Are you in affiliate marketing? Where do you send your traffic? Many people do affiliate marketing without a website which I think is a bad idea.

There are some advantages to having a website of your own and just referring it directly to your affiliate website.

There are five reasons I feel you should have your own website if you are affiliate marketer.

1. Use it to pre-sell your product. This is an excellent strategy that has been proven to be successful.

Selling the product is easier done if you own it and can write from a position of personal experience. You can write your own review and list both pluses and minuses of the product you sell.

People like someone who is homest with them. Your goal in pre-selling your affiliate product is to get your customer into a buying mood, and then you can click on the link to your affiliate sales page.

2. Build a list for future follow-up. You cannot build a list of any type if you are using your a replicated affiliate marketing website. Following up by email will increase your sales because very few customers make a purchase on the first visit and this give you a chance to keep your product in front of them.

You may be building the list for the owner of the affiliate product, but not for yourself. Having a list for future follow up allows you to sell other products as well as affiliate product are currently promoting.

3. Make changes to it whenever you want to. By hosting your own website you can make changes to it whenever you want to. You cannot do this with a replicated website because you have no control over it.

4. You can not advertise affiliate links in many article directories or discussion forums. Most discussion forums and article directories do not want you linking to your affiliate website. They do want you to link back to your website or blog.

5. Do you want to make more money? Having your own website will help you make more affiliate sales and earn more commissions. Most of the top affiliate marketers in the world do not send traffic directly to their affiliate sales page.

This is 5 reasons not to do affiliate marketing without a website of your own. You can even use a blog in place of a website. The key is just not to be sending traffic directly to your affiliate website that is provided by the affiliate merchant.