Affiliate Marketing

Now that you've decided you want to have a go at affiliate marketing, one of the decisions you're going to have to make is whether to set up an HTML website or a blog. There are pros and cons to both, and you'll find experienced marketers on both sides of the fence. Here are some of the differences for you to consider:

Navigation -

One of the main differences between a website and a blog is navigation. It's generally much easier to find information on a website because YOU have control over exactly where the links are located and exactly which links you want to include.

Because of the way blogs are set up it's often difficult for your readers to find information that's been pushed off of the home page. You'll need to pay particularly close attention to your categories and your archives listing to make sure your readers can find that article you published two or three months ago. And most bloggers don't do that. Consequently, that great article you wrote last December that netted you thousands of dollars in sales is lost in the archives somewhere.

Content -

Some marketers will tell you that Google prefers blogs - and with the recent changes to the algorithms even Google is saying they prefer blogs. Most marketers will set up a static site with 10 or 20 articles and leave it at that. But bloggers are constantly adding new blog posts - new content - which is something that Google is really pushing. Once a visitor has read everything there is to read on your static site, there's no sense in coming back. But if they know you're updating your blog every two or three days, they'll bookmark it and return on a regular basis.

You can generate the same level of activity with a website as long as you continue to add new, fresh articles to it on a regular basis, but it's a little more difficult to do when you're working in HTML.

Activity -

And speaking of activity, one of the things that Google currently finds most attractive about blogs is the ability to leave comments. In fact, Google is starting to reward blogs with lots of comment activity by moving them higher in the index.

The choice is really yours.

If you're comfortable enough working in HTML to keep your site fresh and active, then by all means, set up an HTML site. If not, or if you just don't want to be bothered with the coding, then set up a WordPress blog on your own hosted domain and just make sure you pay close attention to your navigation so your visitors can find all the information they're looking for.