Why would you want to create a website?
Well if you are getting into affiliate marketing as a beginner, then you really need to know how to create a website for affiliate marketing.
There are those who say you don’t need one, and can just spread your affiliate links around and make money.
I agree, but if you want to produce an online business which is long term and will grow with you as long as you are online then you really need a website.
so what do you need to know to create a website?
- you need to have chosen a niche
- you need to sort out a website name
- you need to sort out hosting
- extras
- you need to sort out the website platform
Shall we have a look at these in order…
Choosing your niche
Once you have decided that you want to start an online business, then you want to get it set up as soon as possible, as easy as possible.
But first you want to decide what you are going to do. Check out my post on choosing a niche to find out what you can do with a website.
Choosing a name
Once you have chosen a niche then you want to select a name for your 
business.
A lot of people still think you need an EMD (exact match domain), a name which completely describes your business. like bestdslrcameras or cakesandbuns. You can guess what these sites are selling, but if you decide to branch out in the future you will find it difficult.
What typically happens now is that you pick a name that can be branded, something short and snappy, people can remember.
This combined with a logo gives you a powerful brand which people will remember.
Hosting – where your files are stored
A website is just a group of files. You could if you wanted to have them on your home computer and have that running 24/7. This is termed self hosting. But you would need a powerful and dedicated computer to ‘host’ your website.
Most beginners go for shared hosting, where a lot of peoples websites are stored on the same drive.
This is the most cost effective method of hosting.
When your website reaches a certain size or has above a certain number of visitors daily then you may need to look into hosting your site on a single server. This gives you all the benefits of shared hosting, plus extra capacity for more files and the ability to have more visitors.
extras,what extras?
On top of your name and hosting you will need email and whois protection, along with a secure certificate to allow you to
use the https.
Nowadays Google almost insists on all new sites being secure. That little padlock symbol in the address bar. If it is green then your site is secure, yellow – you have some bits which are not secure and without it your site is not secure.
To have email linked to your site not only gives it a professional look, but allows you to set up multiple addresses to make your site look larger than it is.
I typically setup an author address, a sales address and a support address even though there is only me. I link all three to one account to make it easy for me to look at the incoming mail. But to the visitor it looks like they are sendin mail to different parts of the business.
What platform are you going to use?
A few years ago you would have to hand code all of the HTML tags, the bits that tell the web page what to do with the text.
Now there are a couple of solutions to make things very easy for you.
You have sites like Wix or Blogger where you join, create a name and customize your site and produce content.
Unfortunately you cannot move these sites to another host, or if you read the terms and conditions you may not be able to make money from these sites.
You won’t get accepted with a lot of affiliate programs when using these sites.
The main platform around now is one called wordpress, 28.9% of the entire internet is run on wordpress.
You could use drupal or joomla or even wix, but if you try new things you may find yourself struggling on your own. So for ease I would suggest going with e WordPress platform.
How to create a website for affiliate marketing
Here’s the step by step process.
My preferred program for affiliate marketing is the Wealthy Affiliate program.
With this program you can easily set up your affiliate marketing website.
It is only four steps to build your own website.
Choose a type of site – free siterubix or a domain you have purchased.
Choose a name for the site.
Choose a theme for the site.
and press go.
your site is built in a matter of seconds.
It is based on wordpress and the theme is loaded ready to go.
The affiliate marketing website builder is second to none.
This gives you a bare site. You now have to go on to create all of the content and documents required for affilaite sites.
Don’t take my word for it go see the free lesson where Kyle build his site.
Within the Wealthy Affiliate program you are trained how to do this and teh new Site content platform assists you with the abilty to create and store templates for your site.
With other hosts like bluehost you pay for hosting and then add your site – which you have bought elsewhere to their servers. You then go into the back office and inmort wordpress. Then you find a theme you like and import that.
It is a lot more hassle, which is why i like the Wealthy Affiliate program.
what is the best website creation program for affiliate marketing beginners
As just stated the Wealthy affiliate program allows anybody to setup an affiliate marketing website for free – the program is free to join, but you get a lot more features when premium, and you have access to the full training to learn how to build your business in a step by step proven method.
You pay a level fee per month of $49 – or if you want a cheaper option then pay for yearly ($359)works out to be $29.21 for each month, saving you almost $240 over the year.
You don’t need to be technical, you just need to be patient and follow the training step by step, ticking off the actions as you go. Before you know it you will have a functional website built and be producing content with confidence.
Thanks for reading
If you have any comments about this article please leave them in the comments box below.
I’ll see you next time
Phil
This article has been all about how to create a website for affiliate marketing.
I have had a few question about building a website, so i decided to create a short faq.
What skills do you need to create a website?
very little, if you can operate a computer to navigate the web then you can create a website within the Wealthy Affiliate program.
Who can create a website for me?
there are companies specialising in creating ‘done for you’ solution if you really cannot, or don’t have the time to create your own site and content. it is a trade off of time versus money. one company i would recommend is humanproofdesigns for ‘done for you’ solution. talk to them about their custom solutions to get you up and running.
What is the average cost to create a website?
You have yearly costs for your site and hosting. The hosting is usually charged monthly with the site charge yearly.
You do see advertised very low cost sites, but i would advise looking at the small print to see what the charges will be next year.
With Wealthy Affiliate program you have hosting for 10 sites, along with the training and community backup, for the $49 per month or $599 yearly. the Domain cost is typically $14.99 per year, with included whois security, unlimited emails, anti spam, anti virus, daily backups, fast site support.
How hard is it to create a website?
It really is the four steps shown above, anyone can do it- and the best part is you can start for free.
How long does it take to create a website?
From typing in the name to being able to add content to your site will be minutes, by the time you have read this article you could have built your site and be starting to create your first post.
How can i create a website and make money?
Find spmething you are passionate about, validate that you can make money in that niche.
Use the Site Rubix Site Builder to create your site.
Create good quality content, solving problems in your niche and recommend solutions.
Get traffic to your site, within your niche and they will click through on your recommendations, if purchased, then you get the commission.
Can i create a website for free?
The Wealthy Affilite program starts free, you get the first level of training free, both certification and bootcamp.
If you want to continue free you can, or you can upgrade to premium to access the other levels of training.
You have access to the site builder with both the free account and premium.
What should i create a website about?
Anything you want to.
Check that there are affiliate offers available and you will make money on them before settling on a niche.
Amazon has an affiliate program, so browsing througth their pages you will probably find products for your niche.