I launched an affiliate site over the weekend. It was a bit of an experiment for me and I wanted to write down the process and results.

A couple of months ago on a whim I registered the domain (shut your eyes if you are offended easily) stopwatchingfuckinglost.com after talking about Gary Vaynerchuk to some of my friends.

The domain was taken from a quote in the first video I ever saw of Gary – his Web 2.0 keynote speech in 2008.

At the time I was working day and night to get my consultancy up and running, had just started this blog and what he said resonated with me – the idea of really knowing your subject before you try to make a living from it, working hard, knowing who you are and embracing the ‘hustle’ involved with business creation and growth.

When I bought the domain I had no idea what I would do with it. I’ve thought briefly about it every so often and while I was browsing garyvaynerchuk.com I watched this video about his new book being available for pre-order.

I’d signed up to be an Amazon affiliate with intentions of selling books from another domain that is in development so I thought – here we go – there’s my business goal for the site.

I sketched out a design, had a think about the content and social media aspects of the site and settled on creating a simple one page site with rich media and network sharing tools via Twitter and Email.

I got about creating the site – using Tweetmeme button for the Twitter sharing tool and FreeTellaFriend for the email a friend tool.

I embedded the keynote speech with the magic words in it, into the page and wrote a diddy about how inspiring Gary Vaynerchuk is and with his lessons anyone can make a living doing something they love with a picture of the new book and an affiliate link.

Got the go ahead from Gary (yes an actual email, HOW EXCITING!) and launched the site.

Within 20 minutes I’d taken the site down.

Why?

Because the content of the site was all about me and what I wanted to get out of it. It was all about why it’s a great idea to buy this book and it was all about getting the visitor to click on that affiliate link and purchase the book.

It didn’t offer anything new or exciting or useful to the visitor – why would they pass it on? I wouldn’t.

I had a think about my audience – people who know about Gary Vee like to talk about him – his charm is the inspiration he offers and his direct way of delivering that inspiration.

The answer was in the domain – a page with inspirational business/web 2.0/doing-what-you-love-to-make-a-living quotes – that’s something I’d pass on while still being inspired to pre order the book – reaching my business goal for the site.

So that’s what’s up there now. It’s a work in progress. If you haven’t heard of Gary please watch the video it’s WELL worth the time. If you have – I’d love to hear what your favorite Gary Vee quote is!

Related posts:

1. A peek behind the scenes of twitterguide.com.au & the Twitter for Business E-book
2. A Gold Coast Location Independent Experiment

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Behind the Scenes, Strategies