Affiliate marketing is amazing and one of the best ways to make money online. You can make money with affiliate marketing without a website but it isn’t a great idea. If you are serious about affiliate marketing and want to create a sustainable affiliate business, you need to create your affiliate website. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make an affiliate website, this step-by-step guide covers all the details.
But first…
Why You Need to Create an Affiliate Website
You can promote affiliate products without a website. For example, you can use Instagram or any other social media platform to promote affiliate products and make money. Why create a website then?
Because you own it.
You own the website. You can use it in any way you like without any fear of getting banned or account suspension.
When you use a third-party website or platform (such as a social media network) to promote affiliate products, you don’t own the network. And your content and business are at stake. Social media websites are known for suspending accounts.
To give you an idea, YouTube terminated Donald Trump’s channel while Instagram suspended accounts of famous celebrities like Rihanna and Madonna.
In such an event when your account gets banned, you’ll lose everything. Content, followers, earnings, etc. You’ll have to start over again. And this is a risky business model.
Nobody can ban, block, or suspend your website. You own it forever.
Besides, it is a sustainable business model. You own an asset (domain name) that you can sell at a later stage.
How to Make an Affiliate Website
Making an affiliate website is the best choice for you. But how to get started? How to create your website from scratch?
Here are the steps to get started:
- Choose a domain name
- Buy a domain and hosting
- Install WordPress
- Set a Theme
- Install Necessary Plugins.
Step #1: Choose a Domain Name
Finding a domain name relevant to your niche and business idea is the first thing to do. Don’t rush through this step. The domain name is the most important part of the website creation process.
Head to Name Mesh for domain name suggestions. It is a free tool that helps you generate domain names based on any words you enter. Here is an example:
Check out the huge list of available domain names that contain your primary words.
Amazing, right?
There are a few things that you must consider when hunting for a perfect domain name:
- Domain name must be brandable
- Go for .COM domain
- It must be short and meaningful
- It is best to have eight or fewer characters in the domain name as it makes it easy-to-remember
- Avoid exact keyword domain names as it will limit the scope of your website.
Step #2: Buy Domain Name and Hosting
After you have finalized a domain name, it is recommended to buy it instantly. Don’t wait.
Good domain names are sold instantly.
The best way to buy a domain name is to sign up for a hosting plan. Most of the hosting companies offer a free domain to new customers. So, you don’t have to buy a domain separately.
For example, Bluehost offers a free domain for one year for all of its shared hosting plans:
Similarly, HostGator also gives free domain for one year with all the shared hosting plans:
I’d recommend going for a shared hosting plan as you are just starting out. It is affordable and comes with all the features you need to get started with your affiliate marketing business.
Sign up for a shared hosting plan with your favorite host, get your free domain for a year, and complete the setup process. A decent shared hosting plan will cost you under $5 per month and that’s more than enough to get started.
Step #3: Install WordPress
The benefit of buying a domain name from your hosting company is that your domain will go live fairly quickly. And you won’t have to deal with domain redirection and name server updates.
Once your domain is active, install WordPress.
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that’s the best in the market. It is free, open-source, and the most used CMS in the world. As much as 42% of all websites in the world are reported to have WordPress as their CMS.
WordPress also offers a lot of additional benefits such as:
- A gigantic repository of free plugins and themes
- A support community of experts who is always ready to help you
- Global support and integration with third-party tools and apps.
How to install WordPress?
Well, it is a simple 2-minute process. Your hosting company will have a detailed tutorial on this. Here is a tutorial by HostGator and here is a link to the Bluehost tutorial. Even if you are using any other hosting company, you’ll find the tutorial for WordPress installation (due to its popularity).
Step #4: Install a Theme
Installing a theme is the first thing you need to do once you have installed WordPress. A theme is a template that shows the overall look of your website.
There are tons of free themes available on WordPress.org.
You can search for themes from the WordPress dashboard. Sign in to your dashboard, click Appearance and then Themes:
This is where you’ll find all the available themes. Click Add New to find and install new themes:
Use the search bar to find themes or look for featured, popular, and featured themes:
You can customize and theme and publish it to change the look of your new affiliate website.
Step #5: Install Necessary Plugins
Finally, you have to install the basic plugins to improve your website’s performance.
Plugins supercharge your website and help with different customization options. Here is a list of the must-have plugins that you need to install:
- Pretty Links for affiliate link management
- SEO Yoast for on-page optimization
- Elementor to customize your website
- W3 Total Cache for improving website performance and caching
- Contact Form 7 for creating a contact form.
Create Your Affiliate Website Today
Making an affiliate website is a beginning, not an end. Once your website is ready, you are all set to create and publish great content. Create pages, blog posts, and start promoting affiliate products.
You can change your hosting plan and move to a more secure hosting plan (e.g., VPS hosting), add subdomains to your website, switch to a premium theme, and so on.
There are several ways to grow and expand your affiliate business once you have created your website. It is a new start.
Featured Image: Unsplash
