Totorus

Photo credit by elventear

Becoming an affiliate for a product or service you believe in can open the door to generating a steady supply of income that brings a measure of financial security. However, to be successful, you need customers. That means that it is necessary to employ various strategies to drive traffic to your affiliate web site, increasing the chances of making a sale. Here are some simple ideas on how to get the ball rolling.

Start with amending the signature on your email account. Include a link to your affiliate site in the signature. Every email you send out will have the link. Use this signature even for your personal correspondence. You never know when someone will forward a joke you sent out, and the recipient will notice the link and decide to click it.

Submit your URL to the major search engines. There are a number of services that will do the job for you, but it is possible to manage the task yourself, if you want to devote the time. The sooner the search engines know you are around, the sooner you can begin appearing in searches conducted by people interested in what you have to sell.

Include the URL to your site on your business cards. An old trick used for many decades is to casually leave business cards lying around in airports, bus terminals, and other public places. Someone who is waiting for a flight or bus connection may notice the card, save it, and check out the site the next time he or she is online.

Blogging is a great way to build backlinks to your affiliate site. Make sure that your blog includes fresh content at least once a week, and include links to your site somewhere in the fresh content. To avoid the look and feel of spam, make the blog posts personable, helpful, and worth reading in their own right. This will go a long way toward driving traffic to your site and earning some sales.

Writing articles for different web sites that allow links back to your affiliate site is also a great idea. The content can focus on some use of your products, suggestions on finding quality products of that type, or any other facet that is relevant to what you have to sell. With both the blog posts and the articles you submit to different sites, make sure that you use good keyword optimization, as this will increase your chances of ranking higher on searches and thus attracting more attention from potential customers.

Sign up and use the major social networking sites to promote your business. You can easily build an audience that is happy to receive updates on new products or information about how to use the products. Most of these sites do allow members to post links, so you can always make it easy for readers to get over to your affiliate site without a lot of trouble.

Make use of link exchanges. Find other entrepreneurs who are selling services or products that are not in direct competition with your product line, but are likely to be attractive to his or her customers. This can benefit both of you, since you get to share traffic and possibly create more sales for each site.

Sign up and participate on message boards that have to do with some aspect of your product line, preferably where potential users of your products are likely to get together to discuss all sorts of subjects. Before joining, make sure it is okay to insert a link to your affiliate site in your signature. If not, ask about a link to your blog. Participate in a variety of discussions to build credibility with the other members. This type of passive advertising can earn you some loyal customers, as well as increase the potential for word of mouth.

Using qualified emailing lists for an email campaign is always a good idea. However, make sure the list is really qualified and is up to date. Otherwise, you will do more harm to your business than good, since people will remember being spammed by you and make it a point to never visit your site.

Don’t forget to make use of the free press release sites. A release about a new product, some type of upcoming sale, and any other newsworthy event related to your site may catch the eyes of interested parties, leading to some additional traffic.