When I started this business (Affiliate Marketing), all the talk and training focused mainly on PPC (Pay Per Click)/PPM (Pay Per Impression) advertising. When you are starting small, following PPC alone really can limit the progress and growth that as a new business owner is essential for continued motivation and even more so, innovation. I had a chance to sit down with others who started this business at the same time I did, and among them it was common to have low morale due to PPC/PPM ads not performing to their liking and driving the amount of traffic to their websites that would keep the excitement going. I did have the chance to reinvigorate their morale by showing them that it is indeed working for me. I hope my friends are reading this entry because I wish to give more advice on driving traffic to our websites, and how it can be done without actually having to pay for it. All it takes is a little time. Time is something that we should not be afraid of devoting anyway since it is our business and we all have our reasons for starting a business in the first place.
There are several free marketing strategies out there that are available. Many times we tend to overanalyze things and in turn miss out on various possibilities since we ourselves do not think in such a way. For example... when I first thought of using PPC/PPM advertising, I thought, "Who clicks on those sponsored ads? I never do." Of course, I have had my eyes opened on that particular topic as well as quite a few others recently. What are the free marketing strategies?
Web Directories are just that. They are directories on the world wide web that specialize in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. There are different types of directories, but I am only going to talk about those that are free. Also these are human-edited directories. Linking your affiliate website to these directories will improve your pages ranking in the major search engines. Improving your page rank in the search engines will mean better placement for your PPC ads, and subsequently lower cost/click, as well as your website appearing higher on regular searches. Another added benefit is that you increase organic searches through referring sites. Your page rank is essentially calculated from the number of sites your page is linked to and how many sites link to your page. All in all this helps to increase traffic to your site(s).
There are great resources for finding these web directories. One such site is www.addurl.nu. It contains a list of nearly 1000 free directories. I would recommend adding your site(s) to the listed directories at a rate of 10/day. This keeps you from appearing as a spammer to the search engines. As with anything, please note that the affect of doing this will take a little time as there are approval times on some of the directories as long as 180 days, but do not let that stop you from adding your site to the directory. I have personally been doing this, for roughly a month, and have seen my traffic increase by nearly 300%. By the time you make it though the nearly 1000 directories, I can guarantee that one would be pleased with the results. I must also stress that you should be consistent in adding 10/day, as well as keep records of the directories that you have added your site(s) to. One further piece of advice, and that is stay away from reciprocal links.
Blogs - short for web log, has a couple of easily apparent benefits. First it can help one garner a following. By that I mean people that are interested in the topics you write about will follow your blog, or at least read it from time to time. This blog is a perfect example of the type of content that could prove interesting to those working on the same sort of business, or even business in general. Taking the time to create a blog also helps you to become an expert in the subject matter of your blog. For instance, I am learning additional strategies to apply to my business because of the fact that I am writing this blog, and vice-versa. After a while of having a blog and a following, people will provide feedback, and even ask questions about various things. Blogs are linked to your sites (for me in the personal pages on the right), and my blog is linked to other blogs that I find interesting. All in all it adds to the conglomeration of information about my site(s), and about my business in general, all of which provides another source of traffic. I would recommend the following as guidelines:
Twitter - is another form of free marketing. The essence of Twitter is that you enter in status messages as you go through your day. For example, I wrote: "Added another blog entry on Free Marketing Strategies". My Twitter profile is linked to my blog. People will follow you on Twitter, and you should follow others on Twitter with similar interests, whether they be individuals or business entities. The affect of this is traffic to your blog, which is in turn another means of garnering a following and bring traffic to your sites in the end.
Each of these items are easy and do not require an abundance of time.
Next Post: PPC Ad Optimization and Tips
References:
________________________________________________________
Web Directories at WikiPedia
Page Rank at WikiPedia
There are several free marketing strategies out there that are available. Many times we tend to overanalyze things and in turn miss out on various possibilities since we ourselves do not think in such a way. For example... when I first thought of using PPC/PPM advertising, I thought, "Who clicks on those sponsored ads? I never do." Of course, I have had my eyes opened on that particular topic as well as quite a few others recently. What are the free marketing strategies?
- Web Directories
- Blogs
Web Directories are just that. They are directories on the world wide web that specialize in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. There are different types of directories, but I am only going to talk about those that are free. Also these are human-edited directories. Linking your affiliate website to these directories will improve your pages ranking in the major search engines. Improving your page rank in the search engines will mean better placement for your PPC ads, and subsequently lower cost/click, as well as your website appearing higher on regular searches. Another added benefit is that you increase organic searches through referring sites. Your page rank is essentially calculated from the number of sites your page is linked to and how many sites link to your page. All in all this helps to increase traffic to your site(s).
There are great resources for finding these web directories. One such site is www.addurl.nu. It contains a list of nearly 1000 free directories. I would recommend adding your site(s) to the listed directories at a rate of 10/day. This keeps you from appearing as a spammer to the search engines. As with anything, please note that the affect of doing this will take a little time as there are approval times on some of the directories as long as 180 days, but do not let that stop you from adding your site to the directory. I have personally been doing this, for roughly a month, and have seen my traffic increase by nearly 300%. By the time you make it though the nearly 1000 directories, I can guarantee that one would be pleased with the results. I must also stress that you should be consistent in adding 10/day, as well as keep records of the directories that you have added your site(s) to. One further piece of advice, and that is stay away from reciprocal links.
Blogs - short for web log, has a couple of easily apparent benefits. First it can help one garner a following. By that I mean people that are interested in the topics you write about will follow your blog, or at least read it from time to time. This blog is a perfect example of the type of content that could prove interesting to those working on the same sort of business, or even business in general. Taking the time to create a blog also helps you to become an expert in the subject matter of your blog. For instance, I am learning additional strategies to apply to my business because of the fact that I am writing this blog, and vice-versa. After a while of having a blog and a following, people will provide feedback, and even ask questions about various things. Blogs are linked to your sites (for me in the personal pages on the right), and my blog is linked to other blogs that I find interesting. All in all it adds to the conglomeration of information about my site(s), and about my business in general, all of which provides another source of traffic. I would recommend the following as guidelines:
- Blogs should stick to one niche and not deviate from it.
- Blogs should be updated regularly. Decide on once or twice a week and stick to the same day if at all possible.
- Blogs should reference other sites, blogs, articles, or material on what you are speaking about
- Keep each blog entry relevant and interesting.
- Be credible and always fact check.
- Correct things that need to be changed.
Twitter - is another form of free marketing. The essence of Twitter is that you enter in status messages as you go through your day. For example, I wrote: "Added another blog entry on Free Marketing Strategies". My Twitter profile is linked to my blog. People will follow you on Twitter, and you should follow others on Twitter with similar interests, whether they be individuals or business entities. The affect of this is traffic to your blog, which is in turn another means of garnering a following and bring traffic to your sites in the end.
Each of these items are easy and do not require an abundance of time.
Next Post: PPC Ad Optimization and Tips
References:
________________________________________________________
Web Directories at WikiPedia
Page Rank at WikiPedia
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I think more information should be provided in the blog!!
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Feel free to ask any questions. I would be all to happy to share more info.
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