Beginner's Guide to Building an Affiliate Website


The concept of Affiliate Marketing is simple. Promote a merchant's products or services on your website by joining their affiliate program and earn commissions when a sale is made. It's completely understandable that so many people want to give it a try. The problem however, is that unless you're a graphic or web designer, building the website can be confusing and difficult. Even if you're a marketing guru, you may still need help building your affiliate website. Let's go through some different ways to get a stylish and functional affiliate website online.

Do-It-Yourself Website Design

If you have basic knowledge of web design or know how to code and design websites inside and out, you should consider building your website yourself. Not only can you save a lot of money, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or FrontPage to help you out. They will provide you with a nice graphical view of your site as you design it as well as provide an easy method to FTP your files to your web server. Of course, if you are familiar with web design, you can always use the 'code view' option.

If and when you need help, there are many forums on the Internet to help get you back on track. It is important to recognize that if you don't have an eye for colour, layout, or style, doing it yourself might not be the best option. The point of the site is to generate trust with your visitors so they click your links and earn you income. If your site looks like it was thrown together and is illegible, it won't be an effective affiliate website. You'll just be wasting your time.

Hire Someone to Build a Custom Website

A custom website gives you the ability to design and structure the affiliate site exactly the way you want. Look in your local phone book for web design companies or search the Internet. While hiring someone to build your site can free up a lot of your time, it usually costs much more and takes longer (weeks to months). If you aren't in an immediate rush and you have no knowledge of HTML or website design, you might want to consider having someone else do the site for you and possibly show you how to add new affiliate programs and content in the future. It's better to spend a more and have your website built properly in a month, then spend 6 months constantly fixing an amateur site that nobody trusts (and hence makes you no money!).

Co-Brand an Affiliate Program Website

There are Affiliate Programs that provide the option of co-branding websites. They are pre-built and ready-to-go with all the information about the product or service including your affiliate links! They include pages of content provided by the merchant so that you don't even have to write your own. You can literally have your complete affiliate website up in minutes. You can change your logo and text if you'd like.

The only downside however is that other affiliates use the same co-branded website meaning your site is no different than theirs. I would recommend that if you go this route, you change up the content and add your own so that your site has an advantage over theirs. Co-branded sites are not appropriate if you plan on including other affiliate programs. These sites are targeted for one Affiliate Program, although you can always add others in the future.

Blog About your Niche!

The easiest way to get a website online quickly is to start a blog. You simply sign up at one of the many blog websites online and post content. There is no need to know HTML code because everything is done via their graphical interface. The blog usually has a pre-determined design but in some cases you can customize certain aspects yourself or even attach a blog template to completely change the design. Attach some banners and text links from your affiliate programs and you're good to go.

Get a Website Template Online

Web Design Templates are no longer amateur looking websites with one colour down the left and across the top. They have come a long way and now there are thousands upon thousands of professional and stylish designs for any industry and can either be customized by someone else or customized by you using Dreamweaver or FrontPage. There are HTML, Flash, blog and forum skins, and online store templates for ecommerce. They come complete with multiple pages already integrated so they're much more than just template designs.

Website Templates are cheap (usually starting under $20) and fast to get online because you download them in a zipped file from the web template supplier. If for example, you are building a niche dating affiliate site, why not get off to a quick start with a professional pre-made dating website template? Then you just have to add your affiliate program links and unique high quality content and upload to the Internet. In just a short time you've developed a completely new niche website you can call your own. It takes the entire aspect of planning and building out of the equation and that's the part that's difficult for most people. I highly recommend giving them a chance.

In Conclusion...

Affiliate Marketing can be a lucrative online business opportunity but the website portion can stop some people dead in their tracks before they even start. Fortunately there are many options to developing an affiliate website. Anyone can be successful in Affiliate Marketing, even those with no web design experience. Develop your website using one of the options we discussed and then add affiliate links and your unique content to earn income by working at home in Affiliate Marketing.

Curtis Kopeschny, B.Sc. has over 10 years of experience in Web Development and Affiliate Marketing.


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