AFFILIATE MARKETING
Let us start with, “what is Affiliate Marketing”, well in a nutshell, we refer to a product or service, you click on a link which takes you to the supplier’s website, if you purchase the product or service, Root4Plant will hopefully receive a commission. It is a “win win win” scenario, you get something that you need or want, the supplier sells their product or service and Root4Plant make a commission, monetising our website.
So yes, to be clear we are looking to make a profit and establish a sustainable enterprise, Affiliate Marketing will hopefully be one of Root4Plant’s revenue streams. The concept is great in the sense, that you get something that you need or want (please focus on what you need, think twice if it’s just something that you want, don’t just buy and always do your own research). The supplier gets the maximum use of their advertising spend, by marketing directly to those that have an interest in their goods and services. We receive a commission for our time spent in researching the goods and services, creating content and concepts.
Whilst this may be considered a passive form of income, it really is not, a great deal of thought and work is involved in the overall process. Right, now, let us crack on, this really is meant to be part of the fun side of the website, so whilst other sites might stick to one specific theme, we’re a bit more diverse in our thought processes. We will have a few gadgets, hobbies, sports thrown in, along with the more obvious Finance related products and services.
Website Design, Hosting & Development
This was new to us and took some time to research and develop ….. it is a perpetual work in progress. The idea being to learn a new skill and test a few concepts. We had to struggle along the way, it really is one of the best and most rewarding ways to learn. A short term and easy way out would have been to merely purchase a ready made site, however we have bigger ideas and this will be a key building.
We had to be able to create something unique ….. not something that was just bought off the shelf, with a limited look and feel, that said, we still needed something that was fairly user friendly.
After much thought and consideration we decided to go for a combination of let us call them “Eco systems”. We chose WordPress as our main website platform, estimates at the time of writing (2022) note that over 40% of websites globally are WordPress sites. We may be “The Crazy Accountant”, however those are fairly convincing numbers. Additionally WordPress would enable us to build our own unique site as there are so many themes and “Plug-Ins” available due to the number of websites based on WordPress.
Now we needed a Website Hosting platform ….. we chose Bluehost, for a number of reasons, importantly it is recommended by the WordPress team. As the 2 “Eco systems” are closely aligned the integration should be seamless.
Bluehost WordPress hosting keep your WordPress software updated for you (not all hosting solutions offer this), websites are backed up and there is the option of a staging site.
The sites are optimised for speed and uptime. Additionally they can provide e-mail hosting, domain registrations and renewals, flexibility in terms of packages and upgrades, as your site grows, so do the solutions and support available to you.
They had “Blue” in their title, not the primary reason to select them, never the less a plus for us in keeping with one of our Primary Corporate colours.
They also offered a great Affiliate Marketing program, if we were going to be putting in a great deal of time and effort into developing the website and business, it was logical to leverage the time invested in the process and generate a revenue stream. Once again we support the concept of a mutually beneficial partnership for all parties.
After weighing up the costs, the flexibility, a number of other factors, Bluehost was the logical choice for us. We enjoyed doing the research and recommend that you do the same. If you do choose Bluehost it would be appreciated if you could sign up via our Affiliate link.
We required variety in terms of Fonts, setups, themes, “Astra” offered a great “Plug-In” for WordPress, “Gutenberg Blocks”, the historical significance of this name was just too great to resist, the Gutenberg Press democratised knowledge and enabling innovation.
The impact in terms of global knowledge and collective upliftment still hasn’t been matched to this day, one could argue the internet has had an equivalent impact, however it would not have existed without the Gutenberg Press, the world as we know it would be very different, with valuable knowledge only being accessible by an elite few
The world was a far richer place as a result.
Only time will tell if the internet’s impact will be of a similar scale, it most probably will, let’s just hope that its impact is as positive.
We also chose Astra as they offered the most popular and light weight themes, an important consideration to enable the fast loading of webpages. Additionally being named “Astra” we could aim for the stars.
Newsletters And Social Media
Sendinblue! This is the first Affiliate Program that have added us to their program on, 17/05/2022. As such a big thank-you upfront.
Now why Sendinblue and why a specialised Newsletter e-mailing service provider (and so much more)? Well ….. and these are just a few reasons, which we’ll explore further in a separate article.
- GDPR compliance -> critically important in the EU & as a result it’s setup is geared towards Privacy in other regions by default.
- They offer so much more, which we’ll be investigating during our entrepreneurial journey.
- Global presence.
- Excellent reviews in Google searches.
- We needed an automated system in place from the start. Setting up a manual “offline” mailing list, trying to obtain consent, removing subscribers, tracking feedback ….. well that was just not an option.
- An added bonus, the basic package starts with a 0 cost at the time of writing (May 2022), it allows you to send 300 e-mails a day, which is more than sufficient, when starting up your business and finding your feet. A free CRM system is also included on the free plan ….. an even bigger bonus.
- As you grow (partnering with Sendinblue increases your chances), you can easily upgrade to a higher plan, with a transparent and easy to understand pricing model (life is complex as it is, we really don’t want to add complexity).
- Another happy coincidence, or …. was it? Yes and no (or “Ja Nee” as we’d say in South Africa), they have “Blue” in their name, matching with our company colours (our own “triclour” of “Blue”, Green & Black), it just made sense.
We have selected Sendinblue at the start of our journey, with the option to to grow. If you want to give it a try, we would appreciate it, if you start your exploration via the following link:
