Your Options

You will find that there are three main routes you can take to having your own website. The first of these, the longest and most time-consuming, is to educate yourself on how to build and manage your website yourself. This route is fitting for anyone attracted to the idea of eventually starting your own web development business or possibly performing freelance work as a web developer. The downside to this is it could take years.

The second route available, a much shorter process, is to use a web design/development company’s services. This will give you the freedom of endless web functionalities and advanced design created to fit your exact wants. Your website could be built and published in just a few months. The disadvantage here would be the price, which would escalate as your website needs heighten and can often range from $500 to $6,000+. If you’re curious about the costs associated with your individual web needs, you can visit the websites of several web design/development companies and request a free quote from each of them.

The third and final optional route, the quickest and cheapest, is to use an “easy as 1-2-3” website builder. The monthly cost for these sort of services may be as low as five dollars. The way this “1-2-3″ approach works is, to start with, you’ll choose a pre-made, professionally designed template. Subsequently, you make changes to the website by adding your text, graphics, and logo, if you have one. The final step is to publish it, and there you will have your very own website in just a matter of minutes. However, as with anything, there is always a disadvantage–this approach is limited on both advanced web functionality and design.

Which Option is For You?

The next step in figuring out which option best suits you is to ask yourself some questions that are meant to aid you in your decision.

You should be aware of your budget and ask yourself what amount of money you are inclined to spend and consequently, what degree of creative control on your website design you would be able to forgo in exchange for saving time and money.

If you have a limited budget, you may want to think about using the easy and cost effective “1-2-3″ website builder approach. However, if you are not willing to compromise absolute design control, your only possible option will be to take the time to hunt down the better deal with numerous web design/development companies.

You will need to ask yourself what kind of functionality you need your website to have. For example, will you be requiring an email sign-up form or perhaps blogging capabilities? Again, if you do not have much financial constraint, your best option would be to go with a web/design development company. But, if you’re concerned with cutting costs, you can first decide whether or not a “1-2-3″ website builder can meet your web needs. These days it is even possible to handle an online store using a simple website builder. Be sure to do your research and do not make any assumptions about the limitations of a website builder.

As with anything, you always have the option to learn how to make a website on your own. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, this can also prove to have a great return. Obtaining these skills can enable you to be transformed into a freelance web developer, gain employment at a web design/development company, give you that technical edge that numerous companies are looking for in a prospective employee, generate profit from advertising on your websites, and more.

Whether you want to obtain new skills, give your business a web presence to boost sales, or just have the freedom to post your content, having a website can open up many opportunities for your venture. Take a moment to consider your requirements and select the optimum approach to benefit your website purpose.

I’ll bet you have read a lot of headlines that sound similar to this one above, or make promises like this one seems to. You have may have even read some of those articles all the way to the end, clicked on some of the links and read all the information on those links. You may have evaluated the information and come to the conclusion that it wasn’t valuable… that won’t make money; I won’t promote that, I can’t do that, write about that, endorse that… or whatever that! IT WILL DESTROY MY IMAGE!

If you to it right, it can enhance your image. I’m going to give you some tips that will give you an opportunity to monetize your website or blog, while preserving your brand. One of the best and easiest ways to monetize your online properties is to join some affiliate programs and advertise them on your site.

Affiliate programs are the answer

Why affiliate programs? Simple. When you join an affiliate marketing program, you get access to products and services that are already proven in the market place, usually without any up-front costs. All the work of writing an eBook, or recording an audio track, or programming a software product is taken care of by someone else. But the benefits don’t end there. You also don’t have to create graphical marketing materials – those are all created for you by the affiliate program owner.

Another great benefit is that you really don’t have to keep track of money or finances. Most really good affiliate programs will provide you with affiliate management tools that are based on one of the leading affiliate software programs. Software programs like these will enable you to check how your ads are doing and what your commissions are.

Five tips for choosing affiliate offers to promote

1. Look good earnings potential – You want to make sure that if one of the people you refer to an affiliate offer buys, that you will make some decent money. One idea is that you should find affiliate offerings that offer high percentage payouts. My preference is to look for websites that offer high ticket items and pay large commissions. This affiliate program for promoting music teacher websites offers the opportunity for you to earn $200 for a sale with monthly recurring income of $10.
2. Choose programs your readers will like – It is critical that you choose affiliate programs and offers that your audience will appreciate and be interested in. It wouldn’t be too smart to choose to promote affiliate programs and products for adult content movies on a site that is dedicated to toys for toddlers. However, if you have a website that helps people find careers is sales, it would be great to promote something like How to Get Into Medical Sales.

3. Look for affiliate programs powered by software – When you sign up for an affiliate program it will quickly become obvious if the owner of the program is serious about helping affiliate members be successful. If you are automatically redirected to a page in an affiliate marketing software program, you can infer that this is a serious affiliate program. Personally, I wouldn’t waste my time marketing affiliate products that aren’t managed with affiliate software. Their are several top name brands like iDev Affiliate, LinkShare, and JROX JAM. My favorite is JROX JAM, which you can get for free here: http://websitesthatdrivesales.com/recommends/free-affiliate-management-software.htm

4. Make sure the website is NOT anonymous – What I mean is, make sure that there are real people standing behind the website, people with good reputations, who take customer service seriously. Website owners who let you know who they are, give you contact information with phone numbers aren’t very likely to be fly-by-night. They aren’t likely to try to avoid paying you the commissions that you have generated. If you can find a picture, bio, and phone number of the affiliate site owner, chances are they are trustworthy. You will also be able to search the Internet to find any complaints about their program. Peggy McKee, the Medical Sales Recruiter, is one of the country’s leading sales recruiters – she proudly announces her site ownership on the about pages like this one: http://30-60-90-day-sales-plan.com/about/

5. Choose affiliate programs that have support programs – If you are choosing a piece of software to buy, you probably wouldn’t purchase it if there was not support mechanism in place. You should use the same criteria when evaluating affiliate website offerings. Affiliate website program owners that don’t put support systems in place – things like a ticket system or help desk software – probably won’t care about any their products or customers, nor will they care about supporting your marketing efforts. If they do, then you can be rest assured that they are trying to keep customers happy. If they AREN’T keeping customers happy, their poor service will reflect poorly on you, and tarnish your image.

There are a couple of affiliate programs that meet all these criteria, that I recommend if your site’s visitors would be interested in these subjects. One is an affiliate program for a sales interview tool that targets sales professionals – you can check it out here: http://30-60-90-day-sales-plan.com/affiliate-program-details/. The other is a program that has a broader appeal – it targets people who own businesses that either have no web presence or under performing websites; you can get all the information for it here: http://websitesthatdrivesales.com/blog/home/affiliate-program/