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How many established affiliates started like I did. No coding knowledge no marketing experience. only a determination to make it work..I have to admit I like many others, thought That being an affiliate would be an easier way to make some extra cash. But now it has become a challenge and I cant back down when I'm challenged. I would love to read some "How i started stories."
The Pocketnut8-)
When I started I had no idea what seo or html stood for! To this day I still have my html cheat sheets so I can just copy and paste stuff I use over and over.
My background is marketing and management so figuring out seo was fairly easy for me but I'm still a rookie when it comes to coding and stuff. All my sites are built on point and click platforms so I don't have to waste a ton of time on php, html, etc. I'd rather invest my time in writing articles than figuring out why a script won't work the way it should.
Interesting topic.....
Great question :) So - I already had a few years experience with ASP coding and databases. So after college I met a guy (worked in my dept) who was one of those guys that always had a scheme.
We were going to collect peoples bets on sporting events and somehow qualify those bets... And use that information to make our own wagers. Clearly, that was difficult - even just to get enough picks to generate the data, so I became a portal.
So the marketing side is still a total black box to me. I struggle with it every day.
A lot of online marketing is sort of learn and you go. The great thing about the internet is you can search for advice or how to's on anything that you need to learn.
HTML was totally foreign to me when I started working in marketing and a company I worked for suddenly wanted me to be the one who went in and updated their pages. Many google searches and articles later I got it down. Using old files and tricks are great for reference.
Marketing really involves creativity more than anything, but a lot of great insight can be found on sights like Mashable.com, RainToday.com and Business Journals. Reading other success stories or new tricks for SEO or social media are great to get you thinking!
I didn't know anything then, and I still don't know anything now.
In the beginning (some 9 years ago) I just wrote stuff and hired a guy to upload it and link it up once a week. Didn't cost much and freed me up to do research.
As time went I continued to stay away from the coding, and I still don't do any today.
I figure I should do what I do best, and let someone else do what I don't.
I entered the business the complete opposite.. I have a web development background (so basically I'm a coder) and didn't know a thing about marketing or sales..
5 years later here I am. I guess it shows that you don't have to go to school to learn something and do it brilliantly :p
Thanks everyone I was looking for inspiration and you did just that. Hopefully there will be more posting.
Thanks
THE POCKETNUT8-)
I actually started in 1992 coding, I later started a website on Mexico called mexconnect.com with a friend an my sister, but it was not making any money, so I left that and started a small ISP in 1997 in Mexico as well and its still going.
But what made me want to get back in to online marketing was I got tired of giving tech support to the end user, All though not making a lot of money yet its fun and you are not dealing directly with the end computer user :-)
Rod
I didnt know a damn thing. Didnt even know it was code :eyebrow: First time I viewed the source of a page I was like omg wtf is this
Opened a free forum - kind of tried to learn BBC then went and downloaded a trial of Frontpage and began playing with it.
I no longer have any problems with Dreamweaver for php/html sites and can do minor css edits or adjustments myself.
Ask me about databases and more advanced PHP and that's when I run to my coder :)
Unless its super complicated I can usually figure it out - basic day to day tasks is easy stuff now.
Keep working at it - it will come with time.
LOL!Quote:
Originally Posted by thepokerkeep
I'm an educated Electrician... But what the heck..
When I came up with this crazy idea of promoting casinos I had spent more than 2k USD on Party and with none to zip/zero winnings I had enough..
One night I had dream that "maybe I could ask the casinos if they wanted me to promote them! I have the html skills..."
Oh! Little did I know! LOL!
I had never heard of SEO, PR or even link building.
Had another dream stating that my domain should be BonusStart.com and here we go..
Now I run a couple of other domains and even work as a coder on a couple of casino sites.
Life takes mysterious turns..
/Hakan
And yet you're bugging me about a site..Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominique
Yours don't even rank in google for that, mine does and it's 1.5 months old..
Keep your type-in traffic and we're all a happy bunch ;)
No hard feelings Dom :)
/Hakan
I had basic knowledge of html but that was about it. Since I started my new project it feels like every day I'm finding something new I need to learn about!
I've never understood the first thing about html, and .php means nothing to me. I've only ever used a drag and drop platform www.yola.com I'm not an affiliate of theirs, so I'm not trying to sell anything, I'm just a happy customer. While I never claim my sites are the best looking, a beginner could do a lot worse than try Yola, and so long as you have less than 5 sites, it's free.
Arthur
www.reviewonlinecasinos.co.uk
only started with coding
My background was scientific computing, so although I knew/know (I am rusty) Fortran and C++ etc, I didn't know any php, CSS - I knew some HTML but back from the HTML 2.0 days. However, it is easy for me to pick up XHTML 1.0, php etc. as I go along.
Started a year or two ago with zero knowledge of web design, marketing, graphic design, SEO and all that other good stuff that I would say make up the bulk of being an affiliate webmaster. So I am learning all that as I go along too!
I will let you know in a couple of years if it has been successful ;)
What a timely subject. I just completed updating my Gambling Teachers site to 3 columns using css style sheets with a little help from my friends at SBI and a very patient web designer.
My other site, gamerisms was done with the 3 column look in April and it was an intense learning experience to find out how a style sheet can create the look and feel of a site and work with html coding.
I just knew I had to re-do my GT site with the new look asap.
I came to web design bringing only my gambling writing experience (content was king, so what else did I need? HA HA) and started my first site in 1997. It was getting expensive to pay a coder and waiting patiently for the changes to be made on their schedule. I knew br and b and found out quickly that if you don't put that closing b--well- you know what I mean. :eyebrow:
In 2007, I found SBI or Site Build It that started me on the road to knowledge. They teach you how to build a site and give you the tools and resources along with web hosting. It was like going back to college and in fact, the company does teach their methods online and at community colleges in US and Canada.
I believe that you should learn something new every day that adds to your enjoyment of life.
Becoming website savvy and building a business fulfilled that wish for me.
I hope you enjoy the learning process too.
At the time that I started I didn't even know how to copy and paste. Had to get one of my daughters to do it for me...:evillaug:
I bought a few magazines and learned enough from the to build our first site. 10 years later I'm still in business so you can certainly teach yourself and do just fine. Lol back then SEO we just including the keyword on a page!
Running a site is not all about coding. I have no interest in coding. So I have staff to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by hakank
And, yes, I have hard feelings about someone who buys a domain merely because it is as close to mine as you can get and then tries to extract higher and higher amounts of money for it from me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominique
I have told you before but you don't seem to understand, I did not know you owned that domain when I bought my domain, it was Judy who told me about your site.
And just because you own a certain domain name does that mean no one in the whole world can register a domain with those words?
Take a look at google and yahoo and you will see that there are at least 100 sites "stealing" your traffic.
Do you threat them too?
And " higher and higher"? Umm.. I'm not selling my site, It's mine and I will keep it.