There is really no difference between building a website for your affiliate business and building a website for any other business. The first thing you need to do is to decide what the purpose of your website is.

Is your primary purpose to build a list? Will you provide product reviews or other content to presell readers? What is the topic of your site?

Once you have established the purpose of your website, and decided on a topic, then you need to do some keyword research. It's a waste of time to build a website based on keywords that no one is searching for.

There are many free tools on the internet you may use to find keywords. All you have to do is search for "free keyword tools" in your favorite search engine.

The next step is to find products that match your topic. There are many affiliate networks that offer products, including sites like Clickbank, Linkshare, and Commission Junction. The decision you need to make here is to decide whether you will offer digital or physical products. You may even decide to offer both.

Your next question is: will you build a single page website or a content site? If you decide to build a single page website and build a list, you will need to write email messages, get an autoresponder, and create a simple one page site. If you don't have web hosting and a domain yet, you will need to buy these first.

With content sites you need to decide whether or not to use a content management system or build straight HTML pages. Each has its advantages, but the advantage of a content management system is that it allows you to more easily change the design of your site.

Depending on the content management system you use, you may also add extra features that will improve your rankings in the search engines, like RSS subscriptions. You'll find many content management systems available for free, as well as demo sites to help you decide which one is right for you. (Search for "free content management systems")

Regardless of which type of site you choose to build, there are certain things you will need to make sure your site has.

A privacy policy lets your readers know that you will protect their information and not give it away or sell it. Include a link to either your support desk or email. Give visitors a way to contact you in case they have more questions. If you build a content site, then you want to include a subscription box on each page of your website.

Once you have made these decisions, assemble the tools you need to start building your site. The sooner you get your site up and running, the sooner you may start marketing it so you make money.