Just like my previous post about starting out as an affiliate without a site, this 1 is for the beginners mostly – but to use what I am talking about here, you already need to have a site of your own.

So, you just built your shiny new affiliate site and are wondering how to promote it. You may have heard a lot of different opinions about directory submissions – some people claim they are a waste of time while others swear by them and credit their sites’ rankings to directory links. Where’s the truth?

Indeed, directory submissions are a good way to start getting links for a site. You may not want to risk doing reciprocal link exchanges that are frowned upon by Google and may not have the resources for 3-way or more advanced link exchnage schemes. You may not have the time to submit your site to all the social bookmarking services, of which there are a few hundred new ones appearing every day. You may not like writing articles to build links through article submissions. But directory submissions are one of the fast and easy ways to get the links you site needs to rank well.

However, a directory submission campaign can make or break your site’s rankings. It seems easy and trivial but there are tricks to know that make a whole lot of difference. Here are a few quick tips that will help you avoid possible mistakes and make the most out of directory linkbuilding:

one. Choose the best directories. Treat the time you spend on directory submissions as an investment. Think carefully whether each directory you submit to is worth your while. Give preference to authority directories.

2. Watch your competition. Check in Yahoo! the backlinks of other sites ranking in your market niche. Yahoo! sorts a site’s backlinks by the value it sees in them. Use the directories you watch in your competitors’ first 100-200 backlinks. Do not stop at just the directories your competitors are using but having them in your backlinks should definitely help.

three. Look for topical niche directories related to your market – Google holds them in higher regard than an average run-of-the-mill general directory. To find such directories, use directories of directories or search Google for your keyword plus typical directory “footprints” such as “submit your URL”, “add a site” and the like.

four. If you are targeting any kind of regional / local market, use as many local / regional directories as you can find. They will help you rank locally as Google will use your backlinks from them to identify your local affinity.

5. Do not use the same anchor texts in all your directory links – vary them around a few keywords you are targeting. This is a universal rule for any kind of linkbuilding but I just have to stress it once more. When submitting to a directory, pay attention to what element of your provided information will be used as the anchor text of a link. In most cases it will be the title you indicate for your site in the submission form. Make sure you vary it across different directories – but stick to the same topical niche unless you are submitting different pages related to different products.

Regarding the varied anchor texts of directory links, you may have difficulty achieving this if you use some kinds of automated submission tools. These tools will speed up your submissions a lot – but they have their own drawbacks such as this one. In my ebook titled “Directory Marketing Reborn” I review several such tools, and some of them actually have an option to provide several different variants of titles / anchor texts which are then iterated through by the tool. If, however, the shaft you use does not do it, you have 2 options: either make part of your submissions manually or run the guy meat several times, each time for only a portion of the directory list it submits to, and change the site details every time.

About the Author

IrishWonder is a SEO consultant and Internet marketer. He has just released an updated edition of his Directory Marketing Reborn ebook - a detailed guide to directory marketing featuring the most recent and largest directory list.

Traffic is one of the most essential elements of your success. Traffic can be generated in many ways and below you will find most typical and most reliable methods.

As the title explains – in this post we will talk how to find free traffic. So if you’re starting out and have small or no budget, these methods will be most suitable for you.

Starting a blog – there are many ways to start a blog. The most recommended way is to get a domain name and hosting and install a WordPress blog there. While the blog and hosting would cost you a couple of dollars per month, the traffic generated trough blog will be 100% free. Submit your blog to various directories and feed sites to gain extra exposure and links. Communicate with other bloggers in the field, comment on their posts.

Submitting articles – is 1 of oldest free marketing methods. The principle is simple – you write an article and submit it to multiple article directories, like ezinearticles.com. At the bottom of each article you can include short author’s biography or small ad taking the article reader to your affiliate offer. Article directories are well visited so people will read your article and will follow the links you provided.

Being a guest blogger – is another option if you are comfortable with writing. The key idea here is to find relevant blog that suits your offer, e.g. weight loss blog if you are promoting Proactol. Contact the blog owner and offer to write a great article for him. In return ask for a chance to have few lines promoting your site or offer. Using this approach you instantly will be seen as authority as well will have opportunity to tap into readership of that blog.

Optimizing for search engines – is 1 of best methods to get lots of free targeted traffic. Gigantic percentage of all internet users uses Google and other search engines to find information and if you can optimize page for popular keywords that describes what you are promoting, e.g. “weight loss pills”, then visitors who lands on your site will be likely interested in your site and % of them will purchase trough you. While SEO might seem a bit complicated, over longer term the returns can be tremendous.

Classified ads – again this is popular method between beginners and also seasoned marketers. There are many tactics and tips, but basic idea is to find classified sites like craiglist.com and post your ads following their guidelines. Some sites will allow posting your link, if they don’t – ask people to email you in so once you have the email, you can respond with detailed reply including your affiliate link.

Submitting videos – is another way to generate traffic. Principle is simple – create or edit existing vides (e.g. ones provided by Proactol), put on them link to your site where you promote Proactol and distribute to various video sites. Quick tip: make sure you use unique text description for each video submitted even if its same video just to different sites. Also ensure that in the description you include many keywords as this can attract traffic not only from the video service users itself but also from the search engines.

Create a viral campaign – viral in a term as something others would like to pass over. For example a funny video, useful tips, or crazy story, joke packed power point presentation about certain problem. Just make sure you include a link at the end of the video or presentation pointing to your site.

Make sure you read MoreNiche guides located in your affiliate area

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Selling affiliate products can be a tough job. I am sure that you have a first hand experience in understanding how difficult it can be. The incentive to sell affiliate products is very rewarding though and that is why some many people want to get into affiliate marketing. In this post I am going to offer you some tips that will compltely help you increase your affiliate marketing sales.

One of the biggest errors that most people do when they get into affiliate marketing is they either create a blog or web site and totally make it into a super huge affiliate product shopping mall. No matter where a visitor clicks he is getting pitched. It shouldn’t be that way. A better way to run a blog or a web site is to offer diverse amount of information.

Not only should their be affiliate products available for sale on the site, but there should also be multiple sections that provide useful information to the customer. Some things that come to mind would be a support forum, an open community blog where customers are able to voice their opinion in comments, a reference library and even a FAQ section.

I understand that the strategy is to create pitch pages (landing pages) towards capturing sales. And that is fine… I think landing pages are an amazing way to close a sale. However, what happens next is what can cause the decrease in sales. After the sale is made and if you have not provided your customer with supportive resources, that customer is very unlikely to purchase from you again.

1 of the key elements towards finding success with affiliate marketing and keeping your sales numbers high are selling to existing customers. When you have a customer sign up for your mailing list, he is very valuable. Your goal should to always keep that customer satisfied and keep him trusting you. If a customer trusts you after he makes a purchase, then it will be very likely that he will purchase from you again.

Another thing to consider is that affiliate marketing is a business. Unfortunately though, not many people treat is with this level of seriousness. 1 of the hottest elements with increasing affiliate sales is working your mailing list. Your mailing list can either be a very pure resources or one that has been exhausted, much like farm land. If you don’t’ tend to your mailing list and take care of it, it will no longer produce for you.

Some of the best ways to keep a healthy mailing list is to treat your subscribers like actual people. I subscribe to a lot of Aweber mailing lists – mainly for the purpose of observing how list owners run their list – and it amazes me how I am treated. I am never thanked or told that I am appreciated. Also, I am always spoken to as if I should know what is going on.

A better way to run your mailing list would be to address your subscribers in a more individual and personal manner. Ask your subscribers how their week is going? Ask them if there is anything that you can do to help them. Remind them that at any time they can simply click the reply button and send you an email back.

Use your mailing list as a pipeline to communicate with your subscribers. Engage with them and do things that encourage them to react with you. Doing these things keeps your mailing list alive and thriving and most importantly… clicking. When it comes time for you to recommend a product, you will have a much greater success selling to your active list compared to selling to a dead list.