at the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad prog

Building or creating your own website gives you a professional edge. By building or creating a website you have designed you are immediately placing yourself ahead of the crowd. It's not that difficult to build your own website and the following 10 reasons will convince you that designing a website that suits you and your market may lead to increased profits!

1. You can build an internet presence through a domain name of your choice. By having your own website with your own domain name, you can start to build your own "brand" that will eventually become recognised as yours and yours alone. This will make you stand out from the crowd of people all promoting the same products through replicated affiliate websites.

2. Building your own website with your own domain name looks more professional than many affiliate sites. Many affiliate websites that you can promote may not look that great (e.g. they may have too much information, not enough information, the graphics may be "tacky"). If you build your own website to promote a product, you can make it look exactly as you want, and this can include targeting it at a specific niche or customer segment.

3. Once you have your own domain name, you can then have a more professional looking email address. Most Internet users will have either an email address with their ISP (e.g. markfarrar@aol.com) or a Hotmail or Yahoo email address, but these don't look very professional if you're trying to run a business. Doesn't something like Info@WealthyTeddy.co.uk look better? Domain names cost very little these days - less than $3 for a .com name from iPower (although there are plenty of other good-value domain registrars). Isn't your business worth $9 a year?

4. It is a good way of disguising affiliate links and therefore preventing people from stealing your commissions. Many affiliate website links look untidy or are too long, and, worst of all, they look like affiliate links. Some people have a strange aversion to buying something through an affiliate - maybe they think it will cost them more, or maybe they just don't like the idea of somebody earning commission off their purchase. Worse still, people can easily change the affiliate URL and add their own affiliate id, resulting in you losing commissions. A better approach is to build a page on your own website that redirects to the affiliate program behind the scenes (e.g. www.WealthyTeddy.co.uk/recommends/30maws), as this hides the affiliate link completely.

5. You can promote more than one product or service at the same time. Although some experts suggest that you should promote only one product per page, this is not always practical. If you have your own website, you can list related products on one page, even if they're from different companies. Again, this comes down to providing what your customers will be looking for.

6. You get to control cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Depending on what you sell and how, you can offer an "upsell" opportunity as part of the sales process. This may be a special offer, for example, that the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad progr

n domain name looks more professional than many affiliate sites. Many affiliate websites that you can promote may not look that great (e.g. they may have too much information, not enough information, the graphics may be "tacky"). If you build your own website to promote a product, you can make it look exactly as you want, and this can include targeting it at a specific niche or customer segment.

3. Once you have your own domain name, you can then have a more professional looking email address. Most Internet users will have either an email address with their ISP (e.g. markfarrar@aol.com) or a Hotmail or Yahoo email address, but these don't look very professional if you're trying to run a business. Doesn't something like Info@WealthyTeddy.co.uk look better? Domain names cost very little these days - less than $3 for a .com name from iPower (although there are plenty of other good-value domain registrars). Isn't your business worth $9 a year?

4. It is a good way of disguising affiliate links and therefore preventing people from stealing your commissions. Many affiliate website links look untidy or are too long, and, worst of all, they look like affiliate links. Some people have a strange aversion to buying something through an affiliate - maybe they think it will cost them more, or maybe they just don't like the idea of somebody earning commission off their purchase. Worse still, people can easily change the affiliate URL and add their own affiliate id, resulting in you losing commissions. A better approach is to build a page on your own website that redirects to the affiliate program behind the scenes (e.g. www.WealthyTeddy.co.uk/recommends/30maws), as this hides the affiliate link completely.

5. You can promote more than one product or service at the same time. Although some experts suggest that you should promote only one product per page, this is not always practical. If you have your own website, you can list related products on one page, even if they're from different companies. Again, this comes down to providing what your customers will be looking for.

6. You get to control cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Depending on what you sell and how, you can offer an "upsell" opportunity as part of the sales process. This may be a special offer, for example, that the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad prog

ain names cost very little these days - less than $3 for a .com name from iPower (although there are plenty of other good-value domain registrars). Isn't your business worth $9 a year?

4. It is a good way of disguising affiliate links and therefore preventing people from stealing your commissions. Many affiliate website links look untidy or are too long, and, worst of all, they look like affiliate links. Some people have a strange aversion to buying something through an affiliate - maybe they think it will cost them more, or maybe they just don't like the idea of somebody earning commission off their purchase. Worse still, people can easily change the affiliate URL and add their own affiliate id, resulting in you losing commissions. A better approach is to build a page on your own website that redirects to the affiliate program behind the scenes (e.g. www.WealthyTeddy.co.uk/recommends/30maws), as this hides the affiliate link completely.

5. You can promote more than one product or service at the same time. Although some experts suggest that you should promote only one product per page, this is not always practical. If you have your own website, you can list related products on one page, even if they're from different companies. Again, this comes down to providing what your customers will be looking for.

6. You get to control cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Depending on what you sell and how, you can offer an "upsell" opportunity as part of the sales process. This may be a special offer, for example, that the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad prog

ld a page on your own website that redirects to the affiliate program behind the scenes (e.g. www.WealthyTeddy.co.uk/recommends/30maws), as this hides the affiliate link completely.

5. You can promote more than one product or service at the same time. Although some experts suggest that you should promote only one product per page, this is not always practical. If you have your own website, you can list related products on one page, even if they're from different companies. Again, this comes down to providing what your customers will be looking for.

6. You get to control cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Depending on what you sell and how, you can offer an "upsell" opportunity as part of the sales process. This may be a special offer, for example, that the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad prog

at the customer only sees once, and this creates a sense of urgency that is a proven and powerful incentive to buy.

7. You can build a contact list of your own - all the experts will tell you that "the money's in the list". If you capture people's contact details (first name and email address are the absolute minimum), you can then send other offers to your mailing list whenever you want.

8. It's not as difficult as people might think. There is a certain mystique to building websites, but it's actually incredibly easy to build a website (you only have to see how many millions of websites are published these days!), and very easy to build a good-looking website. You can use specialist website-building software, but all you really need is the Notepad program that comes with Windows and a good website or book to learn from.

9. It needn't be expensive. Most of the software you need you either already have or it can be obtained free, if necessary, so the only expense will be a domain name (less than $3 from iPower, although there are plenty of other good-value domain registrars) - you can even find free website hosting if you do a bit of research (but watch out for adverts - you don't want other people's ads cluttering up your website when you have no control over which ads will be displayed), although there are plenty of cheap hosting deals available now (e.g. StartLogic's prices start at just $4.95 per month).

10. It's fun! There's something very satisfying about seeing your own creation come to life and knowing that your website is available to several million potential customers the moment you publish it on the Internet.