Website Building Scripts for New Netpreneurs

Posted on November 24, 2006

Hi Laura:

I just came across your website and blog by accident following links on other websites.

Brilliant I love it.

I came across your posts and video about building wordpress affiliate sites with data feeds, and I’m fascinated with the whole concept.

I’m one of these people who have been collecting ebooks and software on internet marketing for a while now but have been to scared too actually get anything started until now. And I know now that this is a great way to start and build a network of affiliate sites/blogs using data feeds.

Basically I would like to know where to start with these…

EGJ:

Thanks for writing and for your compliments. I appreciate it as I do work hard to provide valuable information to people - especially those just starting out, but also to those who have been struggling for a long time and not making much money at their online business.

And you are my favorite type of person! The one who has read and studied and wondered…and is now ready to put all that into action! You know that you won’t make a million dollars overnight and you know that there is some thought, research and effort involved to building an income online.

In the last two weeks I’ve been consulting with a woman who is also at this stage. She’s just built a fabulous domain using a WordPress blog and the WP Affiliate DataFeed Script. She had no prior experience with website creation, only knew that she wanted to build a site that was valuable to her visitor, but also attractive to the search engines and had the potential to earn an income.

Now, I’m spewing a lot of information here so bear with me…

The Associate DataFeed Creator is good but tough to make fistfuls of cash on amazon (their prices are often too high for the average online shopper). The Affiliate DataFeed Generator is also good and versatile (not limited to amazon) but has a higher learning curve and truly works better if you own RSS2Blog (which is a pricey script, but well worth the money - something to think about AFTER you are earning a decent income from your site). So hands down of all of the scripts I use the WordPress Datafeed Affiliate Script (the one I created those videos for) is still the best for the money, the easiest to use for beginners, and very versatile for product selection).

However…there is one really cool script I’ve been using this past two weeks - still testing, but it has huge potential and I’m seeing the money coming in from it already. Actually I started with it on one website and since the results were so fast I’ve now added it to three sites I own!

It doesn’t require WordPress, the pages are search engine friendly, the creator of the program is helpful, honest, supportive, the price is reasonable, new features are coming (so it will be even more versatile), a forum is in the works (which means that an entire support network will be at your beck and call with examples and insider’s tricks)…on and on and on.

Now you won’t likely be earning $100 per sale per referral, but who cares? Once these are set up and running they update themselves so the income stream is automated.

The products you’ll be referring are the 25 million products on ebay - narrowed down by your criteria for each site you set up. For instance I have one site about backyard birding and my ebay store on that site only displays birding and gardening supplies. The payout is between (40-60% of ebay’s take on the listing, plus $12-$22 for every new ebay registration - I’ll have to check those figures but they aren’t far off). You won’t make hands over fist on the registrations because millions already have an ebay ID, but you should make a few per thousand visitors. And people love shopping on ebay, they’re getting a deal, the brand is trusted, and, yes 25 million products to choose from.

Well, I’ve typed enough this morning and given you two options to choose from that are perfect for netpreneurs just starting out. The WordPress Datafeed Affiliate Script or the ebay script.

Here’s the ebay page to check out - it’s so nice and non-hyped with examples of sites you could build and even a demo to play on! See the ebay affiliate script in action here.

Drop me a note back anytime and let me know how you’re getting on with your business okay?

Laura

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Read More Like It: Marketing Help, Niche Marketing

2 Replies to “Website Building Scripts for New Netpreneurs”

Ted on February 13th, 2007 4:05 pm

Hi Laura,

I emailed you before the holidays regarding datafeeds. I mentioned I have a domain (~~name withheld by editor for poster privacy~~) and wanted to make good use of its theme.

I have looked at Teli’s “Wordpress datafeed import” site and that looks great. However, you seem really enthused over the ebay script also.

The idea with Teli’s was to add datafeeds from shareasale etc and build from there. Now I am wondering maybe going with the ebay script and adding affiliate links/banners in the columns that relates to the theme of the page.

Kind of like this site (which is a build a niche store site): http://www.insidercarsecrets.com/cars-trucks-for-sale/

Based on your experience may I ask you a few questions?…keep in mind I am a newbie with scripts.

1) Which script is easier to use?
2) Who has the better support?
3) Which route with the domain would you choose and why?
4) BAN store gives templates and I know from much reading that you do not want to use them as is. Is it hard to customize/change templates?

Thanks again,
Ted
Laura Childs on February 13th, 2007 4:19 pm

Ted,

No trouble to answer your questions, although choosing between two scripts is tough for me. If someone told me I could only have one of them, I’d be stressed to answer!

Teli’s datafeed script rocks because you can sell anything from a pile of different merchants and as each product is added - your site grows.

BANS (the ebay script) rocks because you can sell anything from all over the world, from a trusted brand (ebay) and the money flows more freely (albeit in smaller amounts).

I don’t like the site you sent as an example (nothing personal my friend, I know it’s not yours) and here’s why…if I was a visitor that landed on that page I’d likely click off as quickly as it loaded. Too many ads give me a headache. Build your sites for users first, income second - and you’ll win more sales and commissions. Rant over.

1) Which script is easier to use?

Definately for someone new to scripts and sites, take BANS. Once it’s up and running and making cash, reinvest those earnings into Teli’s script. I have one site with Teli’s script that I never promote other than one link to it from one other site and I haven’t worked on it in months that made me $900 last month and $500 the month before. The commission structure is higher with ‘from merchant’ sales as opposed to ebay - but upfront time, etc. is more intensive. (Wordpress blog install and theme, datafeed edits, Teli script install vs. the 10 minute BANS install).

So start with BANS and when the pressure’s off experiment with higher end products direct-from-merchant (not ebay sellers).

2) Who has the better support?

Yah. That’s an unfair question! The answer is neither and both! They are both wonderful developers who care for their clients.

There’s very little can go wrong with Teli’s script so she hasn’t had to support me much on that product but I have needed her for other stuff and she jumps right in and gets her hands dirty. To be honest, she has a pile of projects going on all the time and spends hours in her own business outside of support as well - so with that said, she may take a day or two to answer (which I think is perfectly reasonable but some people may not).

BANS - is it Kelvin? I’m having a brain snore, I can’t quite remember. There are actually two of them supporting this product - they’re fast on the reply during business hours (often within an hour you’ll have a reply) even though they’re also working on their own businesses (and not just selling scripts), AND they have a user forum so you’ve got a whole community if you need it for ideas and suggestions and help.

Again, there’s not much that can go wrong with this script either. And if you’re very kind and polite (which I already know you are) they may even create a custom template just for you (”i want something like the XYZ, but in blue…how do i do that?”)

3) Which route with the domain would you choose and why?

(this was a marketing strategy answer that I replied to personally by email to ensure privacy for Ted)

4) BAN store gives templates and I know from much reading that you do not want to use them as is. Is it hard to customize/change templates?

I don’t mind customizing templates. I’m a code-tweaker by nature so I always have to muck around in stuff (break it and then figure out how to repair it - an annoying trait).

The templates are in php which is the easiest programming mark-up language I know of. Styling is managed by CSS (which I detest to tweak but it isn’t hard). And, like I said earlier, the guys will help if you ask for it.

I need to run off now…

Stay in touch and let me know how you get on!

Laura