Thread: Can You Answer Two Important Questions?

Also, you don't have to work hard for two years for a site to get valuable. Keyword here is advertising. If your blog plan is to make money because you have a lot of traffic, then you will most likely have to advertise to get that traffic, and the more you spend the faster you will get it.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your replies. And yes, Sahil, I do recognize you

I signed up for an AdSense account, just so I could have it there. There are no fees, as far as I understand, so it'll be there until I need it.

I'm intrigued by this "affiliate marketing". What is it? How do I use/implement it? Does it pay well?

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm intrigued by this "affiliate marketing". What is it? How do I use/implement it? Does it pay well?

If you really want to EARN there are courses ($397+) which are worth it, or else just google it and you'll get some decent stuff.

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm intrigued by this "affiliate marketing". What is it? How do I use/implement it? Does it pay well?

I have to disagree with Farrhad lol. I really don't think you need to spend $300 to learn about affiliate marketing when there is so much free information out there.

Basically, affiliate marketing is being paid to promote products created by other people. You get a certain percentage of each sale, and if you recruit another affiliate to the program, you also earn a certain percentage of all of their sales.

It's kind of like a pyramid scheme, but you can earn a lot if done correctly (we're talking tens of thousands).

You want to pick a product that your readers will benefit from. For you this might be a personal finance ebook, or partnering up with a bank, etc. Then, you have a variety of ways to advertise your personal affiliate URL and/or ID.

1) Offer your readers a discount on the product (sometimes this comes out of your commission, sometimes you have a coupon code you can give out)

2) Write interesting/honest reviews about the company's products and pepper it with your affiliate link.

3) Create an email newsletter and rep your affiliate products in your list, along with your link.

4) Put the affiliate banner in your sidebar or post footer.

5) Create a mini-site for your product and drive traffic to that from your blog.

There are tons of ways to go about affiliate marketing. You just have to test out the ones that work for you.

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm trying to figure out the answers to these questions. Any help would be great!

1) Should I monetize my blog (YouthBusinessBlog.com) with AdSense or banner ads? Is it too new? When should I do this?

2) What's so great about the Thesis theme? Is it worth it?

1) Back in the early days of my blog, I wrote an article about this so instead of telling you my opinion, why don't you go and read my post? :P This is the link, in case you're interested: Monetizing your site, don't get the wrong idea!

2) Thesis is just another Wordpress theme (yeah, I know Farrah is going to flame me for this hehe). If possible, go for a custom one - don't be like the others, be unique.

Originally Posted by Hector

2) Thesis is just another Wordpress theme (yeah, I know Farrah is going to flame me for this hehe). If possible, go for a custom one - don't be like the others, be unique.

Hehe, no :P

Obviously custom is the best but when you are on a budget Thesis FTW.

And trust me you can make Thesis look kick ass.

Originally Posted by Farrhad A

Hehe, no :P

Obviously custom is the best but when you are on a budget Thesis FTW.

And trust me you can make Thesis look kick ass.

Until now, the only Thesis blog that looks really good to me is Blogussion. It's so heavily customized that it doesn't have the Thesis-feeling when you look at it. The rest of the Thesis-based blogs out there are just about the same - and that's boring.

Yeah blogussion is good but now there are some other KILLER thesis designers coming up too.