Web affiliates come in many varieties. Some publish ads like adsense on their websites. Others actively sell affiliate products to receive commissions. But the top affiliates are able to create their own lead capture pages and squeeze pages quickly and easily.
Building a list is a must when you are an online marketer. Think about it. If someone visits your site and clicks on a contextual ad (like Google's adsense), you get paid pennies. If you're selling affiliate products, you might make anywhere between a few dollars and a few hundred. But if you have your own list, you can send them promotions every single day and make that money over and over again.
List building gives you the ability to test offers. When someone comes to your web page, generally it is your only chance to make a sale. But only about one in ten of your site visitors will actually click on something or purchase something that will provide you with pay. Most of the time, they leave for good after one visit without buying anything.
But imagine if you had a nice bribe on your website. Something the web searcher was looking for. They would be very likely to give you their email to get that free information, and then you'd be able to market to them over and over again.
When you're ready to make the leap and become a list builder, know that your web affiliate business will thrive. Search on Google for lead capture page and squeeze page creation tutorials.