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The last installment of this mini-course discussed products for your fledgling Article Marketing business and how to get them. The subject for this part of the course will be websites and why you need one for your business.

** Step 2 � � You Need a Website**

If you plan on conducting business online you need a website. Well, ok you don� �t have to have one but if you want to make big profits you will need one. In the early stages of an Article Marketing business there are two reasons that you will need your own website.

1.) If you plan on using affiliate marketing you will need your own website.

Most of the more reputable article directories openly state in their Editorial Guidelines that you articles may not contain affiliate program links.

Your links may lead to a � �landing page� � where your visitors can be redirected to the affiliate program.

2.) You need your own website to gather information from your visitors.

Your entire purpose in Article Marketing should be to use your articles to direct traffic to your website where you will gather their information in exchange for a give away product. To do this you will need a website with a � �squeeze page� � on it.

A squeeze page is the page that a visitor lands on when they click the link in your article. On this page you will have a web form that will allow them to enter their name and email address in exchange for a free item.

Once they have exchanged their information they are now subscribers on your list and you may market to them at your leisure.

I will discuss the web form and list building with Article Marketing in detail later in this mini-course.

**Where Do I Get a Website**

There are three basic types of web hosting to consider for the new article marketer.

1.) Free Hosts

Free, that sounds tempting doesn� �t it? Zero dollars is a good thing, right? Wrong. If you are going call yourself and Internet Marketing Professional you need to think like one.

Most free hosts place their own advertisements on your website. Using these hosts will drive your potential customers away simply because they appear very unprofessional.

The other drawbacks to these types of hosts, as if advertisements on your site aren� �t enough, include low bandwidth, low storage limits, poor technical, almost non-existent customer support, and poor search engine placement.

Last but not least most of the free hosts require that your site be on a sub-domain. Example: theirsite.com/yoursite or yoursite.thiersite.com. You want a host that will let you use your own domain.

2.) Low Cost Hosts

Hosts in this category charge as little as $1.99 - $9.99 per month for their services. These can work but be warned that many of them do not provide very many perks. Some do not even provide control panel access. If you can help it stay away from these hosts as well.

3.) Professional Hosting

You are an Internet Marketing Professional and this is the way I recommend that you go.

If you use professional hosting you have the storage space and bandwidth to grow your business. The control panel supplied by these hosts has everything that an Internet Marketing Professional could want, including unlimited email accounts, unlimited sub-domains, statistics, promotional tools, and the tech and customer support is top notch.

You are going to pay a bit more for a professional host, usually somewhere between $19.99 and $49.99 per month but in my opinion it is very much worth every penny.

This mini-course will be continued in Part 5.

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