GENERATE TRAFFIC TO YOUR OFFERS
This is where most of the work comes in because, odds are, you don't have the traffic you need to get the sales. You know you don't have it, if you're the advertiser, because they wouldn't be paying someone else a commission to sell their products if they had an exclusive lock on the market. And, we know the publisher doesn't have it for a specific niche, unless it's developed. That's part of the work a publisher has to do. As for a network owner, they're just hoping that by giving a nudge here and there, through training from their affiliate managers, that the publishers and advertisers optimize things so that everyone's happy.
So, where is all that traffic going to come from if not from you? It's got to come from somewhere else. And, that's why this can be the hardest part to get going, because people spend too much time trying to generate traffic in ways that just don't work. The key is to try to harvest as much traffic as you can from other well- known sites and to automate the process, if you can!
Before we get into that, however, let's check out one more Google tool that is going to give you a good idea whether the market niche you chose is going to work out for you in terms of the potential traffic that is out there for it. For that, you need to go and check out Google Traffic at:
https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
Here, you can add the niche keywords and find out how much traffic you can reasonably expect per day from these targeted keywords. If you find that the traffic is too low to generate sufficient income, either as a publisher or an advertiser, you
might want to try to get different keywords or niches that provide a better return on your investment.
Now, onto...
TRAFFIC DOMINATION!
What you are going to have to do to get traffic, as we said earlier, is learn how to harvest as much traffic as you can from other sites with a large number of eyeballs and direct them to your advertisements, sales pages, landing pages, or affiliate offers. The way to do that is to use the following techniques to get people from one area of the web to another:
· Submit to search engines
Use tools to help you submit to web search engines so that your pages get indexed and ranked quickly. A good tool for that is WebCEO, as it will also help you figure out keywords to use to get the targeted demographic you are looking for. Don't just assume submitting to Google is enough, you want a tool that automates multiple submissions, like WebCEO, found at http://www.webceo.com.
· Publish articles
Go to article directories, like www.ezinearticles.com, and submit free articles for acceptance. They are not the only free article directory, but they are a good start. Create articles that capture people's attention and use some good keyword methodology to capture search engine attention. Then, use the resource box to put links back to areas where your affiliate marketing offers can be accessed. You can't go directly to a sales page from your affiliate, in most cases, as it is against the terms of the agreement. But, there are ways for you to add these offers to a blog and link back to your blog, or something similar. To automate, sign up for article submission sites that will submit articles to multiple directories for a wider exposure in half the time. It does cost a little, but the extra bang for your buck can bring more people to your affiliate offers.
· Set up press releases
This is a similar strategy to the article submission, but instead of articles, you are submitting press releases. With press releases, you can be more commercial and no one is going to get bent out of shape. Press releases are for advertising new offerings, new companies, news about your business, so they can hardly be expected to take a soft sell approach. Just remember to put links back into the areas that will provide some revenue too. There are also services that will allow you to submit to multiple press release sites too.
· Promote on social networks
If you haven't joined Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, & MySpace you should do so right now. Get an account set up and find ways to promote links back to your affiliates. This can take a bit of time to get used to the networks and
their rules, but once you figure out ways to do this, through status updates, cleverly embedded links, and applications, you will start to really start getting the hang of this.
· Use social network tools for automation
For instance, Twitter has Tweetlater and Tweetdeck tools that can be used to automate tweets, replies, and even some direct messages. Network your tools so that when you post on one site, it gets broadcasted to multiple sites at once.
· Write free reports or ebooks
Get promotional topics out there and embed links to your affiliate offers within them. If you use the reports or ebooks as freebies to get people to enroll in your own marketing programs, you can both create income from affiliate offers and have residual income from subscribers.
· Get others to promote your offers
Set up affiliate programs for your own ads or make partnerships where you each sell each others products. Include high commissions, quick payouts, and anything that will make your offer more appealing than the next one.
· Give incentives to buy
Offer to bribe someone for clicking on a link, signing up for a lead-based affiliate offer, or buying a product that you've advertised. You can even use infoproducts with more embedded affiliate offers to get people excited about buying a product or service. This way, if you can have repeat sales. Even if it's not your own product you are trying to sell, remember that you can give an incentive to buy that costs you little to deliver.
· Set up email campaigns
If you have numerous subscribers and/or members in a site, fans, or friends, you have the potential for creating email campaigns with affiliate offers in them. Remember to respect people's privacy as you can easily be labeled a spammer this way. Instead, always make sure they opt-in to such a list and then be careful to include relevant information in your emails. Just sending out affiliate ads is considered tacky and basically ignored, if not outright deleted.
These are just a few ways to start generating huge traffic to your site by getting links out to people within your market niche. There are so many different ways to do this, that you need to keep a fresh eye out for new and innovative techniques that can be implemented before the public becomes jaded about them. This has the best effect to generated traffic.
MAKING MONEY OFF REFERRALS
Another great way to make money off affiliate programs is to carefully select networks that have referral bonuses or tiered programs. A two-tier program is when you make money off the people that you refer, at a lower commission than your own. But, every little bit helps. The beauty of a multi-tiered program is that you don't do the work, other than make a referral. Once the referral is made, the affiliate network keeps track of the earnings and sends them to you.
Some limit the timeframe in which you can collect commissions off your sub- affiliates. So, keep in mind that you will want to replenish people on your rolls if that's one way you want to make some income. And, not everyone you refer will be a top earner, so the more people you refer, the better the likelihood that you will make some money. However, if the network also offers a bonus for signups (about
$10 or $15 per sign up), then you can at least count on that money to sweeten the pot.
This is also a great way for network owners to expand their network and create a better business. They may be paying out some money for each sign up, but the value that person adds to their network is much higher than what they are paying out. And, many of the network owners also keep payouts at a basic level to encourage participation.
The most levels that are used is three. You can sign up sub-affiliates and earn and they can sign up sub-affiliates and you continue to earn. These types of programs are much rarer, but can offer a further opportunity to increase your income.
So, when looking to create income through referral bonuses, check the following:
· Time period for sub-affiliate commissions – If it's less than a year, and they offer no sign up bonus, don't exert too much time promoting something that isn't going to generate much income.
· Sign up bonus
This is a very good indicator that you can make some serious money. However, check to make sure that the payout limit on the accounts is less than or close to a single sign up bonus, so that you get that money in your hand, and not just merely as dollar signs on your screen.
· Number of tiers
Three tiered programs are the best, but you have to make sure that the rest of the factors, like time period, and sign up bonus are good too. You don't want to join a three tiered program that limits it to one month sub-affiliates commission, and offers no sign up bonus. It's just a waste of time then.
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