Free hosted blogsite as an affiliate website -Would this do?

12 Sep 10 5:39 pm

Tchbobby,

I know my brother did use those types of blogs when he first got started. But you do have to be VERY careful, as a lot of the stuff we do with IM is AGAINST their Terms of Service. That means if they find out, they can shut you down. If you do ti for a short time, just to get some cash to do it the right way, you might could get away with it. But if you get caught, that account could get banned.

This is why it is generally recommended to get your own hosting/domain. It really doesn't cost much. $10/year for the domain and $10/month for the hosting is what I pay. If you look around, you might find a host that will include the first year's domain as a part of their package. The first month might have a little higher "set up" fee, but after that, $10 a month is what I pay.

13 Sep 10 11:41 am

There is no reason you can not get a free hosted site to rank with backlink building. As Gradyp has said there is risk attached as they can shut your account down at any time. If you do go down this route keep a backup of any work you do so you can use the content elsewhere if your account is shut down.

Have you considered providing some sort of service to people, setting up bookmark accounts, writing, backlinking, whatever. This could be a way for you to make the extra 10 dollars a month for hosting (just a thought).

Another option may be to post articles to article directories (some let you include your affiliate links like goarticles and articles base) and backlink these articles, you would want to select low competition keywords. This could be another way to start earning some money to help with hosting costs.
It is best as GradyP has said to aim to get your own hosting, as you then have full control.

15 Sep 10 7:59 am

I'd be careful with free hosting, because you'll run into a lot of the same issues as you would with a "free blog". In addition to those issue, you will usually have code added to your code that FORCES their advertising on your page, either through adding banners, popovers/unders, and similar annoying sell techniques that can 1) lead traffic away from your site in a way NOT controlled by you OR 2) cause the visitors to your site to quickly hit the back button.

28 Sep 10 2:11 am

Hi tchbobby,

There are some web hosting companies that let you have free hosting for a start and when your needs increase (in direct proportion to your income on your blog or site), you can upgrade you hosting account. Examples of such web hosting services are 000webhost.com and tryfreehosting.co.cc

If you are keen to work online you could sign up to become a provider on odesk. Almost all kinds of skills are required and offered there, and there's a lot of Filipino providers finding success on odesk.

04 Oct 10 12:09 am

Hi tchbobby,

Since you are in the Philippines, you might as well try local web hosting companies. There are hosting companies that offer hosting services for as low Php 600/year ($13). That's only Php 50 per month! Cheaper than a Jollibee or Mcdonalds value meal!

11 Oct 10 12:54 pm

You can use it as your training ground. It's free, and you see how it goes. If your website doesn't make money, then no harm done, you didn't pay anything for it. But if it does make money, then I would suggest investing some of it into buying an actual domain and having it hosted. As mentioned by mikeantiga, there are some local webhosts who would offer it for very low prices.

26 Oct 10 10:24 pm

Thanks everyone for the valuable info. I too, was looking at going the wordpress route for a couple of reasons but was not aware that you couldn't "use" these as an affiliate in the full sense of the word. I was wondering why I couldn't find any links to sales pages etc on any of the blogs. Just curious then, why would Mark have suggested using Wordpress instead of Xsitepro in an earlier video, (which I viewed here on Affilorama) if this is the case?

So, I guess building my own website and registering my own domain is the way forward then. I would want to build a list, so would build a site with a squeeze page too, however I only really have one product that I intend selling in this niche at the moment. So, my uncertainty at this stage is whether I should include a sales page on that same site (doesn't that cause people to leave the site without opting in first) or whether I should rather promote the product through e-mails once I've built my list first. I'm sure there are probably other products in this niche but this is a really, good one with a good sales record.

Thanks
Belinda

27 Oct 10 6:51 am

Hi Belinda,

About Mark suggesting wordpress, please read my post about the two different kinds of wordpress sites.

Including a sales page on your site is not necessarily bad but it shouldn't be the first page that site visitors come upon when visiting your website as that would cause the scenario where they click away quickly. It is best to first build rapport with your site visitors by providing high quality, helpful content. By doing so, you can get them to trust your website and would then be more likely to buy or opt in.

It is also perfectly alright to promote products o the site itself, in addition to promoting through your newsletter. Just do not do it in a spammy way. Put in a banner and 1-2 promotional links for one product related to the content on each individual webpage and it would look natural.

I hope that helps :)