First, you need to decide what kind of website to create. It’s very important to choose something that interests you. I like to writer stories, so I chose to setup a website offering articles, tips, etc. on writing. This makes it fun to research your topic—not only are you researching for your website, but you’re researching for yourself, too.

Second, you need to research your topic. What kind of information do you want to offer on your topic? Articles? Tips? How to? Products? Product reviews? There are two ways to decide what to offer.

1. Offer what you would want to see on a website.

2. Look up other websites with similar topics and see what they offer. (You don’t want to create a website just like another one. Use the websites to get ideas of things that could be offered on your topic.)

If you want to offer articles, but don’t want to write them, there are websites that offer articles for you to use on your website – free of charge. Like this one – articlecity.com.

Another way to come up with ideas for your website is to let your visitors suggest what they would like to see.

Now that you’ve researched your topic and found the articles, tips, reviews, etc. that you’ll offer on your site, it’s time to plan your site. You need to decide how many web pages you’ll have. Decide what each page will include. Don’t forget your “Contact Us” page.

Next, you’ll need to check out business websites that include topics similar to yours and see if they offer affiliate programs. Decide which ones you want to join. Google Adsense and Click Thru Traffic will pay you for each person that clicks on an ad – the person does not need to buy anything.

Once you’re ready to create your website, you need to decide which web hosting company you want to use. There are a lot out there. (If you want to get approved for affiliate programs, you shouldn’t use free web hosting. These usually already have advertisements.)

Take your time researching each web hosting company. Compare what each offers for the price. You will also have to pay for your domain name, www.(yourdomainname).com, so don’t forget to check that price, too. Some web hosts require you to stay with them for a certain amount of time before you can transfer to another company. (I suggest that you pay for one or two months at first until you see if this company is the one you want to stay with - they may require you to stay with them for 60 days.)

After you choose your web host, you need to make up a domain name. You’ll need to see if the name you choose is available. (The company you choose should have a place for you to check the availability of your name.) Now that you have your domain name and have paid for it, you need to pay for a website package.

Using the web host’s website building program, build your web pages. (You don’t need to know the programming language –

After completing your website, apply for the affiliate programs you would like to join. Read all of their terms and conditions. Some companies will approve you right away; others may take a couple days. When you receive approval from the companies, follow their instructions. The companies should offer you the html code to copy and paste onto your web pages. (If you are using ‘what you see is what you get’ to build your web pages, you should have the option to add html code.)

Now you need to promote your website. This is the key to making your money. If no one visits your website, no one will be ‘clicking’ on the links that you will be paid for.

Some ways to promote your website are:

1. Tell all your friends and family. Encourage them to tell everyone they know. Word of mouth is the best advertisement you can get.

2. If you know someone who has a website, ask them to swap links with you.

3. Search for websites with guest books. Some of these will let you list your website address when you sign their guest book.

4. Sign up with some online groups. (Yahoo, AOL, Meetup.com, Smartgroups.com) Some of these groups have a place to list your website link. You can also post your link on their message boards.

5. Apply to the Open Directory Project. www.dmoz.org Read the ‘about dmoz’ on their website. This will explain the program. If you are accepted here, the search engines (Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of others) will pick up your website. You can also submit your website directly to some of the search engines: http://www.google.com/addurl.html, http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html, and http://pages.alexa.com/help/webmasters/

6. If you sell items on ebay, add your website address in your listing.

7. You can create ebooks on any subject and add your website address to your ebooks. You can offer your ebooks for free as a way to advertise. There are sites online that will let you list your free ebooks - for free.

Make sure you keep your website updated. Change your articles, etc. every so often (it all depends on what your topic is and what you offer on this topic). You want to make sure your visitors will come back.

About The Author

Sandy Puckett is the webmaster for www.forthewriter.com

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