Tools You Will Need to Become an Affiliate Marketer

Your head is probably swimming with ideas by now! There are many steps that go into being an affiliate marketer -- that is why it is so important to break everything down so you can go through the steps one by one! It is important to understand what tools you will need to acquire as an affiliate marketer. Don't worry -- as far as setting up a business goes, it is relatively inexpensive!

First of all, you will need web hosting. Your web host is what will be the "house" for your website. This is also called a web server. Your host will contain all the files so that people can see your site when they visit. The back end of this site is where you will maintain these files and basically set everything up. In general, the back end of your web host will be called your cPanel.

You'll also need a domain name, which is the address of your website (think of the host as the "house" and the domain name as the "address"). You will need to attach this domain name to your web host by pointing what is called the DNS setting to show it where the web host is. This might sound complicated, but after you've done it once it becomes incredibly simple!

In addition to needing a web host and domain name, you need a way to get your website up. If you've heard of HTML, many people design standard HTML websites with their content, graphics, and affiliate links on it. A very popular option these days is using WordPress. WordPress is blogging software that you can easily make it look like a regular HTML website or use as a niche blog (this option is highly recommended) -- and it is very easy to maintain!

Choosing a web host, domain name, and way to build your website can seem like a daunting task. Don't feel overwhelmed, because you can always get help with these things if you need it. As with anything, there is a learning curve, but it becomes like second nature soon enough.

It is also a good idea to get an autoresponder account. You've probably heard of e-mail marketing, and you likely belong to many different e-mail lists yourself. For example, if you've made a purchase online you might have been asked to join the company's newsletter. This newsletter is sent out through an autoresponder. You can do the same thing! Except in your case you are going to get people to sign up through what is called an opt in box so you can keep in contact with them.

It's easy to sign up with an autoresponder service such as aWeber or GetResponse. Once you do, you can enter in all of the information about your e-mail list. You will then get some code to put your opt in box on your website (this is where people will enter their name and address to be put on your e-mail list). Then, you can broadcast messages out to them. In some cases, these messages will contain strictly helpful content and in other cases the messages will be promotional in nature. List marketing is a great way to make money as an affiliate!

This is just an overview of the tools you'll need. As you dive deeper into the world of affiliate marketing, you will find what you need to do to achieve a lot of success as an affiliate marketer.