subject: Getting Started with an Affiliate Marketing Website [print this page] An affiliate website is a pretty basic modelAn affiliate website is a pretty basic model. Simply put, the affiliate website attempts to sell products or services of other businesses. In return you are paid a commission for either direct sells or in some cases just for referrals or leads. The great thing about this model is that you don't have to worry about inventory or customer service. The bad thing is that you are limited as to what percentage of the profit you make from a sell.
After you decide what you want to sell, to get started you need to address three areas. First you need a website. Second you need products or services you can refer visitor so. Finally, you need people to visit your website. The great thing is that you can get all of these things for little to no money.
Selecting what you want to sell is an important first step. While the topic for another article, it is important that you select products or services that will be in demand and deliver buyers. Choices range from niche products that have relatively small but loyal buyers, for instance Yankees memorabilia fans, or a large buyer pool, for instance baseball memorabilia. Make sure you research the topic, find out who your competitors will be, and think about how you will best get buyers to come to your site.
Once you've decided what to sell, the first thing to do is get a website up and running. This can as simple as a blog site or as complex as a custom hosted website. While there are reasons for both ends, I recommend cutting your teeth' with a simple, free (or almost) website. Consider a free blog site from Google Blogger, or WordPress. You can get a relatively unique domain name for free and set-up is extremely simple. As an alternative, consider registering a domain with a hosting service like 1and1 or GoDaddy. You can get a basic website of a few dollars a month and have the advantage of having a completely unique domain like (your-products.com). If you have a website already, consider adding complementary affiliate links to the existing site. For instance in the Yankee's example, if you have a stats' site already in place, consider adding memorabilia affiliate links.
Getting Started with an Affiliate Marketing Website
