Article Marketing Strategy: When You Are Doing Affiliate Marketing, Do You Need A Real Website?	Visited: 627 5.0/5.0 (1 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Steve Shaw October 15, 2010

I really enjoy it when people come to me with questions about article marketing. Here is an interesting enquiry I received from an affiliate marketer recently: "I have been using article marketing for an affiliate product. I have a domain name that I purchased and this redirects to the merchant's website. Overtime, I have realised that my URL is still not appearing in Google or any of the other search engines. Is this because my URL is redirecting somewhere? Do I need a real website in order to get my own URL listed in Google?"

This really is an intriguing question, so I'll be delighted to provide some answers for you. So, at the moment you have just a URL, and you don't have an actual site. This is why the URL isn't appearing in Google-there's no content for Google to rank at the location of your URL.

In order to appear in the search engine rankings, you must create a website with appropriate content on it. Here are some ideas on the kind of content to provide in a website:

*You could write a review of the affiliate products that you are marketing.

*Take the articles that you have written for the article marketing of the products, rewrite them, and then publish them on your site. It's best to make this content on your own site unique, so you must not use the identical articles that you are submitting to the directories.

*Next, give your the opportunity to join your mailing list. This is vital. The idea is that a visitor will come to your site where you will be providing a free e-course, a newsletter, or another item that is appealing to your visitors. They can sign up, and then you send them useful emails related to your subject.

For example, let's say that your affiliate product has something to do with the fantastic healing power of carrot juice. Then, you could send out a newsletter containing information related to carrot juice, and every now and then you will be able to recommend the affiliate product that you are marketing.

You see, if you really would like to do affiliate marketing and achieve the best possible results, you need more than a simple affiliate link.

You will also need more than a domain name that just redirects to an affiliate site.

You actually need more than just a sales page!

What you really must have is a site with really good content and a way to then contact people who are interested in your subject. The current approach of just having the domain name that redirects to the merchant site is simply not going to serve you very well, because you are not able to follow up with the readers who click the link in your resource box.

You also will not receive any traffic from the search engines, because you do not have a website.

The main benefit that article marketing could bring you is traffic from the search engines. When people carry out article marketing, what they really want is a higher ranking for their website for particular keywords that their target audience is entering into Google.

After this, when someone visits your website, your strongest ally will be that mailing list. When people visit your website, they may not want to purchase your products right away. People like to be comfortable, then think about a product, and learn to trust the owner of the website. You must invest in that relationship.

In that way, when you make a recommendation people will be much more inclined to listen and buy these products.

Therfore, in answer to your original question--for the very best results you must have a real site, even when you are only doing affiliate marketing. Ensure you invest the necessary time in developing a website and a mailing list, and you will be maximizing your opportunities and elongating the window of opportunity in which you are able to make a sale.

------------------------

For more info on how you can use article marketing to reach thousands of potential prospects for your website, go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert and founder of the popular article distribution service http://www.submityourarticle.com used by thousands of business owners.