Tuesday, August 29, 2006
WHAT ARE THE WAYS OF DRIVING TARGETED TRAFFIC TO AN AFFILIATE WEBSITE?
Before I go into the different methods of driving targeted traffic to an affiliate website,I will like to explain something first.Even though you are given a free affiliate website for every affiliate program that you join,you must know upfront that it is not easy to promote an affiliate website.So before we go into the main topic for today,let us consider this sub topic:
WHY CAN I NOT PROMOTE /ADVERTISE AN AFFILIATE WEBSITE
1.Affiliate websites are mainly static pages.That means that they hardly change.They always have the same information on them and this is how it is for every affiliate.And because search engines love fresh content and authority sites,they will not index such pages.This makes you to lose out on free traffic that you could have gotten from search engines through organic search.
2.Most free and even paid submission sites such as article submission sites,search engines,directories,forums,message boards,press release sites,online communities and others do not allow for the submission of affiliate links.It is generally seen as blatant advertising and is not allowed.Your membership of a forum,for example,could be terminated if you submit an affiliate link.Always read the terms and conditions before you post a message.
3.You do not have control over an affiliate website including the ability to upload something such as an autoresponder script or a name squeeze page(all these terms will be explained later).That means that even if you are able to drive some amount of traffic to the website and some people actually buy some products on their first visit,you will still lose out on those that did not buy anything and they may never even come back.
4.You are not seen as a professional if you are directly promoting your affiliate website.If you check out all the big names in affiliate programs(most of whom have their own affiliate programs) like Marlon Sanders,Stone Evans,Micheal Fortin,David Garfinkel,Rudl Corey,Yanik Silver and a host of others,you’ll discover that they all have their own websites.It is through these websites that they advertise and promote affiliate products.I will also cover this in detail later.
5. Commission theft:This refers to a situation whereby your affiliate link is replaced by that of another affiliate.For instance,if you post an advertisement for a product with your affiliate link in an FFA(free for all) or classified ads site,some other affiliate could see it and chop off your affiliate id,replacing it with his.Thereby every sale you would have made will be credited to his account,while you make no sales.
6.Most affiliate links are long and ugly thereby making them difficult to remember.This puts some people off.Also,affiliate links are not search engine friendly because search engines "think" they are for databases.
7.Some people are also put off by the fact that someone will earn some commission on their payment.Some will even go ahead to join the affiliate program,thereby making the person that referred them to lose his commission and but it at a discount through their own link.
These are just some reasons why you cannot promote an affiliate link.The summary of it all is that you must have your own website.In the next post,we shall be looking at some of the things you will be needing to ensure your success as an affiliate.All of this must be covered before we go into methods of driving targeted traffic to your website.
Before I go into the different methods of driving targeted traffic to an affiliate website,I will like to explain something first.Even though you are given a free affiliate website for every affiliate program that you join,you must know upfront that it is not easy to promote an affiliate website.So before we go into the main topic for today,let us consider this sub topic:
WHY CAN I NOT PROMOTE /ADVERTISE AN AFFILIATE WEBSITE
1.Affiliate websites are mainly static pages.That means that they hardly change.They always have the same information on them and this is how it is for every affiliate.And because search engines love fresh content and authority sites,they will not index such pages.This makes you to lose out on free traffic that you could have gotten from search engines through organic search.
2.Most free and even paid submission sites such as article submission sites,search engines,directories,forums,message boards,press release sites,online communities and others do not allow for the submission of affiliate links.It is generally seen as blatant advertising and is not allowed.Your membership of a forum,for example,could be terminated if you submit an affiliate link.Always read the terms and conditions before you post a message.
3.You do not have control over an affiliate website including the ability to upload something such as an autoresponder script or a name squeeze page(all these terms will be explained later).That means that even if you are able to drive some amount of traffic to the website and some people actually buy some products on their first visit,you will still lose out on those that did not buy anything and they may never even come back.
4.You are not seen as a professional if you are directly promoting your affiliate website.If you check out all the big names in affiliate programs(most of whom have their own affiliate programs) like Marlon Sanders,Stone Evans,Micheal Fortin,David Garfinkel,Rudl Corey,Yanik Silver and a host of others,you’ll discover that they all have their own websites.It is through these websites that they advertise and promote affiliate products.I will also cover this in detail later.
5. Commission theft:This refers to a situation whereby your affiliate link is replaced by that of another affiliate.For instance,if you post an advertisement for a product with your affiliate link in an FFA(free for all) or classified ads site,some other affiliate could see it and chop off your affiliate id,replacing it with his.Thereby every sale you would have made will be credited to his account,while you make no sales.
6.Most affiliate links are long and ugly thereby making them difficult to remember.This puts some people off.Also,affiliate links are not search engine friendly because search engines "think" they are for databases.
7.Some people are also put off by the fact that someone will earn some commission on their payment.Some will even go ahead to join the affiliate program,thereby making the person that referred them to lose his commission and but it at a discount through their own link.
These are just some reasons why you cannot promote an affiliate link.The summary of it all is that you must have your own website.In the next post,we shall be looking at some of the things you will be needing to ensure your success as an affiliate.All of this must be covered before we go into methods of driving targeted traffic to your website.
