I've recently received a couple of emails from new subscribers along the lines of:

 

"I'm only just starting to look at making money on the internet and I don't have a web site. I don't understand a lot, how can I get my own web site, or don't I need one?" 

 

Since it's not the first time I've been asked this question and it probably won't be the last, I felt the answer may be helpful to other people. And, because I didn't know much about the people asking or their level of knowledge or web experience, I've assumed a fairly low level and tried to put in a lot of explanation and it became longer and longer. 

 

So I decided to put my answer in the form of an article and have it available online. Here it is.

 

 

This is probably the quickest and easiest way to get into an online business. You can buy a "Turnkey Business Package" that's set up and ready to go with Webhosting, your own web site and often your choice of Domain Name.

 

In many of these cases there's little more for you to do besides choosing a layout and color scheme from their templates and entering your name and other details. You then get on with the job of promoting it.

 

These vary in price quite a lot, but many are fairly affordable.

 

For example you could check out MyTurnKeyBiz.com, where you can choose from over 30 different business types.

 

So, this category answers most of the question in one hit because everything's pretty much already there, you have your own web site from the start while cutting out a lot of the headaches of starting out.

 

2. Affiliate & Reseller Sales

 

Another option is to join one or more "Affiliate or Reseller Programs". These involve selling other people's products for a commission They're mostly free to join..

 

In this case, it's not essential to have your own website when you start out because most affiliate programs include a pre-built sales page or web site. The program issues you with a unique "affiliate  link" which incorporates your "affiliate ID" for that program. You send your prospects to the program site using your affiliate link, so the program manager knows who referred the visitor and can track any sales from your referrals.

 

This way, you can just advertise your affiliate link in whatever way you choose (except spamming) to attract prospects and send them to the sales site.

 

It sounds very easy and a great way to start out, and it sure can be. But there are a couple of drawbacks that you should know about.

 

(i) Firstly, the affiliate links tend to be fairly long & cumbersome, so any promotional method that relies on people typing it in manually (e.g. printed  flyers etc.) could easily result in people either not bothering at all or only typing in the main part of the URL and leaving off the affiliate ID part, so you'd lose potential commissions.

 

This problem can be reduced quite substantially by using one of the free URL shortening services on the web, such as: http://tinyurl.com where you can enter a long affiliate link and it'll generate a unique "redirection" link that's much shorter to type in, but will still get you the credit for any referrals and sales.

 

Some of my existing affiliate links are quite long, for example: http://www.monopolizer.com/index.php?affiliateID=099041217, but using http://tinyurl.com came up with this: http://tinyurl.com/3s3tl, which is much easier to handle, but automatically and invisibly redirects the visitor to the site as specified in the long link, including my affiliate ID.

 

(ii) Secondly, many experts agree that it can take up to seven contacts with a prospect before they buy a product. So, your referrals may not buy the first time you send them, unless they've seen the offering before. 

 

Many programs overcome this by capturing the lead's contact information and following up via email marketing using a "mini-course" or ezine. And they usually have some technology in place (e.g. "cookies") to identify the referrer, even after a few months and several email contacts, so you'll most likely still get the commission.

 

(iii) On a related note, using this method means that once you've referred a customer to your affiliate program site they become the customer of the program, who can then promote their other products to the customer.

 

Most likely you'll still get commission from any further sales from that program, so this isn't a problem in itself. But it means you personally won't have any opportunity to offer them any products from other affiliate programs that you belong to. So, for each program you're promoting, you effectively have to start from scratch finding new customers.

 

On the other hand, most of the experienced and successful online marketers recommend building your own opt-in list of prospects and customers. That way you can keep in contact with them, ideally building a long term relationship of trust with them and repeatedly offer new or existing products to them - the online equivalent of the proven "repeat customer" ideal - it's always tons easier (and cheaper) to sell to an existing satisfied customer than to find a new customer. Because this part of online marketing is important to all the business models I've mentioned here, I'll look at it in a little more detail below.

 

As I said earlier, as an affiliate marketer it's not absolutely necessary to have your own website when you first start out, but it does have major advantages and can improve your chances of success in the long term.

 

3. Selling Your Own Product or Service.

 

If you're wanting to sell your own products or services, then it's usually pretty much essential to have your own web site. And advisable to have your own domain name too, because it adds a point or two in the credibility and perception stakes. Especially so if you're planning on selling through your own affiliate program.

 

This also applies if you're selling products for which you have "resale/resell rights", but most of these come with pre-designed sales pages which you only have to modify with your contact and payment details and then find somewhere to host them (more on that shortly).

 

The only exception I can  think of here are if you plan on selling on eBay. But even in this case you may need some kind of dedicated page to display extra information to prospective buyers if there's not enough space in your eBay listing.

 

(As an aside, setting up your own affiliate program to sell your stuff doesn't have to be as difficult or expensive as you may think. Clickalyzer has recently set up their free "Instant Affiliate Program", which allows you to do just that, for free. You can check it out by clicking here.)

 

 

How Do I Get My Own Site?

 

As far as getting your own web site goes, again here it's possible to get started without spending a fortune. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) may offer free hosting for simple pages or sites.

 

If that's not the case for you, there are also numerous other free options, such as BraveNet. These free hosts usually support the free service by displaying third party ads on your site, but generally don't allow for your own domain name. Or, you can opt for a paid Webhosting provider, such as mine: WebHostingHQ.biz,  where you pay for a year but that includes a free domain name registration.

 

As for designing/creating a web site, nowadays almost all Webhosts (both free and paid) include some kind of online web site builder to enable you to set up a site fairly quickly and easily using their templates. Most also include an online control panel and/or file manager, so that if you create your web site using software on your own computer, you can upload it to their server fairly simply. If you've created a large web site with multiple pages this method can be a little slow so the web host should also include the ability to use an FTP program for your upload, which will be faster. All these are included at WebHostingHQ.biz

 

The FTP program I use is CuteFTP which you can get here (there's a free trial available): CuteFTP Std for the standard version, or the Pro version.

 

Creating the site using software on your own computer is not essential but can offer some advantages, such as a bit more flexibility with layouts and color schemes etc. I've recently come across a free software program for building a fairly simple web page, download a free copy of Page Generator now.

 

You can also buy packages online or at your local software retailer. 

 

Alternatively, you can use one of the proprietary software packages that are available either online or at your local computer/software retailer, such as Cute Site Builder (recently released by GlobalScape, the guys behind CuteFTP) which you can get here: Cute Site Builder.

 

Or you can fork out for MS FrontPage or WebEasy Professional.

Ideally, the best way to build a list of your own is with your own web page or site. It doesn't necessarily have to be an elaborate one and can be simply a "lead capture" page, which will redirect the prospect to the affiliate program site once they've had the opportunity to give you their contact details in exchange for some gift or bonus that's relevant to their interest.

 

If that's beyond your capabilities initially, then you can start out by using an online list-building service with their pre-built "lead-capture" pages (or you can use it to supplement and even promote your main list-building efforts). Most of these services have free memberships, which is very helpful when you're on a limited budget, and paid memberships with extra capabilities or features. A few of the options here are:

 

      The Opt-In List, which I use & recommend. Their Pro Upgrade option

      is quite affordable and gives a  couple of bonuses, not the least of which is

      earning commissions on any of your referrals who also Upgrade.

 

      Other alternatives include Oppotunity.com, FreeNetLeads, FreeMailer2000

      or others listed on my site at my site's page: Opt-in Lists & Email Marketing

 

Most of these have some limitations on how often you can email your list, but can be a good way to start.

 

Or you can start your own list using an online list server, online autoresponder service or your own autoresponder or bulk email software. These will give you a bit more flexibility. Again there are a number of options here, both free & paid.

 

The listserver/autoresponder service I use for my ezine subscriber list is GetResponse, which has both free & paid options - the main differences are that the paid can do "broadcast emails" to your whole list at one time and the emails you send don't include third party advertising (i.e. ads for someone else's business).

 

Other options include AceResponse, or a free listserver like FreeAutobot. A search of the major Search Engines would give other options. Bear in mind that most free ones will include some form of third party advertising.

 

This means a bit of extra work, but will lay a better foundation for the future. That's because with your own list you can continue to promote anything to them (as long as it's relevant to their area of interest) from any affiliate program or your own product, for a long time to come.