So you're looking to buy a "turnkey" website and you see all this stuff about affiliates, publisher ID, Amazon, Google AdSense, ClickBank, etc etc and you have NO IDEA what the heck people are talking about. You just want a website that makes money!!

Well, that's where I come in. This report will explain what all that garbly-gook means and how these types of websites DO make you money (and lots of it!)

First of all, let me explain the basics of affiliate programs, because you will see many words that will confuse you.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE?

Simply put, you are an affiliate if you sell something that belongs to someone else (vendor)… and you make a portion of the sale. It is also sometimes called being an "Associate".

When you become an Affiliate (usually by just filling out a form on the vendors website), you are assigned a unique ID that is attached to all links to their products. You put those links on your website and when your website visitors click on those links, they are brought to the vendors website. If they purchase a product, you make a commission.

Now… HOW and WHEN you receive that money is set up by the vendor. Some vendors pay you monthly, some weekly. Some pay only when you reach a certain amount and some pay immediately when the product is sold. Some vendors will pay you through your PayPal account and some mail you a check. When you join a vendors affiliate program, just read their information to find out their system and how they pay.

Vendors offer payment programs in a few different forms:

1. Pay-Per-Click: They pay you for everyone who clicks through to their site from yours. The visitor doesn't have to buy anything, you are just paid for someone clicking on the link on your website. (Google AdSense does this)

2. Pay-Per-Lead: In most cases it is defined as somebody who signs up for a free trial or free service. You send a web visitor to the vendors site where the web visitor will sign up for something free that the vendor offers and you are paid a set amount for each person who signs up for the free thing, say a $1.00 per lead.

3. Pay-Per-Sale: You are paid a flat amount commission or a percentage of all purchases the web visitor makes while on the vendors site after they clicked through from your website. (All products through ClickBank & Amazon are like this).

So, to make money with your website, you would want to create a site with a particular topic and then place features on the site that will make money! Here is an explanation of some things to go on your site:

Videos from YouTube, matching the topic of your website should be placed on your site. This is handled through Google AdSense as well. When you log into your Google AdSense account, choose "Video Units" as your type of ad. Then you'll go through some settings and choose keywords that will show videos which match the topic of your site.

The videos have ads on them and when your web visitors click those ads, you are credited. More Money!

Amazon.com Products. On your pages should be products that are sold by Amazon.com and relate to the theme of your website. Amazon pays a percentage of each sale to you.  You can choose an Amazon Product Box,  "Product Carousels", Product Search Boxes or other Amazon type product displays.  You do not have to take orders or ship products. Amazon.com handles it all.  Free account with Amazon required.

As you may or may not know, Amazon sells just about every type of product these days (who knew?)… so be sure to really drill down and choose products that are relevant to your website topic. Don't waste space by displaying ads that your type of web visitors won't care about.

ClickBank.com is a website where people sell their digital products (i.e., delivered electronically, not through the mail). You can perform a search to find products that relate to the theme of your website and when your visitors click on these links, you are paid a commission on all sales. The rate of commission and how much you receive is set by each individual vendor who sells their item through ClickBank.  ClickBank mails out checks twice a month.  Free account with ClickBank required.

Having a chat room allows your visitors to log in and interact with you and other visitors on your website.  In my chat rooms, Google AdSense text Ads or ClickBank products are always displayed on the right side which make me money for every click OR ClickBank Product purchased.

A Mailing List script allows visitors to give their name and email address in exchange for a free product download. You should also have a Newsletter Script where you can log in as the administrator and send out Newsletters, Announcements, Offers for other products, etc.

A free digital product that relates to your website should be included so the website visitor is more likely to give their name and email in exchange for this free product.

You should have FULL Resell and Giveaway rights to this product! This means you can continue giving it away for free in exchange for email addresses OR you can sell it right off your website.

Put articles on the website that pertain to the topic of the website. I take great care in choosing articles that go well with your site and there will always be something on all article pages that will make you money. Google Ads, Amazon Ads, ClickBank Products, etc.

You can get free articles at many places on the web.

GoArticles.com - You copy these articles and paste them onto your website. The article stays the same and does not change or update.

Digg.com - You create some code to put onto your site and Digg.com will display a list of articles relevant to your website. This list of articles updates automatically and fresh articles appear daily. You want this.

NewsToolkit.com - Same thing as Digg.com, fresh articles daily

The websites that you see for sale on eBay include some or all of the features mentioned above. So you are paying for a website that is READY to go, except that YOUR affiliate ID's and links need to be substituted for the ones that are on there right now.

Now, some eBay sellers will make those changes for you, some will just send you all the files and you do it yourself.

It is imperative that you carefully go through the links and products to make sure YOUR ID's are on there because you are just handing over commissions to someone else if you don't change the links.

Buying a ready made site on eBay will save you about $1000 in software purchases, 6 months of learning HTML, ASP, PHP and other programming languages, 6 months of learning Graphic Design or about $2000-3000 in Labor Costs involved in having someone else design a custom site for you from scratch.

And that's just for a basic site. The more complex you get, the more features you want, the WAY MORE it costs.

When you buy a website on eBay, be sure you know the answers to these questions before bidding:

   1. Does the website come with a domain name?
   2. If yes, is there a fee for having it transferred to me
   3. Through which registrar is it registered and HOW will it be transferred to me?
   4. When does the domain name expire?
   5. Does the website include hosting?
   6. If yes, for how long and how much?
   7. Will I have access to edit the website. If yes, how?
   8. If hosting is not included, how will the website files be delivered to me?

Because although you may see one site for just $10 and another for $100… the one for $10 may not include hosting and the one for $100 may give you a years free hosting. One may offer to install the website onto your hosting for you, another may leave you on your own to figure out the files. One may have a domain name, the other may not.

Do not compare just by price alone.
READ AND ASK what is included!

If you have little experience with web and graphic design, then buying a ready made site for less, then spending your money on traffic gaining techniques is the best way to go.

However, if you WANT to do it all on your own, I can tell you what I do.

How you can do it all yourself from scratch without buying a website on eBay.

1. Decide on a website theme/topic. What will your website be about?
    What I use/Cost: My mind, My thoughts, (Free)

2. Create the website pages, graphics, email form, chat room, store page, etc.
    What I use/Cost:
          -Microsoft Front Page for web design ($99)
          -Adobe Photoshop for Graphics ($649)
          -ASP Programming language for the email form (learned myself)
          -Newsletter Script to send out emails to all my subscribers
            (Cannot remember the cost)
          -ASP based Chat Room (Open Source, free)
          -Add Amazon Products (Free)
          -Add Articles (Free)
          -Add Google AdSense Ads (Free)
          -Add YouTube Videos (Free)
          -Upload website to a hosting account ($10-15/month)

3. Create a free ebook or buy one that has resell/Giveaway Rights.  Give this ebook away on your website in exchange for their name & email address.
    What I use/Cost: I have a membership with a website that gives me products with resell rights, master resell rights or private label rights. I pay $67 per 6 months and get new products each month. I've also created my own digital products along the years.

4. Promote your website and GET visitors there!

Thanks for reading!

Natalie J Williams