1.  Your Visitors Will Read Everything

Never assume that your visitors will read every page on your site.  Most of the time, people only read between 10 to 20%, and they also skim your pages.

That’s why you should make sure your most important, compelling points are on your homepage and emphasized throughout your site on other important pages.

Also make good use of sub headings to emphasize points that can be caught when skimming.

2.  People Will Buy On The First Visit

Making sales regularly from your site requires you have a lot of two very important things:  targeted traffic and credibility.

Once you have these two things, you need to understand that not everyone is going to buy the first time they visit. In fact, most people won’t.

That’s why it’s so important your site makes a good first impression.  Give your audience a reason to bookmark your site and return at a later time.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve gotten emails from people who told me they read about Site Build It! on my site months ago and came back to buy later because they wanted to take some time to do more research.

Or there’s the people who didn’t have the money at the time, and wanted to save up their funds before making the purchase.

Give these people who are “on the fence” a reason to return later.

3.  The More Ads The Better

This reminds me of the people who complain they cannot make a sale from their site, yet they only get 25 visitors per day and 80% of their site is a walking advertisement for various products, services and Google ads.

If you’re trying to make money as an affiliate, the last thing you want to do is bombard your visitors with ads when they arrive at your site.

You have to give them a reason to trust you, and a good way to do this is to provide useful information upfront.

I know it may be tempting to lace the top 2/3rds of your site with Google ads, hoping someone will click before they leave. But I would much rather miss out on a few clicks and gain people’s trust so they will return.

I’ll take a loyal visitor over a click-and-run in a heartbeat!

Someone challenged me on that theory a while back saying, “How come sites like Macys and Old Navy have ads all over the place and that seems to be OK?”

First of all, these are retail sites. People go to sites like oldnavy.com to shop so advertisements are expected, and sometimes even welcomed because people are looking for good deals.

But if you’re making money as an affiliate, you have to remember that most people are coming to your site looking for information. They are not usually in a buying mood.

So the best way to warm them up to buy is to give them what they came for –  information.  Once you’ve earned their trust and gained some credibility THEN perhaps they’ll buy.

4.  Design Is E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G

Of course, everyone wants a site that is pleasing to the eye.  You never hear anyone say “I don’t care how my site looks.”   Yes, we all want sites that look presentable and inviting.

However, there are those who are so completely obsessed with their design that they never get started.  Remember folks, you can always update your site’s design at a later time.

Your biggest challenge is going to be driving traffic to your site.  So start with something you can work with and then tweak your design as you go.  Don’t become so distracted with the layout that it keeps you from making progress.

A great example is my Site Build It! site, Flat Stomach Exercises.  I used the simple, SBI! template for over 2 years.  Honestly, I wasn’t really happy with the original design, but the site was getting thousands of visitors per day and making money.

Yes, the layout was super simple, but thankfully people were more interested in the content.  I didn’t tackle the re-design until much later because my priority was driving traffic and making sales.

No sense in overwhelming yourself with design and marketing, especially if you’re just starting out and learning the ropes.  If you find yourself stressing out over building your site, find a design you can work with for now and tackle the re-design when you’re ready.

5. You Only Have One Chance to Get it Right

I did a video a while back where I spoke about people’s fear of failure.  It’s amazing how crippling fear can be to a business.

Some people are so afraid to start because they don’t want to mess up.  They get stuck in this never-ending planning mode trying to make sure they don’t make any mistakes.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with doing research and gathering facts before you begin.  I’m all for that. But if you become obsessed to the point that you can’t even get your site off the ground, then you are letting fear take over.

Sometimes you have to make mistakes to learn the right way of doing something.  And if you don’t do everything right on the first try then welcome to the club!

Most people don’t know this, but more of my sites have been failures than successes.  But I didn’t give up just because those other sites didn’t work out.  I got up, dusted myself off and tried again.

You don’t have to get everything right on the first try.  In fact, you will still make mistakes with your successful sites too.  The most important thing is that you learn from these mistakes and continue to grow.

Sometimes you have to follow Nike’s advice and “Just Do It!”.