But where do you start with mini-sites? And how do make sure that your mini-site is a success time after time? (If you're going to create one mini-site you may as well create ten!)

Simple. Follow these 5 steps to success:

Step 1) Choose High-Demand Low-Supply Keywords Step 2) Find A Good Affiliate Program Step 3) Build A Mini-Site That Gets The Sale Step 4) Promote Your Mini-Site Step 5) Measure Results

Let me explain...

Step 1) Choose High-Demand Low-Supply Keywords ==============================================

Quite simply this means discovering niche keywords; popular keywords with little or no competing websites. Wordtracker, an outstanding webmaster tool, does exactly this for you, free.

Wordtracker's free top 500 keyword report shows 500 most popular search terms on web. Use suitable keywords from this report, or choose your own keywords and feed them into Wordtracker. Wordtracker then generates many similar keyword combinations and quite literally tells you chances of achieving search engine success with those keywords.

Wordtracker's free trial will probably be good enough for most mini-site owners' needs:

- http://www.wordtracker.com

(To find out more about high-demand, low-supply keywords visit: - http://www.AnyoneCanSellOnline.com/learn-more.shtml )

Step 2) Find A Good Affiliate Program =====================================

What makes a good affiliate or associate program? Is it a program with high commission rates, or lifetime commissions? Is it a program based around a product that people *actually* want to buy? Is a good affiliate program simply one that has a high visitors-into-customers conversion rate (Amazon.com comes to mind, here!). Or does affiliate program just need to provide excellent tracking and reporting?

A good affiliate program may have some, if not all, of qualities mentioned above. The following sites can help determine a good affiliate program for YOU, too:

- http://www.AssociatePrograms.com - http://www.affiliates4u.co.uk - http://www.LifetimeCommissions.com - http://www.shoptour.co.uk/webmaster-profit/

(The first two sites both have affiliate forums, where you can find out what others currently think of as good (and bad) affiliate programs. (Never be afraid to ask for advice.))

Or, a good affiliate program may simply be determined by answering this question: would YOU buy products from site?

If you're really keen to know more about what makes a good affiliate program, then I highly recommend Dr Ken Evoy's FREE 5- day Affiliate Masters e-mail course. This intensive course shows you what to look for in a good affiliate program, how to pre-sell and so much more. To take course send a blank e-mail

- mailto:tamsshopping101@sitesell.net

Step 3) Build A Mini-Site That Gets The Sale ===========================================

Firstly, it's important that you design a clean and easy-to-use website. It's vital that links work on your site, that pages load quickly and view correctly in a variety of browser versions; and, there should be no spelling mistakes! Good web- authoring tools like Dreamweaver allow you to check these things before your mini-site goes live; otherwise use Netmechanic once your site is up:

- http://www.macromedia.com/dreamweaver/ - http://www.netmechanic.com

And here's a beautifully-designed web-site that can also help, providing free website design advice:

- http://www.jessett.com

You must choose your words (website copy) carefully, too; use often-cited acronym AIDA in crafting your copy - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Also, there are many online resources that can help you build a website that sells. Use one of them! Here are a couple of resources I recommend:

- http://myss.sitesell.com - http://www.minisiteprofits.com

If you really want to understand importance of words in selling - including a better explanation of AIDA - I'd recommend you take free 5-Day NetWriting Masters email course! To take course send a blank e-mail

- mailto:twmsshopping101@sitesell.net

Step 4) Promote Your Website ============================

Q: What is first thing you look for when you go to an advertiser's site? A: Information.

That's right: information. Whether it be information about product or information about producer, either way, you are looking for information. So, naturally, before that advertiser ever sent out that advertisement, he had to make sure that information was there for you to follow through with if he hoped to make a sale.

This means, in plain english, if you have a message to your customers that you want them to follow through with, you have to tell them what message is in simple terms. And then, if you want listener or reader to do something with that message, you have to explain it to them so that it is easy for them to understand and follow through with.

After all, what happens when you get to that advertiser's site and product is not there? Suppose you see a picture of product, but no information about how to purchase it? Would you buy it upon looking at first glance? In your busy day, would you look around website for a few minutes to try to figure out how to purchase it? Would you find an email address and write to advertiser and ask? Most people would not. Most potential customers would simply go to next site or next email if what they see from a first impression is not what they expect.

Suppose that message WAS there? Suppose you saw product, and you read about how great that product was and what it could do. Then, suppose you were really hyped up about that product, but could find no information about what to do in order to get that product for yourself. The advertiser just lost a sale. In about three or four weeks, you will go to your local shopping center and then you may see that product. Chances are, you will buy that product from them. But, advertiser who sold product to you will get nothing to support advertising dollars that they spent telling you about product.

If you own your own web site, and you spend quite a bit of time maintaining information on that website, then you understand frustration that comes with telling someone about a great book and having them buy it from another bookstore rather than you, so you can support your work. That's why making sure you give your potential recruits information they need is important. Most people, by nature, want to support something they believe in. If you don't offer them a way to do that, they won't.