I have recently gotten into internet affiliate marketing. The niche website I created for this, targets stroke survivors and the ability to cope with life following a disabling stroke. I am quite familiar with this niche because I am a stroke survivor myself. My hope is to relay my experiences as a stroke survivor to help others deal with some of the things I went through.

Expressing my thoughts and feelings is also like therapy for and it keeps my mind going and gives something to do while I'm fighting to return to work. My website, although not state of the art, gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride. I write a thought of the day almost everyday, and I have just installed a forum page/message board to encourage discussion.

Most likely, the people who would be visiting my website, would have either a) suffered a stroke or b)had someone close to them suffer a stroke. Therefore, my website traffic depends on someone else's tragedy. Am I like one of those ambulance chasing personal injury lawyers trying to promote my own business? I was worried that I might be exploiting fellow disabled and handicapped stroke survivors.

I was struggling with this issue, so I posted my concerns on my affiliate marketing community message board, and I got a lot of feedback which made a lot of sense and eased my mind. For the most part, after looking at my website, the members looked at my website in a positive manner.

According to them, my site provides for those looking for support, They visit by their choice because I offer them something nobody else can really offer. I'm one of them, and my experience and opinions are real to them, because I have been in their shoes.

One point that was brought up, struck home with me. Who's to say that these people aren't capable of making decisions for themselves. I'm not forcing them to purchase anything by visiting my websites or am I forcing anybody into joining the internet affiliate marketing community that I participate in. I'm merely offering my experiences and options, it's up to them to decide what to do with that information.

After all, one of my pet peeves since my stroke, is that the people around me seem to baby me and question my decision making process at times. I'm doing the same thing to my site's visitors...Shame on me for not giving credit to my fellow stroke survivors!