Affiliate sites

Hi Angie,

I've been looking into Site Build It for awhile but I still have a couple of questions before I take the plunge, I was hoping you could answer them for me.


First off, I've heard alot of talk about affiliate links, do all affiliate links have to be Site Build It sites?


The reason I'm asking is that I already have established a few sites that I would like to link my site to and they are not Site Build It sites.


Secondly, I am planning on starting an online boutique and I would like my website to be designed very feminine and personal.


I haven't seen many of the Site Build It templates, but I was wondering if they are all pretty much the same or if you can really personalize them.


I also have very little computer experience, that's the main reason Site Build It appeals to me so much.


I too am a Christian and have been praying for the Lord to direct me to what He thinks would be best for my new business adventure.


I pretty much have narrowed it down to either Site Build It or Yahoo Merchant Solutions, which I have also heard good things about.


I appreciate any feedback and advice you could give me, take care and God bless.

Sincerely,
Kimi

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Hi Kimi,

I'm happy to try to help answer some of your questions if I can.

When you build a site with SiteBuildIt (SBI) you can link to any types of sites you want to. They certainly don't have to be other SBI sites, and they don't even have to be "affiliate links" if you don't want them to be.


Affiliate sites are sites that you sign up to in order to earn a commission on sales that you send to that site.


For instance, on my chocolate site, I refer people to different companies depending on what they are searching for. Those companies give me a tracking/referal link that I can use on my site so that they know I am the one who sent them a customer and they can keep track of my commissions.


On the other hand, I also have just regular links from this site to sites that I feel my visitors would be interested in or benefit by and they are not affiliate links. That's probably the kind of link you would use for linking from your SBI site to your other established sites.


As for the templates that are available, there are over 100, I believe, but you are not limited to those. You can change your template to suit your niche theme and make it unique.


There are some step by step instructions in the SBI forum for those who want to try doing it themselves, but you can also pay someone a one time fee to design a unique template for you if you don't want the hassle of doing it yourself.


At this very moment, the templates are basically 2-column (like this one), but they are in the process of making the 3-column option available for those who prefer it. It will be ready in the next few months and will be very easy to change from 2 to 3 columns and back again if you desire.


I don't know anything about Yahoo Merchant Solutions, so I can't really compare it to SBI. I can say that I had NO experience whatsoever prior to SBI, and I've loved their easy to follow program. I thank the Lord for letting me 'stumble' upon their program a couple of years ago. It's been a real blessing to me and my family and I can't recommend them highly enough for quality and value.


Let me know if I can be of any further help. By the way, in case you weren't aware, SBI is having their summer special at the moment. The program is on sale until June 21.

Blessings,
Angie