Building a web site does not require HTML coding knowledge, or even buying into a "service" that offers website building using "drag and drop" elements, like Homestead and others. With the newest and simplest methods available for creating a website, even the most computer illiterate and the beginner to the Internet can create a website. Your website can be used for the most basic of purposes, such as a family album, or can be created to create a second income, fully monetized to earn money through eBay and the thousands of other affiliate programs.

I have seen a couple of other guides about creating a website. They make things more difficult than they have to be.

Building A Website With HTML - Are You Nuts?

Building a website using HTML coding is simply time consuming and beyond the capabilities of any beginner that wants to present a website that is visually appealing to visitors. It can take months, if not years to learn everything needed to create a website that can perform all the functions you desire of it- those that go beyond the basics of providing a readable text and pictures to be viewed. HTML is most often used to create a simple page, not an entire website. Those days of endless hours writing and checking coding are long gone when there are complete programs that actually walk you through all the steps of installing any website quickly and easily.

Using "Easy" Website Services - Not So Cheap!

Website services, such as Homestead and others offering cheap websites that are "simple" do not make it easy to find the true cost of them and what they actually lack. Homestead, as an example, offers a website for only $4.99 a month. Sounds like a good deal for anyone who does not understand what they are not getting. They don't get enough pages, storage space, or bandwidth. Their $4.99 plan only allows them to place a certain amount of data on the server (the data makes the website). They limit your bandwidth usage, which means that when too many people view the website it is basically "turned off" until the next months allotment of bandwidth is provided. They only allow 5 pages to the website. Not nearly enough if you have plans to expand over time. These are only a few of the restrictions that you don't find out about until you discover you need more than the cheap plan you bought into and if you want another website, which everyone does eventually, pay another $4.99 or move to a better plan they offer.

Then, you pay. To move up to a slightly better plan costs $19.95/mo plus a $20 set up fee. Want their best plan? $49.95/mo plus the $20 set up. You can see that the "hook" is the cheap plan. Everyone will have to eventually move to a more expensive plan if they want to keep their website they put hours of work into - and you can't transfer the website from them if you find a cheaper service.

You Need To Be A Webmaster

Those of us who have been in this business for years know that the most economical way to build a website is to have complete control over all aspects of it. This includes the domain name, host server, and all the files that make up our website. This is what it means to have your own website and be a true webmaster. Nobody can control the content, or restrict your design - and you don't need to know HTML coding, as their are website templates available from numerous sources that are free.

How about a program to upload files to your host server? Also free.

Image editing software? Free

Text editing software? Free.

Being A Webmaster Costs About $11/mo - TOTAL

I've been in this business for 10 years, having started and floundered in the beginning because I didn't know all of this. I spent many hundreds of dollars during my starting months at a time when I couldn't afford it, discovering the mistakes and the unneeded expense. I was a complete newbie who barely knew how to open an email.

The actual cost of running a website is less than $11.00/mo. and that includes your own domain name as part of the cost. The most difficult thing to learn is exactly how to get all the information you need to successfully build a website and upload it to your host server. This is what stops many people from even trying. It sounds technical and can be scary to many, so they don't investigate the possibility further.

The process is fairly simple, if you have someone to guide you along in the process. A step by step guide isn't readily available on the Internet. Yes, you can find bits and pieces, but this often creates a problem of one person telling you a host server to use, but another person telling you how to obtain a website program that may be incompatible with the host server, causing some functions of the website not to work. So, where can you find a program that gives you a complete instruction guide including videos? I made one, but I'll get to that.

Let's Talk About The eBay Affiliate Program (ePN)

eBay may have one of the best affiliate programs for making money online. They offer affiliates a commission of 50% of the fees charged to the seller of an item if the affiliate brought the buyer to eBay through a link provided in the affiliate program. This means that not only can you make a commission on other peoples items sold through your website, but if you are a seller you can have a website that directs people to your own items and earn back half the fees charged to you from eBay, if it is your link that generated the sale. Many of my own items I've sold on eBay were a result of my own websites directing visitors to my listings.

The trouble is that eBay is not an easy affiliate program to join. eBay want an informative and "engaging" website representing them. They want to know your website will bring buyers and they expect certain things from your website when you present it to them for acceptance to their affiliate program. There are also things they do not want to see. You have to know what these are if you want to make money with your website. We more experienced webmasters know what these requirements are.

The Hazards Of Building A Website

Scams perpetrated on new webmasters. Everything from reciprocal links that aren't reciprocal to emails you receive stating your affiliate account has a problem (phishing emails) and they all look legitimate. The others are your basic scams of some webmaster "tool" that will take your website to the top of the Google search returns, or simply make you a millionaire in a year. There are also more sophisticated people who will try to attack your website files to implant their own affiliate code, or strip your affiliate code, thus causing you to lose a commission. The spam from other webmasters pushing some "Instant Wealth" program can be overwhelming, which is why I now use a filter and my emails from my websites uses a form type of mail service requiring a code to be inserted. This keeps out the robot generated emails.

The belief that a website itself can make you rich. I see a number of people selling websites as "Turnkey" businesses, or even basic templates for a few dollars. The trouble is the selling tactics. No website - and I'll say it again - No website is going to earn huge amounts of money just by putting it on the Internet. I don't care how fancy and pretty it looks. That's where the work comes in. You have to have it found by people surfing the Internet for information. The websites that say that the content is supplied "automatically"? Also worthless. The content is provided from an RSS feed of existing articles already published and search engines give them no relevance. In some cases, such a website might even cause your site to perform worse in search returns because Google despises duplicate content.

I see people offering websites with cheap hosting services. They are resellers of hosting services. I do the same thing. You buy a hosting plan that allows you to resell a portion of the data space and bandwidth you buy. The hook is the cheap offer in the beginning. Then the price goes up after the "freebie" period ends. Get enough people to use "your" hosting service and you can make thousands of dollars each month doing absolutely nothing except being a middleman. Trouble is the customer service is usually non-existent (contact them by email, rather than a phone) and you can only hope they don't close up shop and leave town. Stick with the big name, well known hosting companies and avoid the resellers.

Building websites is also addictive. After you build your first website and get that first affiliate check you will want to build more. For only an additional $7.60 per YEAR (yes, per year) you can create another website without increasing your server cost when following my directions. I currently run about 50 websites and I still want to build more, even though I have difficulty keeping on top of those I already have.

The Benefits of Creating Your Own Website

Money. Plain and simple. Having a website is the best return on your money. For the cost of buying the information on how to build a website, joining the best affiliate programs (there are thousands besides ePN), and be a legitimate webmaster, you can easily recoup those costs within 60 days. If you are accepted into ePN, sooner. Then, considering the cost of keeping those websites running each month, you almost can't avoid making a profit. Compounded over numerous websites, the income is quite impressive. When I first began I was simply trying to make an extra hundred dollars a month to help pay bills. I do far, far more than $100 every month.

It's a business with all the benefits. I'm talking about tax write-offs for anything you invest to improve that business. That includes new computer equipment, travel expenses, advertising costs, everything can be writen off against your earnings from your affiliate programs income.

Working at home. Considering the economy and the fact that many people are either unemployed or underemployed, what better way to spend the time working - by working at home. You are creating a real business and the beauty of it is it takes no more space than where your computer now sits (by the way, that space used for your "office" is now tax deductible). Imagine in a year, having survived the economy and not even feeling the effects of a high unemployment rate or sky rocketing gas prices. Getting checks in the mail, or by direct deposit from companies that pay you for having your own website.

How To Get Started - Simply

I've created HomeIncome-101  (created using only HTML, by the way). It's everything a beginner needs to know and I have already sold hundreds through my own website. It is packed with videos and information written for the beginner with little computer knowledge. Yes, this part is some self promotion, but this is something I wanted to provide to people who are in a bad way these days. Maybe I was lucky to have gone through my own bad times those many years ago (when the economy was actually better). I'm not feeling this downturn and I've got my money now. I've been teaching people for the last couple of years in my local area and I created this program to help others. Of course, it will only help those who are willing to work. Those who are looking for "instant" wealth will continue to buy programs that promise such, but deliver nothing.

So, understand this: Building a website is simple and easy when you have the knowledge. Making it produce money is the hard part. I provide information on how to do that, but the actual work will be done by you. Your website will be what you make of it. The income will be directly related to how much effort you apply. How bad do you want it?

If you want to build a website, become an affiliate, and eventually earn a substantial second income, you have to want it a lot and understand that only the most dedicated survive (see my "Truth Video" located on my ad).

Wishing You Success,

Matthew Dees