Everywhere you turn, there are offers for you to make thousands of dollars a month and what all these offers have in common is that each claims theirs is the best, fastest, and easiest way to get rich. Affiliate programs are one of these offers and like the real estate schemes and door to door sales companies of the past, they simply don't work. Today, affiliate programs are the Internet version of telemarketing and pyramid schemes. The best way to make money with an affiliate program is to avoid it completely and invest your time in your own business, your own domain, and your own website.

Once you've registered your own personal domain name and built your website to your satisfaction ? that is, it uploads quickly; there are no errors in grammar or spelling or price; and it represents your business, products, and services accurately ? then and only then is it time to register your website with the search engines.

Registering your personal domain with the search engines is how you draw traffic to your website from across the globe. People who type in search words that are associated with what you have to offer (your business; services and products) should be able to find your website among the listings that the search engine returns. For this to happen, you must register your site with each search engine.

All of the search engines have a similar system for new sites to sign up. Here is an example for Google. First, go online, open your browser, and head to the Google website (www.google.com). Click the 'About Google' link. There are four major sections of links; one of them is listed as being for 'Site Owners.' That's you! The last link on the list is 'Submit Your Content to Google.' That's the link you want. The first link on that page is 'Add Your URL to Google's Index.' Click on this link. From here, there are full directions on how to list your domain name or URL so that it will be included in searches that Google does.

It may take a few days to go into effect. Give it about 5-7 days and enter in a variety of terms into the search engine that you've signed up with, including the exact name of your website, to see how high up on the list your site shows up. Do you see it at all? Is it on page 20? Many business and website owners obsess about their rankings on search engines. They want their site to be the first one on the list. Don't put this pressure on yourself. There are bound to be a variety of businesses that combine words that are in your business name and services. Your first priority should be to build a solid business and begin to generate traffic to your website. Worry about your rankings later.

Holden, Greg. Starting an Online Business for Dummies, 2nd Edition. IDG Worldwide Books, Inc. Foster City, CA: 2000. p. 227-28.