If you are trying your hand at Internet Marketing WITHOUT having your own domain, you are losing potential sales. Even if you are making a profit, you can enhance that so much more by having your own domain (or several depending on what you're actually doing).
Think about it this way... When you buy a car, or a home, or go shopping, etc., whether you realize it or not, the purchase you're making is because of name recognition.
The stores you shop at are highly publicized. The restaurants you eat at are advertising all the time (especially the fast food ones). The auto dealership, and auto manufacturers. Real estate agents and companies. Insurance companies, on and on and on.
The bottom line is, they all, in one way or another, have NAME RECOGNITION!
To be effective on the internet, YOU MUST HAVE NAME RECOGNITION too!
It is human nature to go somewhere or buy from someone you feel comfortable with, whether it's the large superstore that has everything, or the family owned restaurant. We all tend to gravitate to what we're familiar with - even if the media is the reason we feel "familiar".
The way to get name recognition on the internet, is to have at least one website that people can go to, where you control the content. If the only sites you have are affiliate URLs, you don't control the domain. If they change anything on it, there is nothing you can do about it.
You need to have at least one website that YOU can put the content on. It can be YOURNAME.com, or whatever, but you should be able to make changes to it at will.
You can use this site to promote all your programs and products, or as somewhere your customers and potential customers can learn about you. Whatever the reason, the goal is the same - NAME RECOGNITION.
Now, I could go on for quite some time with more details, but I think you get the picture.
So your question should be: "How do I get my own website and domain name?"
For domain names, I recommend Godaddy.com. They're reliable, cheap and been around for some time.
As far as website space, I currently only recommend one web hosting company. I have been with them since 2003 and they are absolutely awesome. While every company has quirks and issues (None of us are perfect, and I mean NONE of us), they have always given me great service, and just so you know, some of the biggest internet marketers host their sites with them.
You owe it to yourself to check them out - Kiosk.
Not only are they well qualified to host your website, they offer all types of instruction and assistance, and you're automatically in their forced matrix, that really does not require you to sponsor anyone. Did I mention that they have paid me monthly since 2003?
Until next time . . .
Julius
The Biz Opp Sleuth