Which is fine. To be an affiliate marketer, you need a website. Simple enough, right?

Well, not really. Because anybody with a basic knowledge of the internet, or even just the ability to follow instructions, can build a website. But only a few people ever become successful affiliate marketers.

And when you see the websites most people have, it's easy to see why.

The first thing to do is scrap any website you've received free as part of an affiliate marketing program. It might be the easy option, but it's the easy option being used by everyone else who's bought that program. Nobody ever got rich being exactly the same as several hundred other people. Free websites are obvious ? to build sales, you need a website you've created yourself.

The first thing to do is decide what content you're going to include. Get out a piece of paper, and draw a quick site map. You're going to need a start page, introducing yourself and the site. To make your site more than a collection of affiliate links, you're going to need some content. If you don't want to write it yourself, use article directories to find relevant articles you can use. This is important: sites without content aren't accepted into directories, aren't ranked highly by search engines, and don't attract repeat visitors.

And you'll need the tools of any affiliate marketer: affiliate links, an autoresponder form for collection e-mail addresses, and sales pitch for the products you're promoting.

Unless you're good at web design, get a free website template from somewhere. Google them. Choose one that looks professional, clean, neat, and easy to navigate. Try to choose it from a site that has a forum for asking help in, especially if you have little experience of HTML. It's also worth searching for a quick, free course in HTML. You're going to need some basic knowledge.

Your next task is to upload the content onto the site. The template will probably have spaces marked where you need to copy and paste text, or write in your own links. Another important thing to think about is images. Try searching a free image site for something relevant if you don't have any pictures of your own.

One important thing to consider is the placing of your affiliate links. You might want to devote a separate page to each product. You might also want to have a side-bar in which you link to and give brief descriptions of some of your best selling products. This is a good way of finding out what sales copy works and what doesn't: pay attention to which links achieve the most clicks.

Of course, it's important to remember that you are trying to make money. But, at the same time, remember that visitors don't want to constantly feel like you're trying to sell them something. If your site has genuine content that they find helpful, they're more likely to come to trust you ? and therefore more likely to follow your recommendations in future.

Another important thing to remember is to make your site search engine friendly. This is gone into in much more detail elsewhere by people more knowledgeable than I; just remember to use meta tags. Also make sure that the first paragraph on your main page contains important key words, as many search engines pay attention to this.

You should also consider having a page of links. This is important for link exchanges, which raise your search engine ranking and gain you some free traffic.

Finally, you need to make sure your website contains contact information ? not just for those who have a question about the products you are advertising, but also in case there is a problem with the site.

One of the best ways to get an idea of what your website should be like is to visit the websites of other affiliate marketers. You'll quickly see that they can be very different in style, depending on how they choose to market their products.

In the end, the most important thing to remember is that your website needs to be more that a collection of affiliate links ? and if you cannot see why, you will probably never become a successful affiliate marketer.