Affiliate Services

What services does an affiliate need? Well I can only tell you what this affiliate uses but there might be something of interest amongst this. In other posts I’ll take a look at what software I use and how I work but for now here are some services that I pay for each month.

• Hosting - you need a decent web host who isn’t going to let you down and preferably based in the country you are targetting. We use a dedicated server from Dedipower for the important stuff and I host some other sites with Hostroute, DSVR & Webtapestry. I’ve been using them all for a while now and while none of them are prefect they are all pretty good. I always use a Linux host with PHP & MySQL. cPanel is a handy control panel too which is available with the Hostroute package
• Domains - the affiliate addiction problem is buying way more domains than you have time to use and so I like the low prices at 123-reg which means this is never too much of a mistake. £6.09 for a .co.uk for two years is a good price including the flexibility that their control panel gives.
• Clipart - I subscribe to clipart.com which offers me some inspiration from time to time. The cartoon clipart is pretty poor but I like the Photo Objects.
• VOIP - from Gradwell. I don’t get many calls so the reduced line rental compared to BT makes a difference. Call quality isn’t always great but I like the flexibility. I can just unplug my VOIP adapter from my router and plug it in to a router anywhere in the world and still use the same land line number.
• Google Adwords - it’s kind of a love/hate relationship. Adwords is my biggest monthly expense and on one hand it’s the key to making money each month but I do feel there are doing what they can to squeeze out affiliates