When I try to sign up with places like Hydra or Affiliate.com, they always ask for a website. What if I don't have a website? Do they only accept people who have been marketing for a while?
You might get accepted if you have a really good idea for how you are going to send traffic. You will have to call them though and discuss with them your methods before you will get accepted. I would recommend that you just build a website. I got accepted to Commission Junction, and all I had was a free blogspot blog with about 10 posts on it.
That's right, it's not necessarily for you to have paid website. Instead you can just get blogger or wordpress to set your blog going before you can sign up with those affiliate companies...
That's simply the networks lowest common denominator, having a website, even though it doesn't necessarily have to be a huge site. It separates the fly by night affiliates from the more serious affiliates.