit general for the moment and as the conversation hopefully develops I'll bring it more focused towards my own particular requirements.

Thanks again for the comments and any advice will be very much appreciated.

Aside from the $500 budget, I would get on social media and network and interact with others in the same niche

Then you could use some of the budget for paid traffic but it won't last that long

Originally Posted by Iteration So most of us have set up a website at some stage. Some are better than others but we have at least a basic grasp of SEO. The website looks great, the content is on point, you have your social media accounts set up and are posting daily... and very few people come to visit. Assume you have a new affiliate website and a $500 budget to start to get some traction. What are the first steps you take?

1. The first step I will take is to go to forums like this one to find out what most people are talking about, what are their needs and concerns when it comes to making money online?

2. I will also head down to Facebook groups and blogs in my niche to do the same.

When you are talking about website, are you referring to a blog, landing page or sales page?

Personally I feel having a blog is the best way to get started.

Because given the numerous online scams these days, it is important for people to know who you are and what you can do for them.

If you can upload a picture of yourself, that will be even better.

In short, a blog is like your online identity card.

Then you design a landing page that is tailored to suit most people's needs and wants and put that banner link in your blog sidebar

Banner wise, you can hire freelancers like those at Elance and Fiverr. I do have a tool that design great looking banners.

3. I will also try other methods like article marketing, guest posting in other people's blogs, classified and Facebook ads as well as doing a few Youtube videos so that people can see me in person and hear my voice.

Before they decided if my offer is worth their time and money.

Fixed it...

Unless you're talking about certain COMPELLING SaaS systems, the whole concept of BUILD IT and THEY WILL - especially for content sites - has caused more BANKRUPTCIES, DASHED HOPES, and CRUSHED DREAMS than Google Panda and Penguin combined.

If you're building a content site, you need to do outreach and build brand alliances. You need to work social media.

It would really depend on what I'm promoting what works for one product doesn't necessarily work for another.

Marketing is about the 4M's

The right message to the right market through the right medium at the right moment

Often though when you are seeing low to no results and believe you are on point and doing right it's because there is a disconnect between what your audience wants and what you think your audience wants.

I'd probably start there and save the money.

What paid advertising channel provides you with the greatest ROI on your marketing expenditure?