Welcome to the first edition of Internet Marketing for Novices.
Before we get to today's post, I want to explain who this
newsletter is for so I don't waste your time.

Don't Let Me Waste Your Time

If you're brand new to internet marketing and things like how to
choose products, how to design simple websites, how to set up
payment processing systems and internet marketing terminology
confuse, confound and frustrate you, then this newsletter is for
you.

If you're more advanced, you won't find much helpful info here --
so chime in and help us newbies learn (yes, guest posts are
definitely accepted!). Follow me on Twitter to get updates about
internet marketing at http://Twitter.com/IM4Novices. 

Replace Your $35,000 to $75,000 Per Year Job with Affiliate &
Internet Marketing Income

One more thing, this newsletter is particularly geared for those
who are not looking to "get rich", but who want to make extra
income that can grow into a solid full-time income (ie, replace a
job where you're currently making $35,000 to $75,000 per year).
Why this amount? 

Because this newsletter will be written from first-hand experience
(mine), I can' t tell you how to make six figures in internet and
affiliate marketing - because I haven't done it. You'll learn with
me, test with me and hopefully outgrow me - and move on to others
who can teach you more.

My Affiliate Earnings

Since January of 2009, I've made exactly 84358.24 in affiliate
sales (see graphic below). This doesn't include earnings from all
of my products, and of course, no earnings from my freelance
writing clients. This is just in affiliate and internet marketing
sales.

Now, I do this only part-time, as the greatest amount of my time is
spent on client projects. These part-time earnings equate to
full-time salaries for many. And this is why I'm so anxious to
transition to affiliate and internet marketing full time. I simply
can't wait to be able to pour 8 or 10 hours a day, 5 days a week
into this!

How This Newsletter Can Help You

In all of my endeavors online (and off), I strive to be truthful,
straightforward and honest. So I'm not going to pretend that I make
John Chow [JohnChow.com] or Zac Johnson-like money
[ZacJohnson.com], because I don't, obviously.
 
I can help you get your internet marketing career off the ground,
give you some foundational building blocks and dispense what I
learn - honestly and without trying to shove products down your
throat, which is what a lot of internet marketers do.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on to today's issue?

Should I Build a Website for Every Product I Promote? If So, How?

This first newsletter was inspired by a question (several
questions) I received from an affiliate of the Free Classified Ads
ebook I wrote (found at http://FreeAdsSell.info). She emailed me
asking: 

QUESTION

I set up a really great (I think anyways) Amazon store (the a
store) full of perfect items for a niche that I've written about.
[SHE NAMED THE NICHE] - it's actually very common but not too over
the top for competition. I have a kickin article about it as well.
I made a Squidoo page for it - which I found I don't like Squidoo. 

My question for you is that how do you go about getting websites
for each niche or product you're affiliated with? Don't you have to
purchase them? (emphasis added) 

The word press sites won't allow any links to any affiliates -
because I have a wordpress and tried it . . . I did purchase my
[SHE CITED HER DOMAIN NAME] for the main reason of being able to
advertise some freelancing books - but I've gotten zip for hits.
Any suggestions? If not, thank you either way and thank you for
sending me the ebook again.

MY ANSWER

This is a lot to answer, so I'm going to break it into two parts
and answer the second question tomorrow.

The first thing is, wordpress doesn't allow affiliate links - and
they have a lot of other restrictions as well, which is why I
stopped using them.

I discuss this in detail in the hub, Creating a Blog: Should
Register Your Own Domain Name or Use a Free Blogging Platform?
[http://bit.ly/9kQ92W] 

Why You Should Always Register Your Own Domain Names

The moral of this though is to always, always, always get your own
domain name because even if free blogging platforms like wordpress
do allow things like affiliate links, what's to say their policies
won't change, or they take you offline for violating apolicy you
didn't even know was in place.

A Personal Story to Illustrate How Detrimental Using Free Blogging
Platforms Can Be

This happened to a colleague of mine recently. She had a very
popular blog on blogger. She was making a couple of hundred bucks
per month in passive Google Adsense "minisite" income. 
[http://bit.ly/9UxnmI] 

She had over 200 pages on her site, as well as articles in article
directories and other sites that linked back to this blog.

She said she'd noticed a precipitous dip in questions from readers,
as well as sales. She started to investigate what was going on and
guess what - it took her about an hour to find out that her site
had been taken down by Google (which owns blogger).

There went over two years of posts, marketing and not to mention a
couple of hundred bucks per month in passive income. 

To this day, she's still trying to get back to where she was - ie,
migrating all of her content over to her new site, going back and
changing all of those links in the posts she wrote, building her
passive income back to where it was (and getting it to grow even
more).

I had warned her, begged her and told her to switch, switch,
switch. If I had a penny for every time she told me that she wished
she would've listened - well, let's  just say rent on my Jamaica
apartment would be paid for at least a year.

Spend the few bucks it costs to get your own domain name and find
hosting.

Free Gift for Being a Subscriber That Can Help You With Getting a
Website/Blog 

If you don't understand what's involved in getting a website, send
me an email and I'll send you a FREE copy of How to Get Your Biz on
the Web Quickly & Affordably: An Easy-to-Follow Guide in Plain
English for Those New to Internet Terminology & Web Technology .

This ebook outlines my travails in getting InkwellEditorial.com
online back in 1999. The information is still very relevant, as it
describes exactly what a host company is, what a domain name is,
how to choose an effective one, how much you should be paying --
and a host of other factors. This ebook will answer the question:

". . . how do you go about getting websites for each niche or
product you're affiliated with?"

Following these instructions exactly to get it: (i) Send email to
Contact(at)FreeAdsSell.info. Of course change "(a)" to @. Put "How
to Get Your Biz on the Web Quickly Ebook" in subject line. I get a
ton of email, so be sure to respond like this so I can quickly and
easily get the ebook out to you. 

Note: you must be a subscriber to be eligible for this offer, so
send me the email address you subscribed to this newsletter with.
You can subscribe at the bottom of this page, 
http://FreeAdsSell.info.) 

Takeaway Lesson from This Issue

I guess you could say this is Lesson #1 in internet marketing -
stay away from free website and blogging platforms. 

Tomorrow's Newsletter

In tomorrow's newsletter, I'll answer the following:

Don't you have to purchase them (websites)?

How to start getting traffic to your affiliate sites?

My thoughts on different types of affiliate marketing (eg, Squidoo)

Website Setup Offer

If you're promoting the Free Classified Ads ebook on 
http://FreeAdsSell.info and you want the exact website you see
there, my designer can do it for you. 

The Whole Shebang Set Up in Just a Few Days!

You'll get:

(i) The website you see at http://FreeAdsSell.info(minus all
references to me and my companies);

(ii) Your own domain name (we'll choose a relevant one for you);
(iii) Free hosting for a year; and

(iv) Your e-junkie account set up.

This way, you can start marketing almost right away, without
worrying about any of the technical, behind-the-scenes stuff. Note:
We will need you to give us your PayPal email address.

We can handle it for you - all in 3-4 days (probably sooner). It's
$38.95. Simply send via PayPal to payment@InkwellEditorial.com. Put
"Free Ads Website Setup" in the Subject Line. [Again, this is
extremely important; so please don't forget].

Note: At some point, I do advise that you learn how to design
simple websites and learn what hosting, URL, domain name
registration, etc. is all about. Be sure to sign up to the Internet
Marketing for Novices newsletter to find out about stuff like this.

If you're a regular reader of my sites (http://InkwellEditorial.com,
http://SeoWritingJobs.com), you know that  I tend to be extremely
detailed, and this newsletter is designed to explain - in
painstaking detail  and plain language - concepts just like this. I
also give free gifts from time to time. :-)

To sign up, simply go to http://FreeAdsSell.info and scroll down to
the very bottom of the page. You'll see the signup box there. Be
sure to read the first issue (sent out on 9/23/2010) to see exactly
what you can expect from this helpful newsletter.

I look forward to having you as a reader as we traverse the
internet and affiliate marketing waters together. 

Yuwanda (http://InkwellEditorial.com/about)
P.S.: Don't forget to follow me on twitter to get updates about
internet marketing for novices at https://twitter.com/IM4Novices