I’m a massive fan of “Ask Me Anything” pages on Reddit. It’s an opportunity to really get some fascinating insights from the minds of people that operate within the subject matter you find interesting.
So with that I would open up my mind of blogging/affiliate information and set up this page “Ask Jamie Anything”. This is for all you guys to tap into my 10+ years of experience of making money online, building out affiliate websites and monetizing blogs. I’m by no means the number 1 authority in any of these subjects, but I do feel that I have something valuable to offer people. Even if I can help just one person to not make the mistakes I made back in 2008, then it’ll be worth the effort.
If you have a question about anything to do with blogging, making money online, affiliate marketing, social, WordPress or anything to do with online marketing, then this is the place where I will try my best to answer your question in full.
If you want some ideas on what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:
- WordPress
- Blogging
- Affiliate Marketing
- Monetizing your blog
- Content Ideas
- Starting a blog
- Niches
- Business
- Side hustles
- Making extra money
- Web Hosting
- Web builders
- VPN
- Social Media Marketing
Seriously, you can ask me anything in the comments below. I will try to answer them in full and in as much detail as I can. I will answer every single one of your questions. Please make sure they aren’t inappropriate, spammy or creepy.
Please scroll down to the comments below and leave your question as a comment on the blog post.
I look forward to hearing from you!!!
Jamie Spencer
Latest posts by Jamie Spencer (see all)
- 50+ Ways To Advertise Your Business For Free On The Internet – 2024 Guide - April 5, 2024
- How to Start Your Own Podcast - April 2, 2024
- Uber Stats 2024 – All The Numbers & All The Facts - April 2, 2024
Hi Jamie
Hope you are doing great
I had quiery regarding my niche which Iam passionate about but the volume for this niche ranges from 5500 to 33000 with CPC being 4 and above with SD value of 20 to 30 so please suggest me if I could continue with this niche would that be a vise thing to do
Go for it.
I started to monetize a blog. Then along came GDPR. Then I halted everything. Can you provide a good template for disclosures? Or what’s the best free resource for GDPR compliance? Thanks!
Hi Roxanne
There are a lot of good resources for people to learn more about GDPR.
The main things to consider are how you are collecting user data and how you use it and store it.
I wrote a few tips for people using WordPress websites about GDPR.
Jamie
I looked at MyThemeShop, found a Free WP theme (Ribbon), downloaded, etc, and in order to “upload” a theme of any sort, one has to purchase a monthly $25 business plan in Wordpress. I guess there is no way around it. Unless there is a WP theme already in their inventory that is truly free without having to go the route of a business plan.
Just trying to get the word out on beginners yoga in my local area, and benefits of chair yoga to folks.
Gail
You need to set up your blog via WordPress.org. Take a look at this guide to see how it’s done.
Hi Jamie , I have started a blog site .My problem is with images where to get them. Can I use the images from other sites by mentioning the site or owner name. My blogs are related to cars can i use the car images from their original sites.
Take a look at this resource for free images.
Hi Jamie,
I want to learn digital marketing and how to earn money thru blogging and online tutoring.pl guide me.
Thanks regards.
Try this course.
Hi Jamie… Can you please advise me if I set up a blog about gambling and my experience with it can I make money from it and if not… Well what do I blog about… I will be getting on board tomorrow with a bit of luck… Just very unsure what I should be blogging about.. Any ideas…. Thank you.
Hi Jamie…. I am now ready to set up my blog… A little apprehensive as I don’t know where it will lead to…. My question is if I blog about my gambling addiction can I make money from it…. I am unsure from ur last reply to my last post if I can make money from it…thank you
trying to start amazon affiliate. Nich is promoting music equipment/instruments for band players and performers . Do you have any advice. I am familiar with this area since I am musican.
Keyword research is vital. Make sure the pages you’re creating have search volume. No point wasting time, money and effort creating pages that don’t attract traffic from peoples’ search queries.
Hi Jamie,
I have tried around 15 different “introductory offers” for earning incomes of $500 per day and more. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I cannot get one single one of them to work!!
Can you provide the real back story on affiliate marketing and tell us what really works??!!
So far, I feel scammed.
Hi Jamie… Thank you for replying. I am a dad, I work at the airport in Dublin Ireland…I would be only blogging about my life experience and trying to help people…. I had a gambling problem and I thought I might write about that and maybe a little religion as well…. God and all that…. Is that OK…. I am not sure what to say or write about or what my domain name should be..
Thank you
Publishing your life stories on a blog won’t make you money, but it sounds like you’re blogging for all the right reasons. People tend to start up a blog with the sole intension to make money from it. They are doomed to fail with this mentality. I started this blog up because I wanted to help people. Luckily for me it did turn into a money maker, but I didn’t set out for it to be that way.
I think for you, you should just blog about overcoming your gambling addiction, be a voice for the thousands of people in Ireland who are being controlled by their own addictions. This blog of yours could not only be a form of therapy for you, but as a guiding light for others who are going through hell with addictions.
Domain name could be something with a word play on addiction or gambling? addictedtolife.ie ? afoolsgame.ie ?
Check out this page for ideas… https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/gambling
Hi Jamie,
I have just started my blog. Published one article and have one e-book for free download.
I need your assistance on how best I can build traffic in my blog.
2: how do I get guest writers to new blog?
3: can I monetize a new blog even though I don’t have much visitors?
4: can a blog that is running Adsense also do affiliate programme?
Finally, how do i optimize my SEOs?
http://www.relationshipstar.com
Pls you can visit my blog and advice me where necessary.
Thanks for being my mentor.
1. To build traffic to your site, you need to build an audience. The only way to do this is to write content that people want to read. At the moment your site is pretty empty and it doesn’t load properly. I’m getting 500 errors when I try to load your “About Page” and “Articles” pages.
2. To get guest writers to write content for your blog, you must have a site that’s worthy of them actually bothering to write on your site. If it’s a ghost town of a blog (as in no traffic and next to no content) then what’s the attraction for them? Consider writing more yourself or using a service like Textbroker.com and briefing some articles to 4star writers.
3. You can monetize a new blog with no traffic, but what’s the point in that? Spend time creating content that will attract visits from Google and social platforms, rather than worrying about display ads and how you’re going to make a quick buck. Create the audience and then when you have a sizable amount of traffic, then think ab out monetizing.
4. Yes. I tend to not mix the two. Reason is that if I have an affiliate offer on the page that pays me $100 for a sign up and I also have an adsense display ad that pays me $0.03 for a click, if the user clicks of the ad then potentially I have lost out on a $100 sign up fee from that visitor.
5. This is a complex question. My suggestion to you is to head over to this page and spend a bit of time studying it.
Hi Jamie… Can the initial cost of setting up a blog be paid on a monthly basis….Can I use it on a smartphone Or is it more suitable on a laptop or tablet…. Finally does it matter what I write about once I Have a knowledge of what I am talking about…. Thank you
You can pay monthly with some hosts but this ends up costing more than double what you’d pay if you were to purchase a 1 or 2 year plan.
If you want to get into blogging in a big way then I would always recommend doing it all from a laptop or desktop computer. Using your smartphone to blog is possible, but it isn’t ideal.
Of course it matters what you write about. If what you’re writing about doesn’t resonate with your audience, then nobody will want to read about it.
I’ve been investigating affiliate marketing (AM) for a while now. Think I would be ok at it but not straight off! Is it feasible to make a web site and devote a page of that site to an individual product e.g ten pages-ten products or will that appear mercenary! Does it need to be a blog style site? Is wordpress free an option to get started in AM until there appears to be any success when then I can make expenditure?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Griff
You can certainly dedicate a page to affiliate marketing. If you have a blog about creating tasty juices or smoothies, then why not have a page called “The Ten Best Juicers To Use In 2019” and fill it with mini reviews of juicers that then link to Amazon through your affiliate links.
Does it need to be a blog style site? https://wetheparents.org is a great example of a “blog style” site that reviews all sorts of stuff from Amazon. This theme is optimized for SEO and to make it easy for visitors to navigate around your site and to consume the information on the page.
WordPress.com (free version) isn’t good for affiliate marketing as they put restrictions on what you can promote along with the fact that self hosted owned domain names rank better in search engines than the free wordpress URLs.
Hi Jamie,
I am interested in affiliate marketing and would like to build up my site so that it is worth a lot of money (enough perhaps to be approached to sell). Which factors should I concentrate on first other than optimising my posts, which I’m doing at the moment?
Thanks :-)
I would say to do some decent keyword research. Look at what similar sites to yours is doing with regards to affiliate marketing and try and better that content.
Look at some possible Amazon product groups that you can review on your site. Examples: Best Diaper Pales, Best Kids Scooters, Best Toys For Babies Under 6 months, the ops are endless.
Also re-create resources for parents that are popular on search engines. For example: How To Keep Your Kids Safe on Their iPads, Parent’s Guide To Keeping Your Kids Safe Online,
Hi Jamie,
Is it possible to open a pseudonymous blog, with two different pseudonyms giving their own views on a particular issue, but all in the same blog?
Yes. I don’t see a problem with this. Although I’m not sure what the point of this is.
Hi Jamie,
I don’t really understand what SEO is all about. Please enlighten me on this. Thanks
Hi Jamie,
Can I use WordPress to open a blog where I tell people about my experience in college and try to give solutions to some problems I faced while in college?
Sure you can. Sounds like a good idea.
I want to start a blog writing about my experiences as a teacher and just what I learn from interacting with learners and maybe some advice for parents here and there.
But my main challenge is that if I write such content, what will happen if I decide to quit my job in the coming year or two? what will i write about, since the blog posts will be based on my experiences at work! Please advise
You can still write about teaching, even if you’re not a teacher. And you don’t need to just write about your experiences. You can write evergreen guides on a whole range of learning resources. I get writers to write about loads of subjects that I know nothing about. I own a history site that teaches kids about English History. You think I know everything there is to know about English History??? NO is the short answer. So what I’m saying is keep blogging and try and grow your site within that niche the best you can. Think outside of just writing about what YOU know and what YOU experience. Think bigger.
Is it a good idea to boost blog posts on Facebook and advertise them? Or just leaving the Page in ‘public’ setting gets the job done for bringing viewership?
For me I don’t use Facebook ads or boosts. They don’t work for me. I concentrate on gaining traffic from ranking my pages on Google.
Long and drawn out videos with a bunch of verbage is such a waste of time. These folks can run through their pitch in less than half the time. Why don’t they? Any idea??? Its so annoying! Makes me delete the emails before I even open them. Are they after the ones they can suck into the black hole of affiliate marketing??
Hi!
I’m completely confused as to how to integrate a product with PayPal. I learned how to get the PayPal button…. but if a person clicks on the PayPal button how do I get them their digital product?
Hey Caitlin
From what I understand of paypal buttons is that you have to create a button type.
If you go to PayPal Payment Buttons, select the “Buy Now” button. This is a good option if you only sell a limited number of items on your site. If you sell multiple items on your site, choose the “Shopping Cart” button. This allows you to let your customers add an item to their shopping cart.
Generate the button code and copy and paste the button code in to your own web page code.
It’s really quite simple to set up.
May I ask what you’re selling and if you have a shopping cart functionality on your website?
Do we really need to pay a company thousands of dollars to help you with SEO? Is there something an author can learn on their own with the steps?
Thank You!
In short…no. If you understand the drivers that fuel website rankings on search engines, then you’re half way there.
For me the drivers for successful SEO are…
1. Links ( external links from other relevant websites )
2. Comprehensive content that servers a purpose or is a resource to help your readers in some way.
3. Internal linking
4. Fast loading website. Decent hosting.
Things that you can do as an author to improve your website’s ranking is to
1. Be the best result for the search query you want to rank for. Out do your competitors by writing an even more comprehensive version of that content piece that’s ranking in position #1
2. Outreach to other bloggers asking them to link back to your website. Make sure that the links you get are relevant to what your website is all about. If you own a pet blog, then the last thing you want to do is to ask for a link on a tech blog.
3. Use free keyword research tools as well as paid ones like ahrefs and semrush to find out what your competitors are ranking for and create content to compete with them.
How do I start working as freelancer? What is most lucrative area of freelancing? How to get first work/project?
Difficult question to answer as the term “Freelancer” can fall into many different areas of work. Can you be a bit more specific?
Can you tell me what are the real costs to set up as an affiliate marketer and what they will need??
Hi David
Costs do vary depending on what niche you plan of going into. Let’s take the Amazon Associate example. If you wanted to create an Amazon Niche website of say 30 pages of reviews, then I would breakdown the costs as follows:
Domain Name: $10 (Domain.com) or FREE if you buy hosting with either Bluehost or Hostgator
Hosting for 1 year: $72 ( Hostgator )
Decent WordPress Theme: $FREE ( MyThemeShop )
30 Pages of Content from Textbroker: $1000 – Note you can get content cheaper on Upwork but I find quality is worse.
You can write the content yourself, but this can take time, especially if you’re not used to writing.
So in total, $72 to get set up with an Amazon affiliate website, if you plan on writing it yourself.
Then after that, its all down to how much time YOU want to dedicate in outreaching for links, building links and promoting on social networks.
For more information on building an amazon niche site, head over to my detail guide here.
Can u teach me about SEO and AFILIATE MARKETING
Hi Oludare
I don’t personally teach SEO or Affiliate marketing but I can point you in the right direction should you have a more specific question on either.