Many people are drawn to affiliate marketing because they get products and a website to promote from the affiliate merchant. This actually is a good way to start because it gets you in business for yourself and you can begin to learn what will work for you.

However you will quickly find that having your own affiliate marketing website is better than using the replicated website the merchant provides. This does not have to be a complicated process and there are several reasons why you should do it.

1. Affiliate marketing is competitive. If you use the same website as everybody else it is more difficult to make sales. One way to limit your competition is have your own website and make it different than your competitors.

2. You cannot make changes to the merchant's website. This is because you do not actually host it yourself.

When you join an affiliate program you are given an ID number that is inserted into your affiliate merchant website. This is how you are identified by the merchant and given credit for every sale you make.

Some affiliate websites are better than others. This can affect your sales, and not being able to make changes to them can actually cost you money.

3. One big benefit of having your own website is you can brand yourself as an expert in the niche of your business. This is an important part of making more money with certain affiliate products.

When you purchase your own domain name, and build a website, you can choose anything you want. Some people choose to put their own name directly in the website domain name. Others prefer to use keywords that relate to the niche or theme of the product.

Regardless of what your strategy is branding yourself with your own website is smart business. You cannot do that using the replicated affiliate website.

4. The products you want to promote will change over time. When you have your own website you can add and delete products as you see fit. This allows you to be more mobile as things change in the marketplace which will ultimately are you more money.

5. Add a sign up form to your email list on your personal website. One of the best ways to increase your affiliate sales is following up with people via email. You can set this up anyway you want and make changes to it over time to build your list.

These are a few reasons why you should throw away your affiliate marketing website from the merchant and develop your own. If you are going to do affiliate marketing long term this is definitely the way to go.