How To Create and Use Affiliate Programs to Drive More Traffic To A Website

Perhaps one of the most low-profile Internet marketing schemes is affiliate marketing. However, low-profile does not mean unsuccessful, because this type of marketing continues to play a significant role in e-commerce.

What is affiliate marketing?

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing works on a reward system, wherein one website drives traffic to another website in exchange for reward points. Basically, it works this way: if you are an affiliate (or associate) of an online-based company, you create your own website, which links back to that company. Any visitor to your site that you manage to re-direct to that company's website will earn you rewards points. The more points you have, the more rewards you can actually reap. Some businesses prefer this type of marketing scheme because it is a pay-per-performance package deal.

In the non-Internet based business lingo, this type of reward system is called revenue sharing.

How to Create and Use Affiliate Marketing Programs

For the first few years, online business owners only allowed for affiliates with their own websites (or at the very least, their own webpages.) These days however, anyone can become an affiliate by simply: engaging in online discussions (chats, forums, message boards, etc.); using e-mail marketing, using offline promotions; writing e-books; or writing ezine articles.

There are certain advantages though, of having your own website. One: some online businesses require their affiliates to have one. Two: since it is your site, you can creatively promote one or all your affiliate programs, all at the same time. Lastly: a website has greater potential to reach more customers than forums or e-mail marketing strategies.

How to Choose an Affiliate Program

Choosing an affiliate program is equally important. Don't grab the first one that comes along. You can visit Internet Affiliate Marketing Program Networks to compare and study different programs. Plus, most of the advertising merchants here will let new affiliates sign up for free. Choose a few of the programs that seem stable, and a few of those merchants with the longest history of sales and affiliate marketing success. Try not to be dazzled by the promises of millions of dollars, etc. etc. etc.

Once you've sized down your list, look into the quality of the products and services that these merchants are carrying. Your goal is to entice people to check out the goods. If you are not convinced of the quality of these products and services, what makes you think that your site visitors will be convinced as well? Besides, if the goods do fall short of expectations, your name as a marketer is on the line as well. Choose one (or more) which you think will be a credit to you, and not otherwise.

Creating the Site Itself

Once you've chosen from the affiliate program lot, you can either choose a program that can help you "build" your website by providing the necessary tools like banners, graphics and articles. If they can provide you with online training about how to effectively market their goods, then your life will be easier. If not, you then have to dedicate more time and energy into marketing your chosen product and goods.

Try to calculate if the time you spend creating product banners and articles is worth the compensation you will be getting from the company you've applied for. If it is not, it would be best to move on to another program.

The most essential key here is to create quality content in your site. People are looking to yours to see whether you can give them new insights or provide advice to their dilemma or verify a fact about something. A theme-based website will even bolster your reputation as an "expert" in your chosen niche, so try to limit your website to one theme only. Weave all your different affiliate programs in all your pages, but do so in a manner that will be attractive but not overwhelming.

At the end of your creative process, try to sit back and ask yourself if you are convinced with what you have on your site, and if you would consent to buying the products and services advertised within. If the answer is a "no," or a "maybe" then you may want to check out other sites to see how you can improve your own.

...Read More

What Is Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization is a process of choosing the most appropriate targeted keyword phrases related to your site and ensuring that this ranks your site highly in search engines so that when someone searches for specific phrases it returns your site on tops. It basically involves fine tuning the content of your site along with the HTML and Meta tags and also involves appropriate link building process.

The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, AOL and Ask Jeeves. Search engines keep their methods and ranking algorithms secret, to get credit for finding the most valuable search-results and to deter spam pages from clogging those results. A search engine may use hundreds of factors while ranking the listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries may change continually.

Algorithms can differ so widely that a webpage that ranks #1 in a particular search engine could rank #200 in another search engine. New sites need not be "submitted" to search engines to be listed. A simple link from a well established site will get the search engines to visit the new site and begin to spider its contents. It can take a few days to even weeks from the referring of a link from such an established site for all the main search engine spiders to commence visiting and indexing the new site.

If you are unable to research and choose keywords and work on your own search engine ranking, you may want to hire someone to work with you on these issues.

Search engine marketing and promotion companies, will look at the plan for your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. If you wish, they will also provide ongoing consultation and reporting to monitor your website and make recommendations for editing and improvements to keep your site traffic flow and your search engine ranking high. Normally your search engine optimization experts work with your web designer to build an integrated plan right away so that all aspects of design are considered at the same time.

...Read More

Tips to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

It is worth cataloguing the basic principles to be enforced to increase website traffic and search engine rankings.

• Create a site with valuable content, products or services.
• Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
• Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
• Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
• Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
• Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.
• Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
• Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
• Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.
• Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.
• Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.
• When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.
• When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.
• Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.

...Read More

Three Traffic Tactics that won't Cost You a Cent

Are you constantly banging your head in frustration on not receiving all the internet traffic you would like to get to your web site? Are you tormented from information overload listening to all the latest free website traffic tactics and not being able to understand any of it? Are you dejected of people trying day and night to harassing you to max out your credit card and get loans for Google clicks, and in the process loose your credit score? Are you stupefied by the way your website just dropped out of the Google search results? Or are you just too broke and all you have to rely on is getting some free website traffic tactics?

You can employ website traffic tactics without spending dime. However, knowing how is the real deal. Here's the score:

1. Link it

Of all the effective website traffic tactics that can get you best results, linking to and from other websites is the one of the most widely-used method. Just make sure that the Internet business you are exchanging links with is relatively if not utterly related to your own business. And of course, don't overkill as this might ban you from search engines.

2. Meet Meta Tags

Another way of to acquire your desired traffic for your website is through having your Meta tags contain usually used keywords that target your business. Meta tags help search engines in describing your web page. If you're quite adept with the HTML aspect of your web pages, manipulating your meta tags would be a breeze.

3. Keyword-rich AND sensible content

Writing or acquiring articles that provide solid information regarding your business is one of the best ways. Making use of free keyword suggestion tools such as Overture will help you on which keyword or phrases to work on to better lead more traffic to your website. Making these write-ups very readable and genuinely informative will make you many repeat visitors to subsequently become repeat clients.

Submitting these articles to various article directory listings will provide more visibility for your business as long as you keep your resource box in tact to create for yourself numerous back links.

These methods, if employed properly, will not only make your web site popular but will make you achieve your most desirable result - higher conversion rate.

...Read More

Must Have Features Your Web Site

Just don’t focus on the home page, keywords and titles.

The first step to sales when customers visit your site to see the products they were looking for. Of course, search engine optimization and better rankings can’t keep your customer on your site or make them buy. The customer having visited your site, now ensure that he gets interested in your products or services and stays around. Motivate him to buy the product by providing clear and unambiguous information. Thus if you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about this, may be by keeping the information at a different page. By providing suitable and easily visible links, the customer can navigate to these pages and get the details.

Understanding Your Target Customer

If you design a website you think will attract clients, but you don’t really know who your customers are and what they want to buy, it is unlikely you make much money. Website business is an extension or replacement for a standard storefront. You can send email to your existing clients and ask them to complete a survey or even while they are browsing on your website. Ask them about their choices. Why do they like your products? Do you discount prices or offer coupons? Are your prices consistently lower than others? Is your shipping price cheaper? Do you respond faster to client questions? Are your product descriptions better? Your return policies and guarantees better than your competitor’s? To know your customer you can check credit card records or ask your customer to complete a simple contact form with name, address, age, gender, etc. when they purchase a product.

Does your website give enough contact information?

When you sell from a website, your customer can buy your products 24 hrs a day and also your customers may be from other states that are thousands of miles away. Always provide contact information, preferably on every page of your website, complete with mailing address, telephone number and an email address that reaches you. People may need to contact you about sales, general information or technical problems on your site. Also have your email forwarded to another email address if you do not check your website mailbox often. When customer wants to buy online provide enough options like credit card, PayPal or other online payment service.

...Read More