How Can I Create My Own Website & Why Do I Need One?

The most common questions I see asked by people wanting to start doing affiliate marketing are “Do I need my own website?” and “How can I create my own Website?” and then lastly, “Can’t I use a free website?” Let’s look at these three questions in this article.

Do I Need My Own Website?

This is a GREAT question. When I started in this business I asked exactly the same thing.

I had precisely ZERO knowledge of how to create a website and the thought just terrified me. I thought to myself that ‘how can I create my own website’ was a distant dream and something that I could never do. I then opted to use Blogger.com which offers a free blogging platform.

It would be so much easier, so I thought, to use a website that I could get for free, and that was already set up for me., particularly as there are so many free websites available.

I spent some time setting up my blog and writing articles. I even made a bit of money by placing some Google ads on the blog.

Unfortunately, as soon as I started to promote other products, my blog was promptly shut down as they considered it spammy.

I was most annoyed as I couldn’t even get my articles back that I had spent so much time writing.

So moral of the story: If you want to blog for fun, by all means, use one of the free blogging platforms out there and know that the website will never truly be yours.

However, if you want to make money, you are going to have to get your own website set up, and although it’s a learning curve like anything else, it is actually not as difficult as people make it out to be.

Let me be blunt here.

Your website is integral to the success of your business. YOUR website, not somebody else’s.

If you don’t spend at least a little time getting to learn the basics you will be constantly nervous when working from home, as there will be a huge part of your business that you ‘don’t really understand.’

Clearly, you cannot operate like this.

What happens when something goes wrong, or you want to make a very simple change to your site? Will you call up your technical person or your web buddy every time? Will you outsource all your web questions to someone else?

Your website is the life blood of your business. Get used to it. If you really are serious about making money from home, you need to get over your website building fear.

Here are some more reasons you might want your own blog site

How Can I Create My Own Website?

The best place to start building your website (if you want to start for free, and then have the option to upgrade at a later date without losing all your hard work) is right here.

Think of a name for your website and click here to start your website for free. You will need to fill out your profile and then you can take advantage of some great free training to get your website up and running.

This is the easiest way to start your website and you won’t need to know any technical jargon. Within minutes your website will be there for you to just start adding your content.

The training will tell you what you need to know about how to work within WordPress, as well as how to get started if you would like to generate a profit generating website.

As you probably know already, WordPress is the platform that most successful affiliate marketers use to build their online businesses on, and if you are serious about starting an online business, my suggestion is to start getting comfortable with WordPress.

Once you have seen how easy it is to start building your website, I strongly recommend that you upgrade, especially if you want to turn your website into a business for yourself.

For the cost of a meal out, you will have the potential to generate a living for yourself online with a sustainable online business that will work for you for years to come.

Can’t I Use A Free Website?

It’s true, you can get free websites. Many fully operational with products ready to sell already included. So why on earth would you bother going through all the work to create your own website, when you can get a professional looking one – for free?

What I am about to tell you, nobody in the business explained to me.

Be clear on the fact that the only ‘free’ website you will ever be offered is a ‘free’ AFFILIATE website.

Let’s look at exactly what this is:

An affiliate – quite simply – is somebody (you) who promotes an existing product.

An affiliate will sign up to a certain program and will sell the product(s) from that program (be it books/clothes/seminars etc).

As an affiliate, you will be paid a commission on every sale you generate.

An example is Amazon.com which is a hugely successful business. But did you know you can get involved and sell their products if you want, by signing up to be an Amazon Affiliate (they call it an Associate – but it is the same thing). Then, through your own website, you can sell whatever products you like of Amazon’s.

You may well have seen the Amazon logo on other people’s website. If you click on this logo you will be sent to Amazon.com, and if you purchase the product that the website you were viewing was advertising, Amazon will pay the website owner a commission.

This works well for both parties; Amazon benefit because they have thousands of other sellers (affiliates) marketing their products. And the affiliates benefit because they have quality products to sell.

A lot of affiliate programs have realized that people do not want to go to the trouble of creating their own site, and so offer free sites already set up with their products and ready to go when you sign up as an affiliate.

Although this sounds great on paper there are both pros and cons to this and it is important that you understand how this works.

The Pros Of Having A Free Affiliate Website

• The affiliiate industry is massive and worldwide earns over $9.5 billion annually.
• Affiliate marketing is a great business to get into because you don’t need experience to start and you can earn some good commissions by selling other peoples products.
• Thousands of people have quit their full-time jobs to become affiliate marketers.
• You get a web presence immediately, and this, in turn, builds up your confidence to market your website.
• It is really easy to get a free affiliate website up and running. Type in the word ‘affiliate’ into Google and see how many offers there are.

The Cons Of Having A Free Affiliate Website

• If you don’t have any experience in marketing, it doesn’t matter how hot your site looks, if you can’t get visitors, you won’t sell anything.
• Having a site full of great products is not enough. You need to know how to do SEO in order to get your site found in the search engines. I learned everything I know about SEO and Keyword Research with this company.
• Most people fail at being affiliates as they think that simply having a site full of great products is enough. Getting a site stocked with products is only half of it. You need to learn the skills needed to market your site and get traffic in order to make sales.
• Most website owners won’t tell you that they had actually spent years building their sites and learning the necessary skills before they could fire their bosses.
• As a newcomer, you may not have a list to promote to. Building your own list is a huge topic that is best left for another article.

For the complete beginner, affiliate marketing is a good way to get your feet wet – a good way to learn the ropes. If you are offered an affiliate program for a product you like, and you are offered a free website, I would suggest signing up if only to get a feel for how the business works.

However, be warned. I know a lot of people who have made next to no money through affiliates. Sure, it can be done, but be prepared to put in the hours. Although this is an online business, you have to treat it as you would an offline business.

Being an affiliate selling someone else’s products can be tough. There could be thousands of other people selling the same product. And for the complete newcomer to make some serious money doing this, can be very daunting.

BUT, to learn how an affiliate program works, is invaluable EXPERIENCE. (The money will follow if you get the nuts and bolts right).

You owe it to yourself. ‘How can I create my own website’ is something which you must learn to do if you want to be successful online.

After all, this is your business we are talking about. You have to know how your website works. After all, it will eventually become your own personal ATM.