Affiliate marketing gives first time online marketers an opportunity to promote something, even when they do not have their own product to sell. To be an affiliate is easy and fast. Many affiliate program also free to join. However, many people still hesitant to join any Internet based affiliate marketing program, even with all the benefits an affiliate can enjoy. One of the reason is because the lack of a website to start with, which leads to the question whether it is necessary to have a website to market an affiliate program.

Without a website, it is possible to market and promote an affiliate program. Among the common strategies that people use are email marketing, off line promotions, writing e-books, writing ezine and engaging in online discussions such as forums, chats, message boards and others.

Let us look at these strategies one by one.

Email marketing might be the most common strategy used by online marketers who do not own a website. With email marketing, you will manage a list of email ads of your prospective customers. You will provide them with articles that relevant with the products and programs you are marketing. For most people promotional emails are too annoying. The best practice with this strategy is by providing informative articles and add small text ads that link to your merchant's site.

There are many ways to promote your affiliate product off line. The common medium for such promotions is classified ads, brochures and fliers. Classified ads would generally work better compared to the other two because they often reach a wider audience.

If you know how to write, e-book might be the best way to promote your affiliate products in absence of a website. Be sure to write contents that are related to the product you are promoting. Keep it informative rather than promotional. You can put text ads or banner that links to your merchant's site at the end of your e-book.

Ezines are publications or articles that aim to inform individuals about a particular topic. If you have a website, you can use your articles as content of your site. However, if you do not have one, you can submit your articles with inserting link to your merchant's site to various article submission websites.

As an Internet marketer, I find that online discussions are great venues to promote your products. In chats, forums, message boards and discussion boards with topics related to your products, it is easy to find people who might be interested to buy your products.

With all those strategies mentioned, it may appear that you really do not need a website to be a successful affiliate marketer. Well, not really. While it is true that even without owning a website one can be very successful, it is rare instant that a first time online marketer can reach the same levels of success.

Having a website is not required to start an affiliate program, otherwise you will be oblique to have one in the first place. However, while this is true, I would recommend to have your own website even if you decide to have it later. You will have more control of your business by having your own website. Your will be able to freely promote all of your products, even from different merchants. With advantages a website provide, don't you think it is wise to have one?