February 13, 2008
So, how many times have you gone out to buy something and when you get back home or where you planned on using it, it doesn’t fit?! Maybe its the wrong size, maybe it is the wrong color… the worst case, is that you can’t return it!!
I’ve seen a few people over on the Build a Niche Store forum buy the software, only to find they cannot be approved for the eBay affiliate program. In most cases, it’s due to eBay not allowing residents of a few foreign countries into the program. In order to avoid that bad experience… I suggest signing up first, for a free Commission Junction account (They are all free) and only after you have a domain name, joining the eBay affiliate program through CJ.
If you don’t have a domain for your niche store yet - hop over to GoDaddy and get one! As of today, discount code OYH3, saves $3 per domain name!
Now lets go get our CJ account.
Joining Commission Junction
Head on over to www.cj.com, choose the link for “Publishers” scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link to apply for a Commission Junction publisher account. Or, click here. Completing this form is just like any other web based form, answer the questions based on your specific needs. Be aware that during this process, you will need to provide a SSN or TAX-ID number of some sort. It would be nice if they didn’t report your earnings… but as all us know, the IRS wants .45 cents of every dollar you earn! (In a future post, we will discuss ways to keep .95 cents of every dollar!)
As you complete the form, be aware of the info you are providing and keep it very focused on the niche site you are preparing to launch. In my own case, since the site is focusing on Hybrid Golf Equipment, I would provide the following info:
After you complete the sign up form at CJ, they will send you an email, which you MUST click on the link, in order to become an active member. If you have joined anything over the past 5 years on the web, you have seen these in the past… no surprises here!
OK… I assume you are now a member of the CJ community and the next important step is being accepted to the eBay program, which is managed by CJ.
Applying for eBay Affiliate Program
Login to CJ with the credentials you just supplied during the application process, and choose the “Get Links” option from the upper horizontal menu. In the search box, type eBay and click on the find button. As you can see, there are MANY eBay programs available for you to join, most are country specific… except the US, they make us dig to find it! :-)
Look for this image, it was the 5th from the top in my screen:
If you are in a different Country that has a direct link into the program, choose your Country specific program, place a check in the box to the left of it and choose the “Apply to Program” button at the top of the listings. eBay has a short process all applicants have to go through on the first time. Fortunately, it is quick and painless and you will likely be approved in less than a few hours. I have heard folks say 24 hours, so it is important to get this done today!
What if you are declined?
Don’t despair! Declines are a fact of life and fortunately you are not alone, it does happen! From my understanding, the MAIN reason is the country you live in… CJ and/or eBay does not cater to ALL Countries. If you are declined and think it may be country related, send an email to: ebayaffiliates@cj.com and ask why!
Another reason for decline may be the lack of a website! Sure, you got the domain… but if there is no content up yet, they have no real reason for them to assume you will be driving any sales to them! You have to understand, with all the cyber crime in the world (Do you get 25 viagra or tag hauer watch emails a day?) they do want to be sure yours is not a bad site. The answer to this… continue building your niche store and when it is up and running in a few short days from now, you can send an email to the same place and ask why! Use your website for leverage this time… :-)
What other Affiliate Programs generate Money?
Actually, there are several! For now however, I am going to stick with the basics of those needed for your first store! Over the next few days you will be getting your build a niche store software and getting started on the first site build. As we get to areas that it may be beneficial for different affiliate programs, I will mention and explain them at that time. No need for brain overload all at once! :-)
Do you have anything to add? The comment form sits right below!
Mark
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32 Responses to “Build a Niche Store Empire in 12 Weeks - Affiliate Accounts”
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Hi Mark,
I’ve just entered the info for my 2nd website at CJ, and they automatically assigned a PID. Do I need to re-apply for ebay, or is it automatic, since i already have one store with them? And thanks for sharing all this info with us. I hope to make the rest of my stores more profitable by following your steps.
Thanks,
Angelo
@ Angelo -
Very good question I did not even address!
Once you are accepted for one website into the eBay program, you are in… there is no need to apply for every website!
For tracking purposes, you just want to use your unique website PID for the different stores you launch.
Mark
Re: “For tracking purposes, you just want to use your unique website PID for the different stores you launch.”
I think this might be a little confusing to some. To clarify, what Mark means is that each time you create a new BANS site add it to your CJ account. Doing this will generate a PID unique to that store.
If you don’t and simply use the same PID for every BANS store you have then you won’t be able to determine what site clicks and sales are coming from. Using a different PID for each store allows CJ to track where clicks and sales come from and allows you to see which stores are doing well and which aren’t
(I just finished writing a bunch of instructions and think I’m still in ‘How To’ mode…)
Hi Rochelle,
Is there anyway to check all your stores at once instead of
one at a time? I know you can set the settings to view all
websites but it doesn’t break it down individually.
Phil R
Hi Mark,
Have one bans store but not making anything yet. Is it possible to use sub-domain for a New store…2nd…3rd…store..etc..?
If yes, then use a new domain name for the sub-domain or just use a sub-domain name for the new store.
Just find out your 12 weeks program and try to catch up…
Phil - You can but only for information for the prior day (if there is a way to do this on the current day’s stats I am unaware of it).
Log in to CJ. Click on the ‘Run Reports’ tab and then the ‘Performance Reports’ sub-tab.
On the right side is a box that says, ‘Run Performance Report.’ Leave the default settings (should be ‘Web Site Performance,’ Exact Period - Yesterday,’ and ‘All Web Sites’) and click the ‘Generate Report’ button.
This will show how each of your sites performed on the previous day.
You can play around with the time frame to get a bigger picture of how your sites are performing.
Rochelle
I am new at this and just started reading this forum a few days ago. I have not seen anyone yet who had trouble with CuteFTP (mainly because I am not familiar with their terminology). I just started my 2nd store and for the second time got hung up in CuteFTP because my database I created at HostGator did not download to that site.
@ Phil & Rochelle -
You can also do a date range report on the performance of your entire account. I have found it is just finicky to understand where all the leads / sales are coming from though, and find it easiest to run a full month report, then change the sites one at a time to view each individually for the full month.
I would expand on that more, but CJ is down on my end right now… When I get back into it, I will follow up.
@ Patrick -
Absolutely! Subdomains (myniche.mywebsite.com) or folder categories (mydomain.com/myniche/) work for as many websites as you wish to create with your single hostgator account.
The BIG downside to this in terms of BANS is that with each folder site you create, your main domain loses a bit of authority as a niche site. (mydomain.com/myniche/) Kind of like a mall, people don’t generally go to a mall for buying one specific item they have in mind, they generally go to shop and browse around because the mall has a bit of everything. Whereas, if you needed suit, you would just go directly to a suit store, that specializes in one niche.
On the other side of that is child or sub domains. ie: myniche.mydomain.com. Each of your subs is treated as a completely separate store, and will need to be developed and promoted as such, without taking away any value of the main parent domain.
All being said, I prefer to use separate domains for each niche store primarily since we are doing for one thing… earnings. Assume for a moment you promote and build your main domain and it is the most popular niche store you have. It is earning you considerable money and one day… you need some cash badly, or someone comes along and just really wants to buy it! You cannot sell the main store off, since it is also the host for all of your other stores! If you move them, you have to start from ground zero again…
I will talk quite a bit more about this when we get to the point of adding a second store.
Mark
Hi Mark,
I was just checking my settings on CJ and noticed that I had Incentives marked YES. I tried to edit it and it won’t allow me. Somehow I was still accepted by eBay quite some time ago, even though it shows incentives as YES….
I did send an email to “cj_networkquality@cj.com”, explaining the situation and requested they change it back to NO.
Thought this post may help someone else who’s made the same error. Will keep you informed as to their reply.
Pat
I wanna know whether it there any difference between signing up for US Ebay or Australia Ebay? Can I setup a US Ebay using my Australia Ebay ID? Are there any revenue differences?
Thanks
Rick
@ Rick -
That is a good question I do not know the answer to! I doubt if there are payout differences, my understanding is that the main differences are in how the earnings are reported. eBay has it limited to countries they KNOW how to handle tax reporting etc.
I would apply for the US program as well - nothing to lose! I also know of a few stores where people have several country specific programs running on the same domain!
in other words, they run sites like:
mydomain .com/usauctions/
mydomain .com/aurauctions/
mydomain .com/ukauctions/
etc…
Mark
general comment. Love your info, just got bans and have my first site up,will try to follow your time line and suggestions.
thanks for your hard work
patrick
just a quick note to thank everybody for the exceptional commments and info. We currently launched our BANS site recently, http://www.thegolfclub.net.au . I apologise in advance if this is not the correct spot to mention it, however, it is so exciting. We now have a page rank of 2 and have made approximately 50 sales in January and have made approximately $60.00 all in a space of 8 weeks. Outstanding.
Suggestion for what it is worth, please read, read and read some more on everything about BANS.
Kind Regards
@ Stephen
Outstanding looking website mate. Did you do the graphics or did you outsource the job?
I take it that the HOME page is a content page with your own custom graphics, is that correct.
If you outsourced the category graphics would you mind giving us the contact?
Again love the site, hope it continues to do well for you.
Tom
HI,
I’ve just finished setting up my second site, a site about biodiesel, which is completely unrelated to my first site (a travel site). I think I’m getting rejected for affiliate relationships for the biodiesel site within commission Junction because they are seeing the wrong site.
When I click on Get Links, then try to establish a relationship with a new marketer, there doesn’t seem to be any way to select the site that I’d like them to evaluate.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Amy
@ Amy -
Don’t let it get to you!! I have been a CJ member for almost a year and still get turned down 1 out of 3 times! :-)
In most cases, the advertisers just have specific criteria on the partners they will accept. Time in the program is one of them, number of sites, amount of traffic, etc.
You don’t actually choose the site for the affiliation until you are to the point of configuring the code for the site.
Mark
Mark, I’m now at the initial stages, researching the niches.
At the same time I’m also reading the other parts of your guide.
The part about signing up with CJ and eBay affiliates, what should be different there now, after CJ is dropped ?
To disregard the CJ and the rest of signing up with eBay affiliates is ok ?
Thanks,
Zal
Hey Mark, I stumbled across your site. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this…
I ordered BANS,
i uploaded the files to hostgator and got the site up but when i click the catogories I get a 404 error page.
here’s my site at <a href=”www.vintageandrarefenderguitars.com
and a screen shot of the database which may be the culprit.
<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2173/2390736048_8018a0362c.jpg?v=g
@ Lawton -
It looks like your .htaccess is not uploaded.
Check in the main public_html directory and see if the file is there or not.
Mark
Another good affiliate option for adding ads to your BANS sites is ShoppingAds.com (used to be AuctionAds.com) They have both CPA (cost-per-action) option and CPC (cost-per-click) option.
I’ve had quite a bit of success using the CPA (which is basically ebay) on my saddle site. I’m now trying the cpc version on my BANS sites. The ads really look a lot like additional products for sale. You insert keywords and it delivers related ads.
It’s a great way to get ads for sites where the affiliate program options aren’t so great. You can see an example on this site: http://www.breyerhorsefarm.com.
The only drawback with the way ShoppingAds works is that if you don’t have a high traffic site, it will take one or two page loads before the ads returned are related to your keywords.
Hi Mark,
I have a quick question, I signed up for ebay partner network and was accepted. Is it necessary to join trough CJ or is this enough?
Thanks!
@ Emiel -
Thank you for pointing out the change in this step of the process!!
Once you have joined through eBay EPN, there is no need for CJ for the eBay portion. CJ does however have quite a few other advertisers that come in handy for placing on the site ad sections.
Mark
on that subject.. what other place do you all use besides CJ to get advertisers?
I like PepperJam (Linked in header) or http://www.pepperjam.com
They are getting bigger and most of their advetisers are auto-approve! No more waiting to show the ads!
The one caveat… you CANNOT show CJ ads and Pepperjam on the same website. CJ has said they will drop your account if you do! LOL
Mark
their website is a little confusing.. to me anyways haha
do you just fill out the “free analysis and proposal” fields under the “pay per click” tab and wait to hear from them to get an account?
@ Jeff -
Click on the link for “Network” and you will see the area to apply as a PUBLISHER.
Mark
I’ve tried registering with Pepperjam and they keep telling me my url isn’t valid. Tried different urls, checked to make sure the sites were working, and copied and pasted the url. Nothing works. Am I missing something?
Sherrin
@ Sherrin
I recall the same problem with my enrollment. It was related to the additional domains section. I used http://www.yourformhasanerror.com and it accepted perfectly!
Once the account was approved - I deleted the extra domain.
Mark
Thanks Mark. I just tried again using my url and for some unknown reason it went through. Waiting for approval now.
I love this site and once I get through eBay, I will pick up BANS through your link.
I was at CJ, but could not find the link for eBay that you referred to. Had to go through eBay’s parnter site. Will that cause any problems?
Thank you and you have done a wonderful job here.
Ron