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Useful Information

On this page I am going to outline a few of the services and products that are vital to you as an entrepreneur hoping to make a living from your online activities.

I would suggest that at a very minimum you purchase a domain name and hosting BEFORE you start on anything else. You may be able to promote a few affiliate programs without these items but now it is getting far more difficult for you to get your affiliate links indexed by any search engine.
If you have your own domain name it is far easier as you can effectively cloak your links using a simple script.
For example both of these links are affiliate links:

http://csgl.net/tsphere

http://thirdspherehosting.com/plus/?bizoffer&id=bizoffer&pkg=

Which one would you be more inclined to click on?

The first one takes you to exactly the same place as the second one, has exactly the same end result, but is shorter, more likely to earn an affiliate commission, goes through a program that gives accurate click statistics and, most importantly, can be edited at any time to change the destination.
This last point is vital as if you ever need to change the program being promoted you only want to have to go to one place to change ALL instances of that link wherever they appear on the web!

Your Own Domain Name And Website

This is the most important item that you will need, there really is no way of bypassing this step.

Without these items you will come across as an amateur which will send prospective clients scurrying away in seconds.

Just imagine their reaction to you attempting to tell them how great a product or service is, and how much it will do for them, when your email comes from some freebie provider and your sales page is on an ad supported free host - Not Good!

Here are some of my suggestions based on my experience over the years.

Domain Name Registrars:

This section is for those of you who want to register a domain name and retain complete control over it. A good idea if you think that you will swap web hosting companies in the future. If you are happy for a hosting company to register your domain name for you skip ahead to the next section.

Creative Webs Domain Sales - This is a company that I set up so that I could offer my members reliable domain name services at good prices. Recently the items on offer have been expanded to cover just about every domain name ending that you could wish for - Find Out More

Namecheap - I know, crap name, but they do offer so really good prices on domain names - Find Out More

Web Hosting Companies:

These companies all offer reliable hosting at good prices. Don't go solely on price though as the cheapest is not always the best, believe me!

** TOP PICK **

Thirdsphere Hosting - This company is my all time favorite due to the very comprehensive set of features that they provide. They are also a major player in web hosting affiliate programs so your membership provides more than just somewhere to put your website. A great choice if you need online site builder tools, theirs will allow you to build a great looking site with no experience at all, just follow the instructions. A basic affiliate program script and autoresponder are supplied as one of the available tools with your hosting - Find Out More

** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED **

ProNet Hosting - This company started off as a small company is 2000, but over the years has transformed itself into one of the major players in this very competitive market. Many of my sites are hosted on their servers and I guess that over the past two years I could count the downtime in minutes, very impressive. More importantly they offer some of the best deals that I have ever seen on a regular basis. Currently they are providing a whole year of hosting for only $25, check it out now to find out if this deal is still available.
- Click Here To Find Out More!

** RECOMMENDED READING **

I have put together a complete site with information that may help you find a web host, you will find it here - Web Hosting Reviews

** USE GDI AS A SECOND INCOME OPPORTUNITY ONLY **

Global Domains International - This company is slightly different from most other hosting companies as their program provides you with a .ws domain name plus an affiliate program that CAN earn you a significant income. Recommended for those of you who have a little drive and determination and who can see a project through to the end - Read More Here

Accepting Payments Online

To sell products you must be able to accept payments from your customers, fairly obvious really. But many of you will only ever have promoted affiliate products where the transaction is handled by the affiliate company, and they then send you a check at the end of the month.

There are many companies that offer online payment facilities for you, but let´s keep it simple to start with...

To accept payments without your own merchant account use these companies:

ClickBank has possibly the largest number of affiliate products available anywhere on the Internet, but can sometimes be a bit cumbersome to use.
Ultra reliable, excellent accounting, and now accepts PayPal payments for it´s products.
You really do have to become a ClickBank affiliate if you buy or sell products.
To join as an affiliate costs you nothing and gives you access to sell any of the products in their vast marketplace with anything up to around 70% commission on a sale.
To sell your own products costs around $50 as a one off acceptance fee but then you can add as many of your own products as you want to your account.
Join Here

PayPal - The longest established of the big players, now owned by eBay and accepted almost everywhere.
With PayPal you can sell your own products at any price you wish. You will also find that many affiliate programs will pay you for your sales directly into your account.
Join Here

PayDotCom - This company is owned by Mike Filsaime, a very experienced marketer, so is geared for those of us who make a living from information products. You are able to add your own products to your account which you can sell yourself and simply pay a handling fee, or you can make your products available for other affiliates to sell for you for a set commission. Highly recommended - Read More Here

Lets move on a find a few affiliate programs to get you started - Click Here