Step 1 : Pick a name that dictates you from the start.

You want people’s first impression of you to be that of a self-proclaimed badass, chances are they’ll believe it. Examples :

UBERaffiliate.com
shoeMONEY.com
SUPERAFFILIATEmindset.com
CASHtactics.net

In the least, include something like “I Make Money Online By Telling People How I Make Money Online” in the title of your blog. All people want from your blog (in most cases) is to learn how to make money. Remember…you don’t actually have to be an uber affiliate, you just need people to think you are.

Step 2 : Regurgitate some already known tips.

Go to my affiliate marketing guide, or visit other affiliate marketing blogs around the web. Read all the content that’s been talked about a billion times (like how to track with php, why more content on your site gives you a better quality score, how to write adcopy, etc). Use words like “laser-targeted” and “server side tracking”. You don’t even have to know what you mean by that, it just makes you sound pro.

Step 3 : B/s current events.

Bring up some fancy Google Trends swine flu graph :

And talk about the huge spike in the graph, and that you should be capitalizing on selling immune system rebill products. Now people will think you’re keeping up with current events, and they can check back on your blog for more current events. Even though you pointed out an obvious fact and just pulled a Google Trends graph. Case in point. Not many comments on that post but that’s because it was one of the first. It did it’s job.

Step 4 : Land a big guest post somewhere to explode your readership.

By this point, you have a name like DancingWithTheSuperAffiliates.com and a tagline like “Ex-Blackhat Conman” to give people the impression that you’re straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie. You also have a small reserve of posts that are going to make you look like you know what you’re talking about, and that you keep up with the industry. It’s time to get your readers.

This could be one of the most difficult steps, because you actually have to write something that’s worth a guest post somewhere. For me, I had to sacrifice breaking Facebook ads on Shoemoney to get my readers. It was a great article though and I think I had over 1,000 readers a week later. Once you have a kick-start like that, your readers will start linking to your future posts, about regurgitated tips and common sense current events.

Step 5 : The Earnings Screenshot

This one is absolutely necessary if you want a following that will pause their campaigns at your will/recommendation.

As demonstrated by previous heroes of our past, you can completely fake the screenshot. If you’re then caught doing so (which you have to be really stupid), just come back and say “EDIT : This edit came in before people called me out. That check isn’t mine, I only posted the picture for entertainment purposes. I did make that money though…”

Step 6 : Linkbait and Commotion

Any decent blogger can be good at writing link bait. Have you noticed the hundred links in this post already? Also I don’t mean it’s required that you get a ton of links back to your article, starting a good fuss in the comments section usually does the trick as well. You want to keep people engaged in your blog, and also entertain them. I think people like when I post something they don’t agree with, because they get to speak up against me.

Step 7 : Ads, Review Posts, etc

Things like ads and review posts can add a sense of legitimacy I think in a blog. If people are buying ad spots and review posts, the blog must be worth something. Keep in mind, nobody actually has to buy a review post/ad spot for it to look like they have. Put in some affiliate network ads and review posts (that they didn’t ask you to do) and pop in your referral link.

…

Follow all these steps and you may actually turn yourself into the super affiliate you’re claiming to be. You’ll make money from the ads to put into PPC, and have networks begging you for your traffic that doesn’t exist.

Cool people (and friends) mentioned in this post :

Me
Shoemoney
John Chow
Chad (CDF)
Kris (Cash Tactics)
Cakes

BlogGears.com just launched a couple days ago and it’s a pretty neat idea. You make a video with a 60-90 second pitch of your blog, and then you post it up on BlogGears and other people in the blogosphere can watch and rate them. It’s a pretty cool way to discover new blogs. One suggestion : you have to upload it first to a video host like Youtube and send the link…def needs to just get it’s own hosting. I’m friends with the founder (this isn’t a paid review), and he plans on getting everything hosted himself soon.

Anyways check it out and give my blog a thumbs up.

After 5 comments, he received a large goose egg, 0 visits from Chow. After 5 comments on my blog, he got over 85 hits to his blog – a lot of them good quality too. Sorry Chow I’m just the man and you know it. You can see all the results here.

Point of this story being: comment my blog more. Fo real though, it’s proof that simply commenting and involving yourself in other blogs is a great way to network and drive traffic to your own sites. So if you read somebodies blog, make sure to drop a comment on the post!

• Networking. A blog is such an amazing networking tool, and I never stop talking about how much networking is key. People know who I am, know my status in the industry, and know that they can come to me if they want to do business. Networking evolves into friendships, which evolve into connections.
• Status. Affiliate networks know who I am, and know that I can drive serious traffic. They’re going to out out of their way to contact me asking me to join the network, and offer me things like exclusive offers and white labels.
• Power. With an authority affiliate blog, power in the industry will be in your hands. Because of your status, negotiations with affiliate networks become much easier. Managers will vouch for you because they know who you are through your blog. They’ll get you the extra $1 on the payout because they know you’ll make it worth it to them.
• More money. All these connections and all this power will lead you to make more money. You’ll see offers that you normally wouldn’t see, you’ll get custom pages that you wouldn’t normally get, and even the blog itself will make money. I use affiliate marketing in my blog to make money. It doesn’t make much, but one referral made me $500 this month and I didn’t have to do a thing.
• Good karma. Unless you’re a ruthless monster, helping thousands of affiliate marketers makes you feel pretty good at the end of the day. Good things happen to those who do good, that’s been my experience (I’m a realist as well and know that bad things happen to good people all the time). I try and give away as much as I can without jeopardizing my business. The more I give, the better my blog becomes and the more connections/power/money I make from it. It’s a trade-off.

Cons of Having an Affiliate Blog

• Status. It’s a pro and a con at the same time. I can’t count the number of IMs/emails I get from fans and fellow affiliate marketers from this blog. I simply don’t have time to answer them all, that’s why any affiliate advice I give away, I give it away on this blog. Just keep that in mind if you start a blog of your own and it takes off. You’ll go crazy trying to talk to 20 people while working on campaigns at the same time.
• Snoops. People know I’m the UberAffiliate, they’ll spend hours snooping around looking for my landing pages. Some have found some of my pages in the past and it’s not a big deal since knowing my pages won’t reveal too many of my secrets, but it’s still a risk you’re going to have to deal with. People will constantly try to find out what you promote.
• Time. Blogging takes up a lot of my time. I blog because I love it though, so it doesn’t bother me that much. Writing every day can get difficult and stressful at times though, and may distract you from the campaigns that are making you the real money. Aside from writing, you deal with things like advertisers, new themes, logos, newsletters, etc. UberAffiliate takes up a crapload of my time and barely makes any money in itself, but the connections make it pay off and I like helping everybody so it all works out for me.
• Haters. My advice is don’t blog if you can’t take people hating you with a passion. I have people all the time that tell me how much they hate me because they think I’m a faker and Photoshop all my stats. Most people get mad because of jealousy. It doesn’t really bother me anymore now that I’m used to it, but just be prepared.

Pros of Being a Closet Affiliate

• Nobody searching for your pages. If nobody knows who you are, there’s a very low chance they’re going to go out and search for your pages. It still happens to big guys, but blogging puts you at a much higher risk of this.
• More time. You can spend all the time you want on campaigns and not have to worry about writing a blog post.
• Connections are still possible. To keep it real here, you don’t need to have a blog to have good connections. All of my biggest connections don’t have a blog. Once you get to a certain point, you meet somebody who introduces you to somebody else, and then you meet up at a conference or something.

Cons of Being a Closet Affiliate

• People don’t come to you. Affiliate networks don’t know who you are, so why would they randomly email you and show you all these exclusive offers and payouts.
• Connections are harder. You can make just as good connections without having a blog, it’s just easier with a blog because a lot of people come to you, instead of you going to them.

As you can tell, my “closet lists” are a lot shorter. Primarily because I covered most of the stuff in the first two lists.

Alright alright, taking all of this into perspective, what is my real advice to you affiliate marketers out there?

If you enjoy writing and helping people and can do it pretty frequently, I recommend starting an affiliate marketing blog.

I’d say that this blog has been well worth it, and that’s why I recommend blogging. But if I didn’t have a slight passion to write and help people, this blog wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is. You need to be able to churn out useful articles and not be afraid to push the bar on how much information you give out. If you can do all this, then running a blog may help you a lot in your connections, negotiations, and payouts.