Starting affilaite marketing -- do I need to learn web programming?

21 replies
Hi, all.

I'm taking the plunge into affiliate marketing.

I hear that I should learn WordPress, but do I have to independently learn HTML and CSS from, say, a site like w3schools.com? Or should I just follow a tutorial on WordPress?

See, the thing is, my focus is more on persuasive writing (freelance copywriter) than programming, but I can learn WordPress. I'm just worried that learning pure web programming will suck too much of my time.

I'll do what's necessary, though.

The bottom line is that I already have decent persuasive writing skills in place, and I can learn WordPress and even pure programming.

I won't learn graphic design, though, as I'll contract that out to graphic design people.

What do you think?

Appreciate it.
#affilaite #learn #marketing #programming #starting #web
  • Profile picture of the author AmandaT
    Wordpress is really simple to use. You don't need to know any coding to use it. A lot of the themes have menu based options you can set them up and customize them fairly easily. Take a look at Flexibility for instance. It is a very customizable and easy to use free Wordpress theme.
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  • Profile picture of the author brunom
    Use wordpress, no need to know how to program a thing.

    There are a lot of resources online for you to use. Outsource what you need is probably the best option.
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  • Profile picture of the author matt5409
    Even using Wordpress, there is a degree of technical knowledge required. I would suggest learning as much as possible, and the w3c schools site is a great place to start.

    A strong knowledge of basic HTML would be great so you can customise your site(s) that little bit extra.
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  • Profile picture of the author jon1my
    A tried and true maxim: You can never know too much! Although you can get by learning only Wordpress, you never know how convenient it is to know at least basic HTML when say for instance, you want to insert an image into your post. Something as simple as that would not be something you would want to farm out.

    Plan of Action: Get started TODAY with what you already know, learn something BENEFICIAL every day. NEVER spend a day without learning something!

    Good Luck
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  • Profile picture of the author veenafurtado
    No - no need to learn programming.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gail_Curran
      A basic knowledge of HTML and CSS is extremely helpful. Then you won't have to come here and post silly things like, how do I get more space between paragraphs in the posts?

      Rather, you will know that < p >&nbsp;< /p > (without the spaces) always works, and you will know why it works. Use it once for every blank line you want in the post. It's not elegant, but it gets the job done.
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  • Profile picture of the author VideoMarketing
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by CopyAcolyte View Post

    I hear that I should learn WordPress, but do I have to independently learn HTML and CSS from, say, a site like w3schools.com? Or should I just follow a tutorial on WordPress?

    See, the thing is, my focus is more on persuasive writing (freelance copywriter) than a programmer, but I can learn WordPress. I'm just worried that learning pure web programming will suck too much of my time.
    If you had to learn programming, there wouldn't be many affiliate marketers. Wordpress is very easy to learn and there's tons of tutorials on wordpress.org and elsewhere. I've always thought it was the quickest and easiest way to get a great looking site up and running fast.
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  • Profile picture of the author Onora Oz
    I assume you're more of a creative type. If so, technical stuff may bore you to the death. Like others said, WordPress is pretty easy - when you have the right theme and plugins. You can also find a good list of basic html codes and commands, then save it to your computer to copy/paste for future use.
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  • Profile picture of the author weblink29
    You do not NEED to know any programming to jump into marketing but it would be a good idea to try to learn some basic html and image editing. You can make your websites look better than your competitions with some basic knowledge. Having the ability to make a professional looking website/blog helps add credibility to your offer IMO.
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    Nothing to see here folks.....move along.

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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      I'm glad I didn't read any threads like this when I started. I might never have started at all. Just saying ...
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      • Profile picture of the author Jackson62
        You don't need to learn HTML or CSS, but what you should do is choose a good premium theme and then learn how to manipulate that. Many WP themes are incredibly useful and powerful, but are not all that easy to edit. A good one will come with tutorials and documentation.

        My focus has been on learning to use my premium theme (I use Socrates). After that, everything else falls into place.
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  • Profile picture of the author joshcoffy
    As a majority of people have said, using Wordpress it THE best way to go. It is very simple to use! Of course programming would always add it's effectiveness, but it is that required if you are using WP.

    I have been in affiliate marketing for 3 months and I have never even touched the CSS. lol

    To Your Success,
    Josh
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Sure, it's good to know all that stuff but I think it boils down to this: newbies often think that the key to success in affiliate marketing is in some kind of special "tweak" or "trick", and that can extend to endless fiddling with layouts, templates and whatnot instead of concentrating on the real important stuff like creating great content. You'll need to learn a few bits of html sooner or later, but don't get into W3schools - apart from the fact many think it is full of bad advice, it will just be a distraction.
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    Who says you can't earn money as an eBay affiliate any more? My stats say otherwise

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  • Profile picture of the author inhwanie
    ZEROOO programming but if you like having things made exactly the way you picture it, knowing CSS and HTML can definitely help.

    BUT that shouldn't stop you from starting your affiliate business!! You'll learn as you go and will make mistakes (and sometimes kick yourself or get a little depressed) but you honestly learn so fast and improve by making mistakes.

    If you are committed for the long haul and just enjoy the idea of affiliate marketing, you'll be successful

    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author nicolas simpson
    no you do nt need to learn web programming, You jus need to learn how to market products the right wat..
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  • Profile picture of the author ganesh
    There are plenty of free resources to learn Wordpress including videos on Youtube. Get started with it without worrying about programming etc. Once you are comfortable with Wordpress and your affiliate site is running then spend some time to learn the basics of HTML and CSS. It will help you a lot in the long run.
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  • Profile picture of the author CopyAcolyte
    Thanks for the replies thus far, guys!

    As I said, I'm more of a copywriter, so I just want to get out there and promote some products.

    I think I'm just going to learn a little basic HTML and watch some WordPress tutorials on Youtube to get started.
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  • Profile picture of the author JustVisiting
    Learning maybe not. But a basic understanding of these may help with sorting minor problems and when outsourcing:

    Client Side Coding
    • JavaScript
    • HTML & CSS3 ( not really programming - simple mark-up language)

    Server Side Coding
    • CGI/Perl
    • PHP

    Cheers

    Paul
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    "...If at first you don't succeed; call it Version 1.0"
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  • No need to learn a thing, even though over time you will become familiar with terms like "cookies", "iframes" or "PHP redirects". It will come by itself over time.

    As far as creating your first sites, simply go for Wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author stupidpanda
    i think wordpress is easy to understand and easy to set-up too, thats for the basic... and for the others, outsource it and focus on your writing skill...
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