You do need some basic tools, but a website is not one of them.

Sure, a website is helpful, especially as a content management tool, and even more so if you sell your own products. But if you are an affiliate marketer, you don't need your own site.

For affiliate marketing, there is really only one tool you need (other than internet access and email): an autoresponder. You need a good autoresponder that will let you broadcast messages to the list that you will build. Most free autoresponder programs will not let you do this, so you need to invest about $20 per month in a good autoresponder. This will be the best investment you ever make in your business. And, since autoresponder programs are affiliate programs themselves, you can promote your autoresponder program and eventually have it pay for itself.

If you get a headache thinking about HTML, and “coding” your website gives you cramps, here is a simple marketing system that will promote your affiliate program without your own website:

1. The marketing system is to establish yourself as an expert on the products you are promoting. You do this by creating content: first, by posting in forums and submitting articles to article directories, second, by running your own ezine or newsletter, and third, by personally contacting ezine owners and offering your article for publication in their ezine.

2. You promote your affiliate product or program in the resource box at the end of your article. Write a brief description of who you are, what you do, and how readers can learn more. For more detail, see my resource box at the end of the article.

3. The secret to promoting your affiliate product is to promote it via your autoresponder. Since you have written a content article about what you are promoting, you have probably whetted the appetite for more information. So ask for the sale! If you wrote an article on dog grooming, write something like, “For more fr.ee tips on grooming your dog, send a blank email to abc@autoresponder.com.”

4. In your autoresponder, write a couple more tips, and then a sentence that refers your readers to your affiliate program.

5. Not only have you promoted your product for a very low cost (only the cost of your autoresponder), but you have collected names that you can market to again and again. These names also become your list for your newsletter.

6. Write a new article every week, and continue sending it to your list and article directories, and continue posting in forums. In no time you will have a nice list, and nice profits coming in, all without your own website!