If you build a content website, search engine optimization is definitely a consideration because it can bring you lots of targeted traffic, and SEO isn’t really hard to do. Concentrate on the basics, and you’ll get plenty of targeted traffic from the search engines.

Here are five steps you can take to optimize your affiliate site for the search engines.

1. Choose the right keywords.

Although it might seem pretty cool to get ranked really high for two word keyword phrases for a keyword search term, the traffic won’t be as targeted.

General keyword search terms won’t really help you reach those you are trying to reach. If you want to get the most out of your search engine optimization campaign, then use keywords with at least 3 to 4 words. These keywords are more targeted and will get you more targeted traffic.

2. Build backlinks.

Backlinks are an easy way to raise your rankings in the search engines. The more backlinks you have pointing back to your site, the higher your site will rank.

Keep in mind though that the sites you link to must be relevant to your site. It’s OK to link to general directories. The most relevant links come from sites that complement yours.

For example: if you own a gardening site, and you’re trying to link to advertising sites, you’re wasting your time.

3. Submit to major search engines.

There’s a lot of debate in the search engine community on whether or not you should submit to the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and MSN, or just wait and let them find you.

It depends on whether or not you want to start getting your site indexed in hours or wait months to be found.

The key is to create a sitemap. Submit your sitemap to the major search engines, and they’ll start indexing your site. You still want to do the other techniques, like backlinks, but once you submit your sitemap, you really don’t have to worry about submitting again. Check to make sure your sitemap is error free. Google will tell you. If you have errors, fix them. After that, indexing is pretty automatic.

4. Write content.

Content for an affiliate site is slightly different than for a site where you offer your own products. With an affiliate site, you not only want to write articles on your topic, you want to write product reviews.

Give honest reviews of the products you are offering. Show how they solve a problem. Give as much information as possible to help the buyer make a decision.

Other forms of content to consider are videos, audios, a blog, and a FAQ.

5. Add dynamic content.

Dynamic content updates on your site automatically. Usually it is in the form of IFrames, Javascript or RSS Feeds.

If you want dynamic content that is search engine friendly though, stick with RSS feeds. Many content management systems now allow you to add the feeds, and these systems handle the display. If your website doesn’t handle feeds, there are plenty of free scripts available to display feeds for you.

Search engine optimization doesn’t have to be difficult. Stick to “White Hat” techniques (techniques the search engines accept), and you can rank well in the search engines. You’ll also get targeted traffic.

Get my best free search engine optimization tools and strategies. For more information, including free ebooks and software to help you market affiliate programs, visit my Affiliate Marketing Guide.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE” available on Amazon.

It’s a great opportunity for you to learn internet marketing, as well as website building, through video.

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You don’t need to be a webmaster to build one either. Sites like Blogger and Wordpress.com allow you to build simple blogs that look good and are search engine friendly. Because these sites also rank well in the search engines (Google owns Blogger), you may have high page rank for your site as well as high rankings in the search engines for your topic.

Below are some easy ways for you to get more from your affiliate blog:

1. Write product reviews.

Readers love product reviews. The reason is that product reviews provide more information on the product or service you are offering. It’s also an opportunity for you to create a greater desire for the product or service you’re offering. You have an opportunity to really show how the product can solve a problem.

2. Offer additional information/articles on your topic.

You don’t have to write product reviews all of the time. In fact, that would be boring for you and boring for your readers.

Other types of information you can use are articles and news about your industry. Google Alerts is an easy way to find out what is happening in your industry, and you’ll never have writer’s block.

3. Add ads to your blog.

Ads are an easy way for you to generate an additional stream of income. Once you add the ad code to your site, you don’t have to bother with it anymore unless you change the template for your blog. Then you may want to change your ad colors.

4. Start a conversation with other blogs.

There are two ways to market your blog through other blogs: trackbacks and comments. Trackbacks are where you comment on something that is being said on another blog. Through the trackback link, you “notify” the other blog you have commented on a post.

With comments, you actually go to the blog and add a comment. If you don’t have your own website, this is an easy way to promote affiliate links.

Avoid what I call “ditto comments”. When you post comments on another blog, have something to say. Don’t post ads, especially if the ad isn’t related to the topic of the blog. They will only get deleted.

5. Use the same techniques that work to promote other types of websites.

Linking, search engine optimization, articles, and free classified ads are just some of the ways you can promote your blog. Promoting your blog is really no different than promoting any other kind of site.

In fact, blogs are easier to promote because you can submit your RSS feeds to RSS and blog  directories. (RSS is a type of code that updates and lists your latest posts.)

If you want to build an easy website, or you want to get more from affiliate programs, blogs are the easiest way to do it. They’re fast, fun, and free.

Want to know more about promoting your blog? Then check out Killer Marketing Arsenal. You’ll find thousands of dollars in free stuff to help you promote. Get free ebooks, software, and other tools to help you promote affiliate programs: Affiliate Marketing Guide.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE” available on Amazon.

The best part of using free online classified ads to promote is that you can see results in hours. With offline classified ads it make take days or even weeks to see results.

If you are marketing affiliate programs online, most free classified sites will accept affiliate links, so you don’t have to worry about creating a website.

Below are five tips for getting the most from marketing affiliate programs on free classifieds:

1. Follow the rules.
Although most free classified ad sites allow you to use affiliate links, sites like Craigs List usually don’t. The best way to get around this is to use a simple one page subscription site, or create a blog or Squidoo lens.

Use different titles, different links, and different cities.

2. Write a good ad.
The first thing your readers will see is the headline. This determines whether or not readers will read your ad. Write a title emphasizing the main benefit of your product.

In the ad body, show how your product solves a particular problem. Don’t just tell your readers to take action. Tell them what they need to do, whether it’s click a link, send an email for more information, or whatever you want them to do. Give them a reason to take action.

3. Take advantage of images.
Many ad sites will allow you to include images in your ads, and some of these sites will even allow you to do it for free.

A good image can increase the conversion of your ad because it allows readers to see what the product looks like.

If possible, include at least one image. If you have to pay to include the image, then make sure you test this part of the ad. Don’t waste money on ads or added features if they don’t help you increase your bottom line.

4. Post consistently.
If you post one ad to a site, or even several, and you don’t get any traffic, it’s easy to get discouraged. However, you won’t get any traffic if you don’t post any ads, or if you only post when you feel like it.

Bad marketing is better than no marketing at all. If you try marketing and fail at it, then you know what to change.

Set a schedule for your ad posting and stick to it. If you plan to post 10 ads a day, post that many. Renew ads that have expired. Keep posting. It’s the major way to see results.

5. Test your ads.
Even if you are using free classified ad sites, it’s still a good idea to test, especially if your ad isn’t converting.

Start with the headline. The headline is the most important part of the ad because it’s what gets readers to read the rest of the ad and take action. Rewrite it. Make sure you have chosen the right benefit to your product.

Test it. If changing the headline doesn’t increase conversion, rewrite the ad. Change one thing at a time whether it’s the headline, ad, category, or link. If you’ve tried everything, and you still can’t make the product sell, then start over. Find a new product.

The real “secret” to making money using free classifieds is to build a portfolio of products. Have more than one product you are marketing. The more products you market, and the more ads you have, the more money you can make.

Want to know more about how to market using free classifieds? Then click for more information on marketing with free classifieds, specifically Craigs List. Get your free internet marketing membership.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE” available on Amazon.
 

Although there are many ways to write an article, the easiest type of article to write is a tip sheet. Give a list of tips for a particular topic. Tips are popular because they’re easy to skim, and it makes it easier to read online.

If you’re an affiliate writing articles, you will need to make a few minor changes when writing your articles.

1. Create a basic website.

If you’re selling affiliate programs, you probably don’t have a website. If you’re not technically proficient, or you don’t know how to build a website, the easiest thing to do is build some type of blog or Squidoo lens. These are easy to build, and you can make them topical. You may also add other affiliate programs related to the topic. This allows you to create additional streams of income.

One of the biggest mistakes new affiliates can make is to market only one program. If that company goes out of business, the affiliate won’t have any other income coming in. These simple websites help you avoid that.

2. Use your product to create your tip sheets.

Good affiliates know their products. They buy them. They read them or use them depending on what type of product it is. By using the product you are selling, it allows you to gain a competitive advantage over other affiliates. You can give potential buyers a better taste of what the product does.

A good tip sheet tells things about what the product does in a generic way. Make sure that the product you are offering actually solves the problem you are writing about. Formulate several lists of bullet points so you can write several articles.

3. Read the guidelines for the article directory you plan to use.

Most, if not all, article directories have some type of guidelines for the type of articles they accept. Most won’t accept articles with affiliate links in the resource box, or articles with links in the body copy. Only general directories will accept just about every type of article. For example, don’t promote your internet marketing articles in a gardening directory.

4. Write more than one article per product you are promoting.
 
I mentioned this one earlier: creating multiple bullet points to draw tip sheets from.

If you’ve ever read anything about bum marketing, you know to write at least thirty articles. The more articles you have promoting a product or site, the more traffic you will get. Because some of your articles will succeed and some won’t, the more articles you have, the more traffic you will drive to the affiliate products.

5. Stick to about three different topics.

In his book, “How to Become a Recognized Authority in 60 Days or Less”, copywriter Robert Bly recommends developing three different specialties. This way, you have more than one area where you can make money. The other side of this is that you’re not stretched so thin writing on so many topics. Again, this allows you to develop multiple streams of income without putting too many eggs in one basket.

Like these tips? Then sign up for the $100 a Day System. You’ll learn how to earn $100 a day or more writing and promoting articles for affiliate programs. Get your 1 Hour Business System.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE, on Amazon.

The difference is that with affiliate products, you aren’t just competing against similar products within the marketplace. You are also competing with other affiliates selling the same program.

Although you don’t need a website to market affiliate programs, it helps because some sites won’t accept promotional materials that link directly to affiliate products.

You may solve this problem by building a simple one page subscription site. This allows you to build your list and recycle your traffic.

Below are seven of the best ways to market affiliate programs online:

1. Writing articles
Article writing is my favorite technique for marketing. Although I’ve marketed my business using many different techniques over the years, this is the one that continues to drive traffic to my sites long after I’ve written the article.

To get the most from article writing, give your readers a taste of the product. This doesn’t mean writing about the product; that’s a review. Create several bullet points from the product to demonstrate what it does.

For example, if you are selling a product on affiliate marketing, your bullet points might be on how to set up an affiliate business in 7 days.

2. Free Classifieds
There are still a few really effective free classified ad sites online. The key ingredient here is to follow the rules of the site and write a good ad.

3. Blogging
Blogging allows you to overcome the problems involved in not having a website. Most article directories will accept a link to a blog, even if it’s on a site like Blogger or Wordpress.

Other advantages to blogging are: high search engine rankings and the ability to promote multiple products through product reviews, building new streams of income for you.

4. Search engine optimization
If you do decide to build a website, search engine optimization is essential. You want to use the best possible keywords related to your site so the traffic to your site is targeted. Submit your site to the major search engines and get indexed faster by using sitemaps.

5. Web 2.0 (Social Marketing, Video Marketing, Bookmarking)
Social marketing actually includes multiple techniques, like bookmarking, marketing on sites like Facebook and MySpace, and videos.

With these types of sites it is really easy to market because you don’t need a website. You may link to your affiliate site.

Video sites make it easy for you to promote affiliate programs because you can create video tutorials for the products you sell, increasing the value of the product.

6. Forums
Forums have been around for a long time, and they’re still a good choice for marketing affiliate products.

What’s important is to read the guidelines for the affiliate program. You don’t want to make posts about the products you are promoting. Where articles allow you to promote in the resource box, forums allow you to promote in the signature file. Just make sure the forum you are posting on allows affiliate products in the signature.

7. Pay Per Click
Pay per click techniques are the fastest way to get traffic. It only takes about 15 minutes once you’ve posted your ad.

Because this is a paid technique, it’s important to track your conversion. This means testing your ads to make sure they are working.

Regardless of which of these techniques you choose, the real secret to marketing is to choose one technique, master it, and use it consistently to promote.

Sign up for your free copy of the “1 Hour Business” and learn how to start and market your first affilate business today. Earn multiple streams of income on autopilot. Free ebook copy of Affiliate Money Machine.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE” on Amazon.
 

There are many reasons, but here are three reasons I would start market affiliate programs:

1. You don’t need to create your own products,

2. You don’t have to deal with customer service very often, and

3. You can create a business on just about any topic you want, including a hobbie.

Affiliate programs generate billions of dollars every year in revenue. There is plenty of room for growth, and so anyone can make money. If you’re looking for an easy way to start a business online, affiliate programs are your answer.

When starting an affiliate business, there are three things you need to do to get started:

1. What will your topic be?

The first thing you need to do is write down several topics you’re interested in. This can be anything. Don’t limit yourself in this stage of your business. You’re just getting started, so right now is the time to let your imagination run free.

Once you’ve chosen several topics, you want to do keyword research. Look for what’s called “Long Tail Keywords”. These are usually keyword phrases that have three or more keywords. Some of these you will be able to use. Others you will need to discard.

Then compare the amount of searches to the amount of results you find in the search engines. If a keyword phrase is really competitive, you may want to discard it.

What’s important here is that you remember there must be an audience for whatever you choose to market. Also, since you’re starting an affiliate business, you’re not limited to the number of topics you can promote. It’s a good idea to find three to five topics you are interested in and then diversify.

(Free keyword research tools are readily available throughout the internet. Do a search in your favorite search engine for “free keyword research”.)

2. Will you build a website?

Although some would tell you that building a website is absolutely crucial to your affiliate marketing success, it really isn’t. There are plenty of marketers who send traffic directly to the merchant using pay per click, or some other marketing technique that doesn’t require a website.

The purpose of your website is what’s critical here. You can build a site as simple as a one page lead capture page to capture email addresses. Give your visitors a free report or some other bonus for joining your list.

Personally, I’ve found that building content sites work much better for affiliate marketing because you can offer your visitors multiple products related to a topic. You can also add a subscription box to your website to build your list at the same time.

3. How will you promote your new business?

How you promote your affiliate website depends on several factors. Do you like to write? Does the technique you have chosen require a lot of time? Do you have some spare cash you can use to promote your new business? If you do, then you can combine your marketing with simple websites and earn your first commissions in days.

Internet marketing techniques to consider are: search engine optimization, forums, article writing, pay per click, and free classifieds. These work well with affiliate marketing. Choose one and try it for awhile. When you feel comfortable, choose another and add it to your marketing plan.

Before starting an affiliate business, you should consider these factors. After all, if you’re looking for an easy way to start a business online, and you want to start earning quickly, affiliate marketing is the way to do it.

Get your free ebook, “Affiliate Money Machine“, and start making money in as little as 7 days. “Learn How to REALLY Start Your Business in 30 Days.” Free Online Business Ecourse.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE”, and “7 Day Ebusiness”.

1. Article Writing
At least in my business, and many others, writing articles is the easiest way to get traffic. Writing articles is about sharing information. You give others a taste of what you offer on your website. The traffic you receive is targeted because searchers are looking for what you offer.

2. Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is really a diverse combination of techniques, and you can use one or all of them to market your business, especially if you hate writing. These techniques include social marketing sites like Facebook and MySpace, video sites like You Tube, bookmarking sites, and blogging.

3. Search Engine Optimization
Although there are more sites on the internet than there are people, search engine optimization is still a good way to promote your business. Many don’t even bother to submit their sites to the search engines or they don’t optimize their sites for the right keywords. They believe, wrongly, that the search engines will eventually find their sites. If you want search engine traffic, you need to optimize and submit your site.

4. Forums
Forums are similar to social marketing sites in that they’re interactive, and it’s a way to interact with others. Forums don’t have all of the bells and whistles of the social marketing sites, but users and use forums to communicate with others about topics they care about. This is also a good place for you to find information to help you create your products and services.

5. Joint Ventures
Joint ventures are where you set up a network of partners to help you sell your products. Usually you offer partners a copy of the product, as well as other incentives for selling your products. Joint ventures can be time consuming to set up, but once you establish a network of partners, it can be a fast way to make money, as well as get the word out about your products.

6. Affiliate Programs
An affiliate program is a program you create so others can sell your products and earn a commission. An affiliate program is probably the most time consuming of all these techniques to set up. You will need to create plenty of marketing materials for your affiliates, as well as heavily promote your affiliate program when you first start it. Once you’ve built up a network of affiliates, you’ll have a sales force that sells your products for you.

7. Press Releases
A press release is news about your business. This can include product releases, new employee acquisitions, or anything else that might be news in your business. Just make sure that what you’re writing is actually news. Include the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this news in your press release.

If you want more traffic to your business, and you’re working on a tight internet marketing budget, then try these techniques to get more traffic. The secret to getting more traffic to your site is choosing the right marketing technique for you, and then using this technique to reach your audience.

 Get thousands of dollars in free ebooks and software to help you market your business online at Killer Marketing Arsenal. Sign up for your free internet marketing membership and lear how to market in as little as 30 minutes a day.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of “Internet Marketing for Free, The GUIDE.”

Before you get started though, there are several things you might want to consider. By setting a firm foundation for your business before you build it, you’re more likely to see success.

1. Find the focus of your business.

This is a primary mistake I see many small businesses make because many haven’t taken the time to really decide what is most important in their businesses. This includes determining who your customers are, what your goals are in starting a business, and what you’re trying to sell. You may also want to consider the value of your product or service for your target market, as well as how much competition you face.  Although competition is good for your business, if you choose the wrong market, or you choose one that’s too competitive, like travel, you may find yourself having trouble connecting with your market at all.

The lifeblood of any business is your customers, and if you fail to connect with them, or you fail to offer an appropriate solution to their problems, you can find yourself out of business fast. Focus on the tasks in your business that will help you reach your goals and don’t waste time on things that won’t grow your business.

2. Know the value of your business.

Price is an important issue in business, but it’s not the only factor. Quality, as well as providing an appropriate solution for your customers is also important. Use what your business offers to appropriately market your business, and consider the value of your product when pricing.

If you offer physical products, the cost of making, marketing, and distributing your products is an issue. You want to make sure you correctly mark up the price of your product so that not only is it a fair price, but you also cover the cost of making your products. You should consider this BEFORE making your product.

3. Become the best in your industry.

It’s not enough to know a lot about your product or service. You want to become the expert in your field. This will bring customers to you. The way to do this is to know as much as possible about your topic, which means constant educating yourself on the latest information in your industry. You also want to provide stellar customer service. This means going the extra mile to make sure your customers are satisfied with the purchases they make. Build value into your products or services and strive for constant improvement. Word travels fast on the internet, and you want others to say positive things about your business.

4. Emphasize customer care.

There are many ways to do this. Providing FAQs not only helps you because it keeps you from answering the same questions over and over, but it also offers your customers additional information on your products.

Answering support tickets promptly, as well as issuing refunds quickly when necessary gives your business a more professional appearance, but it also shows that you are attentive to your customers’ needs. The secret to a well run customer system is to automate your systems as much as possible, especially if you sell digital products.  The way to do this is to sell your products through systems that allow you to automate the sales process so the customer is immediately taken to the product. If you sell physical products, then you’ll need to process orders as quickly as possible. Just make sure you have a system in place.

Personalize your communications with customers, as well as your readers. Using autoresponders can help with this, as well as writing conversational messages that are easy to understand.

5. Design an effective marketing strategy for your business.

Although I believe that every free internet marketing technique will work for every business, we’re all different, and there may be certain techniques you are more comfortable doing when first starting out.

Design your marketing plan ahead of time, select the appropriate techniques to try, and then test and track those techniques to get the results you want.

Like these tips? Then check out my blog, Internet Marketing for Free for more internet marketing tips. Get a free ebook copy of my book: Internet Marketing for Free: The Guide.

Jinger Jarrett’s book “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE,” is also available on Amazon.

With the internet you have many more options for creating and distributing products. You can make them digital or physical, you can create software or ebooks, and even create audio or video using just your computer.

Before you get started though, you need to make several decisions so that your product becomes a success. Ask yourself these questions, and use your answers to create a successful product.

1. What will be the topic of your products?

Is there a specific topic you are an expert in? Do you have a hobby you’ve been very successful at and can share your knowledge? Is there a topic you are passionate about?

Regardless of what your skill is, there’s probably a market for it. The first step in getting started here is to do your research, once you’ve chosen your topic, find out if there is a market for what you do. You can search for your topic in the search engines. Look for forums, social networking sites, and other sites that offer products similiar to the ones you want to create. If you find sites like these, you have a market.

2. What format will you use to create your products?

Although writing is one of the easiest ways to communicate your information to others, writing a book isn’t the only way to create an information product. With sites like Lulu, Cafe Press, and Create Space, you have the option of creating different types of products to meet the needs of your audience, including video and audio. You can also create strictly digital products that can be downloaded from your website.

3. What tools will you need to create your products?

If you plan to write books or ebooks, you’ll a word processing program, as well as a program to create PDFs. A PDF is a universal format that can be distributed to anyone and read on any type of computer. If you plan to self publish your manuscript as a book, you’ll need to convert your document to PDF before publishing.

With video and audio, you’ll either need a video camera, or some type of software on your computer to create your audios and videos. You can do a search at any of the freeware websites to find software for creating your projects in these formats.

4. How will you distribute your products?

Once you know what format you will create your product in, you’ll need to decide how to distribute it. This means taking orders, as well as processing payments. The secret here is to automate every aspect of the order, payment, and distribution process so your products are available 24/7. It will also save you a lot of time, and you can use your time to market your products. The companies I mentioned before can help you here.

5. How will you market your products?

The type of product you sell can largely determine how you will market your product. Will you create a website to send your traffic to? Do you plan to pay for traffic, as in pay per clicks? Articles and press releases are a great way to get the word out about your business and drive traffic. You can also advertise your business using classified ads, as well as share your knowledge on forums and social network sites.

There are many ways to market your business that will get you the traffic to sell your products. Create your marketing plan before you create your products and then launch as soon as you are ready to begin distributing your products. Then you will more quickly see success.

Like these tips? Then visit Marketing for Writers for more free tips and resources to help you create your own products. Learn how to market your products writing articles: $100 a Day System.

Jinger Jarrett’s book “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE,” is available on Amazon.