10 Untold Traffic Secrets:

Powerful Traffic Generation Tips for the Next

Generation of Affiliate Marketers

Once upon a time on the web, any traffic was good traffic. If you got a lot of traffic, you could make money somehow – by selling products, selling advertising, or selling impressions. With big traffic, you were riding high. You were the proud owner of some very valuable Internet real estate.

Back in the old days, even if you didn't get a lot of traffic, you could reasonably expect one-half to one percent of your visitors to do SOMETHING when they got to your site. They'd either buy something, click on a banner, sign up for your opt-in list, or click on an advertiser's link. But those glory days are gone.

The last couple of years have shown that any old traffic is not only worthless, it can cost you money. There's nothing like racking up bandwidth charges month after month without seeing a single affiliate commission check. It's sad but true: in theory, your web site could have a phenomenally high Google page rank, be one of Alexa's top sites, get half a million visitors a month… and lose money.

There's only one kind of traffic worth a pixel in today's Internet marketplace.

TARGETED TRAFFIC.

So that's what this Affiliate Classroom Special Report is all about: 10 powerful and underutilized ways to generate TARGETED traffic.

As you'll discover, many of these tips are not for marketing wimps. A few are free. But most require at least a minimal cash investment. And they all require you to develop a rare but powerful online business skill – imagination.

Yes, you'll have to wrap your brain around your site topic and the products you're trying to sell. That's what “targeting” requires – being selective. You have to know not only the kind of visitors you want, but the kind of visitors you DON'T want.

1 – Paying For Links

The reciprocal link principle is simple – find websites with good rankings and plenty of traffic, and trade links with them. But when you're just starting out, why should a big important site give a little upstart like you any kind of link at all?

At AffiliateClassroom we like to say that there's only one way to find out – ASK. It helps if you have some kind of relationship with the site owner. But even if you don't, you can sometimes use the time-honored principle of bribery to get a link from a well-ranked site.

Ask for a link. If you get turned down, say “Would you consider linking to me for $100?” You'd be surprised at how many webmasters will take you up on your offer!

This technique works best with privately owned sites that rank in the top 10 for targeted keywords in niche markets. There's no point in trying to get a link from Kiplinger's or Newsweek's or Vogue's web site.

But if you're selling weight loss products, and $50 will buy you a link from a small web site that's ranked #1 for “low-carb dessert recipes,” you're probably better off buying that link than buying $50 of PPC advertising. This also can't hurt your own search engine ranking.

Make sure you have a simple written agreement about exactly what the link will say (you want your keywords in it) and the duration of the link – 6 months, a year, forever, etc.

A similar technique involves finding all the sites that link to your competitors, and offering them a cash incentive to add your link to their site.

2 - Get Listed On Coupon And Special Offer Sites

There are dozens of special offer, coupon, and rebate sites online today. Simply go to Google and type in “coupon sites” and you'll see what we mean.

“Coupon” is searched at least a few hundred thousand times a month. Some smart folks are getting a lot of traffic with simple sites that are just lists of links to various sites with special offers.

How can this help YOU get targeted traffic? The people who visit these sites are looking for a discount, a deal, a freebie, a rebate, or a bargain. If you can offer some kind of special bonus – whether it's a cash rebate, a physical or digital product, or a service – you can ask to be included on these sites.

As long as you can come up with an offer that qualifies, you'll get accepted. If you wish, you can create several web pages, each with a slightly different special offer, and see what makes the most sales.

Very few affiliate marketers are taking advantage of this. Yes, it does mean you have to create a little something extra for the people who buy through these sites. You'll have to track their purchases. But considering that you'll also be getting incoming links from some very highly ranked web sites, it's worth the little bit of extra work.

3 – Old Fashioned Business Networking

Yes, even though we're all buried in Spam, it's still possible to make new business contacts online. The recent JV (Joint Venture) craze reflects the simple principle that in the end, people do business with PEOPLE – not with pixels, bits, and bytes.

Old fashioned networking is still alive and well online. And it's the best method for getting some good exposure if you're just starting out and have no money for marketing. By building strong business relationships, you'll soon have other marketers offering to link to you, publish your articles, write about your site in their newsletter, and even offer you free advertising.

One of the best places to make business contacts in your field is in forums. For example, if you've started an affiliate web site that sells specialty dog training devices, hang out in the many dog-related forums and newsgroups.

But instead of trying to help end consumers so they'll visit your site, make friends with experts in related fields. In this case pet sitters, groomers, dog trainers, veterinary assistants, and even animal behaviorists can all be excellent contacts.

As with all business networking, look for ways to help your colleagues. If they have their own site, offer them a link on yours. If they have an opt-in list, perhaps you can set up a special web page, and give them a rebate on any commissions you make. If they write their own articles, perhaps you can turn them into a mini-ebook and offer it to all your visitors.

And there's no reason you can't be proactive, and send an email to noncompetitors – or even competitors – whose sites you admire. You don't have to consider every competitor your enemy. In a future special report we'll explain exactly how you can create powerful partnerships with your competitors. But for now, simply look for opportunities to be helpful.

One easy way to help – provided you do it diplomatically – is to point out a problem on someone's site or in their ezine. If you find a broken link or some other error, drop them a note. Most webmasters WANT to know if a link suddenly stops working or if their database is generating internal server errors.

Another way to make powerful friends online is to read your Spam. That's because ALL online merchants want to know if someone is promoting their affiliate product via Spam. It's not just the Spammer who can suffer some stiff legal penalties – they can too. So if you see someone's ebook or software being sold via Spam, write to them and let them know. Make sure you keep the original Spam, and send it to them as an attachment (not forwarded) so they receive all the headers intact.

How can networking help get you targeted traffic? If you make 20 strong, personal, one-on-one business contacts every month, at least five of them will end up sending you traffic. Somehow, someday, they'll start pushing the right kinds of visitors to you.

It might be by linking to you. They may mention your site in a viral ebook or one of their articles. They might want to do a joint venture or partner on a money making project. They might do all these things – and many more.

Yes, it's old fashioned. It's not autopilot. It's not passive. But networking costs you nothing except time – and can be worth gold in the long term.

Watch this space for more rest of the secrets…