I am going to ask you a very simple question. What is the primary reason that you invest time, effort and money into driving targeted traffic to your website, blog or landing page? If you answer, “In order to sell/promote my product or service”, then you are partly right and largely wrong!

In fact, I believe the primary purpose of driving targeted traffic to any of your marketing sites should always be to convert as many of those visitors as possible into signing up to your opt in list! Why do I make that statement? Unless you have megabucks to invest in large campaigns to drive hordes of targeted traffic to your site/s then you cannot afford to let your visitors simply arrive and then depart, probably never to return.

How do you entice as many of your visitors as possible to fill in your opt in form and become subscribers to your list. Here’s a couple of tips to achieve that goal:

• Only post quality, useful, unique content to your website or blog. Visitors will expect more from you. They will convert to subscribers to your mailing list to make sure they don’t miss out!
• Offer a quality “free” eBook as a gift for filling in your opt in page. Always make sure your “giveaway” is specific to the niche you promote. Give value to Subscribers in exchange for them giving you their email address and name.
• Ensure the free eBook has value. Don’t give away a “free” eBook on “fishing”, if your niche target is “weight loss”.

How do you keep your Subscribers keen to keep receiving your mailings?

• Forward regular emails from your autoresponder service to your list offering quality information.
• Never send emails to your list full of junk just to be able to email “something”.
• Send your list targeted free eBooks. Your Subscribers will appreciate your generosity and learn to trust you; and eventually buy from you.
• Never, ever break the code of privacy.

Here’s to your success with your opt in mailing list/s.

Among the most productive ways of earning income online is affiliate marketing. Understanding, and using affiliate marketing provides you with a perfect means to earn a profit with an Internet business that you control. These programs are simple and quick to join. You can have one up and running within minutes of signing up to any Affiliate program. Providing you do your homework first you can earn a rewarding commission on a monthly cycle. Also, if you ensure that you select a “two tier” affiliate program you will establish an ongoing “royalty” category of income as well as earning commissions from your own sales.

As with many business ventures, some programs have their weak spots and some are a waste of your time and effort. Check out the following three most common mistakes newbie affiliate marketers make that wreck their chances of success:

One : Selecting the “Hottest” and Newest Affiliate Program on the Block!

Obviously you will want to start making money online as quickly as possible. If you conduct a Google search right this minute on the keywords “new launches affiliate marketing programs”, (or similar), you will find hundreds of hot, supposedly new rising stars (?) about to “launch” any day. And these supposed rising new stars usually look really great. Many newbies recognize this smart looking brand new program as an opportunity to “get in at the top”. And for that reason they rush in to sign up and start promoting their brand spanking new affiliate program right away.

However, that is precisely what you should not do! Firstly you need to do your own due diligence and ask yourself these very important questions prior to signing up to any affiliate program :

• Does this program promote a product/s that are salable?
• Are those products I am interested in promoting?
• Would I purchase those products personally?
• Does the program provide quality advertising tools for their affiliates (Free?)?
• Does the program have a “cookie” system in place to ensure my prospects remain mine?
• Does the commission percentage rate meet my minimum expectations?
• Does the program have a two tier commission structure (royalty type income)?

Only after you have satisfied yourself that each of the above points meets your expectations should you consider seriously signing up to the program. After all, it will be your time, energy and money to promote the program…not theirs?

Get the idea! An hour of conducting your”own” due diligence will save you a lot of heartache if the program turns out to be a flop.

Two : Over Committing With Too Many Affiliate Programs?

Now here’s a real common blunder that we all make in our early days of becoming Affiliate Marketers. Today you conduct your due diligence and decide to sign up to Willy Birds Widgets Affiliate Program. You decide to try out a few traffic exchange sites to promote Willy Birds Widgets. You sit there and click away merrily, viewing other advertisers web sites, in order to earn free credits for which the traffic exchange will expose your site to it’s members for free.

Lo and behold while viewing sites on the traffic exchange you spot another affiliate program that looks great. You check it out & the program comes up trumps (not Donald’s either). You join program number two. Next day you spot program number three and sign up in that one as well. Now, in your early days you will find it hard enough to control and successfully promote Willy Birds Widgets. The result of joining up in endless new affiliate programs will simply divert your attention to the point you will probably not earn any money from any program.

Don’t misunderstand me here. There is nothing wrong in signing up and promoting maybe three or four programs at once, with the proviso that you have the expertise to conduct such promotion with a lot of automated systems. Many successful affiliate marketers promote fifty and more…however they are tried and tested marketers who have the knowhow to promote, advertise, etc, on a grand scale.

In your early days stick to two or three affiliate programs at most. Learn to successfully promote and make money from those first and you may still be around as an Affiliate Marketer in 12 months time.
Three: Refusing to Purchase the Products for Yourself

In order for you to promote products or services provided by your affiliate marketing program surely you need to gain first hand experience of those products and services first? How can you send out email broadcasts, make statements on your website as to how great they are if you have never seen or used them? Amazing as it may seem, from personal experience, lots of would-be successful affiliate marketers will not invest the dollars (rubles, dinars, whatever) required to at least personally experience and use the very products they are trying to promote to third parties they have never met.

You must buy your own products or services that you promote, try them out. Maybe you’ll decide you don’t like them. Well guess what…that’s an affiliate program you should wisely abandon, as you wont be able to have any enthusiasm for a program that sells dodgey or useless goodies.

Make sure you make the minor investment required to try the products yourself first!

Here’s wishing success to your future in affiliate marketing

Starting a company requires a lot of things. Most of all you need capital. Making money requires money as well. Of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways to optimize the potential of your site or business for traffic generation.

While there are many ways to jump start your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate traffic. You don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance for the hard work and research required to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to spend a single cent, it does require an expenditure of time. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the demographic you are looking for. You can discuss lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for yourself and your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. With that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who sign up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site, thus increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts of both sites benefit both sites. All traffic that goes to the other sites could potentially click on the link for your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your own but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.
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Bill Gould is a self-taught Internet Entrepreneur with a desire to help others looking for ways to supplement or replace their present incomes.
Sign up today for a FREE Basic Traffic Tactics Ecourse from Bill’s website Home Earning Center.
http://www.home-earning-center.com/adtrackz/go.php?c=trafficniche
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