Do You Really Need a Website to Promote Affiliate Products?

By Jude C Wright

When you begin your journey in the work at home business, you will come across many gurus and professionals who say that one of the first things that you will need to be successful is a website. However, you can make money online without the aid of a website. In the early years of the internet, it was much easier to receive an income without the use of websites and your own personal pages, and although it is a bit more difficult now, it can still be done.

BUM Article Marketing - This type of article writing deals with the use of unpopular keywords and phrases. If you have a website that is trying to market candles, you cannot create an article with the keyword "candle" and expect to get a great spot in the search engines. To get ahead of your competition, you need to learn how to use "long tail keywords". You need to think of words that the average web surfer would type into the search bar, if they are looking for specific candles. In an article you would use a keyword such as "yellow flower soy candle blooms in jar". You are explaining the type of candle, the color and maybe the fragrance using a few short words. The short keyword "candle" brings up 56,500,000 results when typed into Google but "yellow flower soy candle blooms in jar" shows that you only have to contend with 4,270 other websites. It may take some time to think of keywords that are not popular but if you do it right, you can place very high when someone types in that special keyword combination.

Ezine Advertising - Ezines are popular and widely used with businesses and individuals who would like to grow their lists and potential customer base. You can search for popular and trusted ezines and once found, select the ones that closely match your product and core audience. You don't want to advertise your pet ebooks and products in an ezine that talks about stamps.

Blogging - Blogs are easy to create and quickly indexed by most search engines. There are also many tools and services that are only available for blog owners. You have the choice of paying for a blog service or using a free one such as Google's Blogger. Both have their pros and cons, but you can create your own look and content easily make blog posts that are relevant to your topics. They are also a great way to keep visitors coming back for more on a daily basis.

Forums - If you have spent any amount of time on the internet, you may be a member at different online forums. There are many forums that discuss one more topics and events and you are likely to find special sections that deal with the products and services that you would like to advertise. Avoid messages that look and feel like spam. Do a quick search or message the forum owner to find out the rules on forum signatures. If allowed, you can easily place your links below your messages, a prominent spot that will be seen by anonymous visitors and forum members alike.

PPC Advertising - You can pay for Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and achieve immediate results in the forum of new visitors that will be taken straight to your affiliate links. It is best to have your own page that you can use to pre-sell your affiliate products, but you can get signups and commissions with just your affiliate link.

Best to have your own website

Having your own website will open up more opportunities for you to create your own content around your affiliate programs. You want to be unique and using the pages created by your affiliate will not help you to stand out in front of your competition. With a website of your own, you can pull together more than one affiliate program and their products by creating websites for one topic. Having your own website is not mandatory when it comes to making money online but it is highly recommended.

Jude Wright has been the owner of http://aboutaffiliatemarketing.com since 2002. Stop by and pick up her free report, Newbie's Affiliate Guide.