Per Click Affiliate

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Does Affiliate Marketing Really Require A Website?

I hear a lot of internet marketers claim doing business in the World Wide Web requires ones own web site, suggesting that your own website is your online headquarters. Its your very own digital store where you could lead or send prospects / potential customers and where you offer the products you have for sale.

I agree that having your own web site can help you dramatically in your endeavor to achieve online success, but a website is not the end all and be all of internet salesmanship, especially when talking about affiliate program marketing. You certainly could make a living online as an affiliate even if you do not have the benefit of your own website!

So it is possible to earn a living online and never have your own web site!? How is this possible and more importantly how can this be done? Read on, my new friend, as we discuss alternative strategies that will allows you to make the most out of your affiliate marketing campaigns without having your own webpage on the net.

Affiliate marketing is a program whereby the affiliate can earn some generous commissions for every successful sale they manage to refer to the affiliate merchant. The affiliates task is merely to pre-sell the affiliate merchants goods. The sales page, the payment processing, the digital delivery, and post sales services shall be the responsibilities of the affiliate merchant. This leaves you free to concentrate on affiliate program promotions.

As an affiliate you have to refer or direct people to the affiliate merchants sales page using your affiliate program link. Note: Your affiliate links is extremely important as they identify you instead of someone else plus your affiliate link is how the affiliate program owners know who to pay. They will tell the system that a visitor was actually referred by you the affiliate.

Without a web site to promote or marketing the affiliate programs you belong to you will need other channels to get the word out. This can be done through the following techniques:

Use Article Marketing

We all know how powerful affiliate marketing can be in link building campaigns. But instead of providing for links to your own website, you could provide your affiliate links instead. Article directories allow you a resource box per submission, where you could tell your readers about yourself as well as leave a link of your choice. Now, you have to remember that some article directories do not allow affiliate links in the bodies of the articles themselves, but affiliate links are perfectly allowed in the resource box. Great places to start your article marketing campaign are www.ezinearticles.com , www.goarticles.com and www.isnare.com.

Use Forum Marketing

Online communities, or forums, are likewise great channels where you could promote your affiliate links. Membership in pHp 2.0 based forums gives you a signature box where you could advertise your links. Use this to advertise your affiliate links. For every post you will make, your signature box would appear. Post a thousand messages, and youll have a thousand pages advertising your affiliate links! Want to know the forums which are relevant to the subject serviced by the affiliate products youre promoting? Use the tool at www.link-advantage.com/search to find the appropriate online community.

Advertise in eZines

This may cost you some cash, as many eZines charge for advertising space. Nonetheless, you could expose your affiliate links to highly targeted prospects using this approach. Imagine if the eZine has a list of 10,000 people. Youd immediately be able to reach 10,000 quality leads with one advertisement. Again, you dont need a website. Simply use your affiliate link in your ads.

The absence of your own website is never a bar to online success. Most of the strategies we have discussed here can be accomplished without spending a single cent. If you do not have the financial resources to register a domain or to subscribe to a web hosting service, you could still achieve success with affiliate marketing. Joining an affiliate program is free. Promoting your affiliate links can likewise be availed of without any charges. Good luck!

James Mann is a teacher and has been for more than 20 years. James has retired from the brick and mortar world of teaching and moved online where he spends his days helping others learn how to earn a living online.