Isn’t Coolblue the famous web store where many people spend their hard-earned money? Completely correct! On the other hand, you can also earn money with Coolblue. As soon as you promote products on your own website, you will receive a payment for this. That amount can ultimately add up considerably. How do you build a successful partner website with WordPress?
Tip 01: Affiliate marketing
Before you start a complete website, we first explain the operation of the Voolblue partner program. The intention is to put visitors through your website www.coolblue.nl end up. As soon as a visitor buys something at the web store, you as a partner receive a percentage of the order as a financial reward. The referral is done through hyperlinks. This form of internet marketing is called affilliate marketing in professional jargon. The amount of the reimbursement depends on the product sold. For example, for a travel suitcase the commission is ten percent, while for an SLR you only receive one percent commission. Curious about the reward percentages of all products? Go to www.coolblue.nl/affiliate and click View commissions for all products.
Try to come up with an original perspective for a partner website. This could for example be a weblog about personal care or a review site with DIY items. It is important that the website has sufficient potential to attract many visitors. If there are already countless websites on the intended topic, it is difficult to get your website high in Google. So take a look at the competition. Furthermore, always choose a subject that has your personal interest. Building a successful partner site requires a long breath.
Tip 01 View which categories yield a high commission.
Tip 02: Domain and hosting
Have you come up with a good perspective for the partner website? Then registering a suitable domain name is the next step. A strong URL covers the load of your website. If you focus on the Dutch market, a domain name with .nl extension is obvious. surf to www.sidn.nl and try out your fabrications in the input field. In practice, finding a suitable domain name is still quite a challenge; many web addresses are already taken. Is there a name free that you would like to use as a web address? click on register now to show different hosting providers. Through Show more registars more providers appear.
A hosting provider makes a web server available for a fee on which you can publish the partner website. This makes the web address always accessible for visitors. For a domain name including hosting, you pay a few tens per year at most providers. As an example for this article, we decide the domain www.hoofdtelefoonexpert.nl register with Hosting2Go. On this we promote headphones that visitors can order at Coolblue.
Tip 02 Check with SIDN whether a domain name is still available.
Tip 03: WordPress
WordPress is an excellent tool for beginners and advanced users to build a great website. You do not need programming knowledge. Once you have chosen a domain name and hosting package, you will receive login details for an online management panel from the hosting provider. The management panel calls the provider, for example, the control panel or hosting manager.
It is advantageous that almost all hosting providers support an automatic installation of WordPress. That saves a lot of work. You do not need to send installation files to an ftp server or create a database manually. View in the management panel of your hosting provider from which menu section you can install WordPress. For example, Hosting2Go customers go to Install web apps / app, after which they are at the bottom WordPress choose for to install. It is important that you enter the root of the web server as the location. Also think of a username and password. You will use this information in the future to log in to WordPress. Complete the installation of WordPress on the web server.
Tip 03 You install WordPress within a few minutes from the online management panel of the hosting provider.
You don’t need programming knowledge for WordPress
Tip 04: Open the dashboard
Once WordPress is installed on the web server, you will design the website. surf to www.jouwwebsite.nl/wp-admin, after which you log in with the username and password. The dashboard of your WordPress site appears. Browse around without obligation and get to know the user environment. First of all, you go through a number of essential issues. Chances are that you did not install the most recent version of WordPress via the automatic script from the hosting provider. For safety’s sake, that is necessary. Click on the left side of the menu below Dashboard on Updates. If there is a new version, click on the blue button Edit now. It is useful to know that you can also install updates to installed plug-ins and themes at this location, even if this is a matter of later concern.
Navigate to Settings / General and enter a suitable subtitle. Think carefully about what you enter here, because this subtitle is visible in Google search results and is usually also visible in the header of your site. Furthermore, choose the correct time zone and the desired date and time format. Finally save the settings via Saving Changes.
Tip 04 Always use the latest version of WordPress for security reasons.
Logo design
A good website always has a recognizable logo. You can of course do something yourself in a graphic program such as Paint or GIMP, but that usually takes a lot of time. For a quick design, the web service LogoMakr is a great alternative. surf to www.logomakr.com and watch the introductory video. A logo usually has a logo, such as in our example a headset for the website www.hoofdtelefoonexpert.nl. The LogoMakr catalog has more than one million images, so there is probably something useful in between. Do use English search terms.
After you have found a suitable logo, type the name of the website. Use for example decorative letters with a striking color. Are you satisfied? Click on the top right on Save logo (diskette icon). If you want to save the logo in a high resolution, LogoMakr asks for a contribution of 19 dollars (around 17 euros). This is useful when you want to use the logo in a large format, for example on a t-shirt or poster. For online use, a high resolution is not necessarily required. In that case, click on at the bottom no thanks, Download Low Resolution file. Finally save the file.
LogoMakr meets the requirements for creating simple logos.
Tip 05: Choose theme
If you visit the current website, the user environment looks very bald. The standard WordPress theme is still active. By designating a different theme, you can change the layout, colors and navigation structure in one go. You can later adjust the design to your own taste. Navigate within the dashboard to Display / Themes and choose Add new. WordPress has all kinds of beautiful themes. You can use it for free. Do you have something beautiful in mind? Hover the mouse pointer over the theme and click Example. When you like the new style, confirm with to install. Through Activate the brand new design is immediately visible on your website.
Tip 05 Try out different WordPress themes and make a choice.
With a theme you can change the layout, colors and menus of your website in one go
Tip 06: External theme
A disadvantage of the standard WordPress themes is that website administrators use them on a large scale. If you prefer a more unique design with more options, you can consider a paid theme as an alternative. A professional team keeps the design up-to-date so that you know for sure that your website has a long shelf life. The website often also looks slicker.
For use on www.hoofdtelefoonexpert.nl in our example we decide to use the “Extra” theme of Elegant Themes to install. This style has been optimized for processing review scores of tested products. Ideal for our aim to promote Coolblue headphones. For an annual fee of $ 89 (approx. €80), customers have unlimited access to a catalog of hundreds of professional themes. In addition to Elegant Themes, there are many more good locations, another well-known site is ThemeForest.
Once you have found a suitable theme, you save a zip file on the computer. Navigate within the WordPress dashboard to Display / Themes and click on at the top Add new. Choose at the top for Upload theme and select via Choose File the locally saved zip file. Then click Install now. Through Activate the new baking theme is immediately visible on the website.
Tip 06 With the right paid theme you give the website a professional look.
Tip 07: Change theme
If you have chosen a good theme, the design of your website will probably start to look like something. You easily adjust the colors, font, logo and all kinds of other layout settings to your hand. Go in WordPress to Display / Customizer and go through all settings at your own discretion.
Changes appear immediately on screen and are only saved if you indicate it. This way you can first view everything as a preview without actually changing the site. Take a moment to do this, because there are quite a few options that can be adjusted. You may not know the meaning of every option, but that is not a disaster. Just try it out. You will adjust the design later if necessary. Use the icons at the bottom left and view how the website looks on a smartphone, tablet or regular monitor.
Satisfied? Click on the top left To publish. With the cross you return to the dashboard. Extensive (paid) themes usually add their own menu item in WordPress. Here you can adjust all kinds of advanced formatting functions, so that you can change the design in detail.
Tip 07 Change the standard layout of the installed theme with the so-called Customizer.
Theme updates
You naturally want to install fresh updates of your theme immediately. A paid theme often requires an API key for this. You can request this from the professional design provider. For example, do you have an account with Elegant Themes , you will find this key via Account / Account details / Api keys. Copy the code to the correct input field of the theme settings within WordPress and save the changes.
Use a valid API key in WordPress for updates on a paid theme.
Tip 08: Register Coolblue
The website has been built, so now the promotional work for Coolblue can begin. You do that by publishing articles online. Before you start typing texts enthusiastically, you must first register with the Coolblue affiliate program. After approval you can start applying affiliate links to products from the popular web store on your partner website. You receive money when visitors follow a link and then order products.
surf to www.coolblue.nl/affiliate and click Register. Enter your personal details now. Also type a username and password. Coolblue would like to know how you are promoting. This can be a news site or blog, for example. You must also specify a field of expertise. Enter the URL of the partner website below and enter a short description. Have you filled in all fields fairly? Then click To send. Coolblue will assess your application in the short term. After approval you will receive a confirmation e-mail and you have access to the affiliate program. Coolblue usually handles requests within a few working days.
Tip 08 Register your website as an Coolblue partner via an online form.
Receive money when visitors order products through Coolblue via your partner website
Tip 09: Partnerize
Coolblue works with Partnerize for its affiliate program. This company keeps track of exactly which visitors are on your website www.coolblue.nl and how much money they spend in the webshop. Once Coolblue has approved the application, log in to the website of Partnerize. At the top left you can choose the Dutch language if you want. It is important that you know how to create so-called trace links to products on Coolblue.
Open a fresh tab in the browser and search for a product www.coolblue.nl that you want to promote on your own website. Copy at the top of the url of this product page. Then click on the top of the Partnerize account page Tracking. Select on the left Coolblue NL and paste in the field behind Deeplink the Coolblue URL. Bee Link for tracking a very long web address now appears. You use this url for promotional purposes on your own website. Coolblue notices from this link which visitors are coming from your website. If they spend money in the webshop, a financial reward follows! In the following tip you can read how to use a tracking link in an article on your website. In Partnerize, click behind the trace link To copy.
Tip 09 Create trace links to Coolblue products in Partnerize and use these URLs on your website.
Get high in Google
The success of this affiliate marketing project stands or falls with the ranking in Google. If the website with high-quality keywords is high in the list of search engine results, you will probably receive many visitors. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Realizing a good ranking in Google is a job in itself. In general it helps when other websites link to your website. Make sure you also have memberful alternative pages and online articles in which your focus keywords regularly appear. The Yoast SEO plug-in encourages users to optimize a WordPress site for Google. Install this extension via Plugins / New plugin.
Yoast SEO indicates with concrete points for improvement how you can optimize a new message for Google.
Tip 10: New message
Once you know how to create tracking links to Coolblue products, simply use these links in a new message. Go in WordPress to Messages / New message and come up with a catchy title. Now type the rest of the text and use the formatting functions in the toolbar as you see fit. You can add extra elements to the message via the plus sign, such as a header, audio clip, image or gallery.
Do you want to create a link to a Coolblue product? Select a word or phrase and click the paper clip icon in the toolbar. Then paste the tracking link you created in the previous tip within the input field. You then click on the arrow pointing down and activate the option Open in new tab. Confirm with the icon To apply (left arrow). The trace link is now active!
Now go through all options in the right-hand column and, if desired, link categories and tags to the message. Furthermore, do not forget to point out a so-called highlighted image, because it will end up with most themes on the main page. Satisfied? Click on the top right Publish.
Tip 10 Process a Coolblue link in a new message.
Static web pages
We have worked with messages above, but you can also use the trace links on static pages. This is useful, for example, when you want to publish background information whose content does not change that often. Go to Pages / New page. Adding trace links works the same as with a new message. When using multiple web pages you adjust the navigation structure of the partner website to your own insight. In that case, go to View / Menus.
Static web pages are suitable, among other things, to provide the visitor with background information.