You’ve Launched Your Site: How to Get it Listed

TrafficYou’ve gone ahead and launched a Web site. How do you get anyone to notice you online, with the millions of sites already there? You need to be ranked on various search engines so that visitors can find you. More visitors means the potential for attracting more customers, which is why you went online in the first place. It’s important to get your page ranked as highly as possible (preferably in the top 10); Web surfers are notorious for having a very short attention span and want to find what they need quickly and efficiently. They simply are not going to wade through 100’s of sites to find what they are looking for.

When choosing keywords, try to put yourself in the place of a Web surfer: How would they find your site? What words or phrases would they use to search for you? It’s a good idea to start with a general category first and then add words that are more specific. Be sure to include your company name, a description of your product or service, and your geographic location when choosing keywords. Don’t be afraid to include alternate ways to spell words, if appropriate; and don’t be concerned about using initial capital letters on proper names. You never know how a person is going to search the Internet to find information.

search engine spiders So how do you actually get listed? Well, you can sit back and let the search engine spiders find your site or you can submit your site to search engines and web directories on your own. Most people use a combination of the two methods. The search engine spiders will go out automatically and put your site into their list of sites by examining the keywords on your pages or in your site’s meta tags.

When you get to the point that you are ready to have your site listed on search engines you can submit your information to one or more individually or you have the option of having a submission service look after this for you. If you use a submission service, your Web pages may well end up in places you have never heard of, but don’t be discouraged by this fact: someone is making use of the lesser-known search engines, otherwise they wouldn’t exist. So SEs submissions is not a good idea, just getting links to your site will do it right.

To promote themselves online, webmasters also have the option of submitting to a directory that has people acting as editors to choose which Web pages should be listed and where. There are not many of these types of directories; it is simply more efficient to have a piece of software crawl through cyberspace to perform these tasks. If you choose to submit to a human-edited directory, it may be several weeks before your site is approved; it then takes a bit more time for it to actually appear in the listings.

Tips to Get Repeat Web Affiliate Marketing Traffic

1. Update the pages on your website frequently. Stagnant affiliate marketing sites are dropped by some search engines. You can even put a date counter on the page to show when it was last updated.

2. Offer additional value on your website. For affiliates and partners you can place links to their sites and affiliate products and ask them to do the same for you. You can also advertise their books or videos, if these products relate to your industry and are not in competition with your own product.

Web Affiliate Marketing Traffic

3. You can allow customers to ‘opt in’ to get discounts and special offers. Place a link on your site to invite customers to ‘opt in’ to get a monthly newsletter or valuable coupons.

4. Add a link to your primary page with a script ‘Book Mark or Add this site to your Favorites’.

5. Add a link ‘Recommend this site to a Friend’ so that the visitor can email your website link, with a prewritten title, “Thought you might be interested in this”, just by clicking on it.

6. Brand your website so that visitors always know they are on your site. Use consistent colors, logos and slogans and always provide a ‘Contact Us’ link on each page.

7. Create a ‘Our Policies’ page that clearly defines your philosophy and principles in dealing with your customers. Also post your privacy policy as well so that clients know they are secure when they visit your site.

8. Create a FAQ page which addresses most of the doubts and clarifications about your affiliate product or your company that are likely to be asked. This helps to resolve most of the customers doubts in their first visit to your site.

9. Ensure that each page on your website has appropriate titles and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site if they lose the book mark.

10. Never spam a client, who has opted for newsletters, with unsolicited emails. Later if they decide they want to ‘opt out’ of the mailings, be sure you honor their request and take them off the mailing list. They may still come back if they like your affiliate marketing products. But they will certainly not come back if you continue to flood their email box with mails they no longer wish to receive.

Free Website Promotion – Why Not?

 free website promotionCan you ever avail of free website promotion? Is that even feasible?

Of course yes! Nowadays, your baby affiliate marketing or any kind of website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are things to be done?

1. Enlist your website.

Look for the hottest Internet directories and enlist your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Start with this step and the rest of the good things will follow.

Just don’t forget to prep your website and make it all spruced up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your affiliate marketing site in every post and you attract instant visitors right there.

3. Write a press release.

Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto!

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters, that are promoting affiliate marketing sites as you are. Why, you ask? So they can link you immediately! Establish contacts and never tire of link requests and exchanges.

5. Write an article.

Say, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.

6. Just let the whole world know about your site.

What is free website promotion without the word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!

7. Make a banner ad.

Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmasters to do the same for his site. Then swap!

8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

Yes, there are free website promotion tutorials. But don’t you know that you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you out further? Part of the free website promotion program is signing up for newsletters.

When you make a website, you need not pay anything to promote it. You just read it — there is such a thing as free website promotion!

Increase Your Bottom Line By Using Product Recommendations

Affiliate NetworkingHave a look at your affiliate market and look at the strategies you are using. You may not be focusing on the recommendations that your products need to have. You plan of action is sometimes not the only thing that is making your program works. Try product recommendation and be among those few who have proven its worth.

Before you add recommendations to you product, it is given that you should try and test the product and support. Do not run the risk of promoting junk products and services. Just think how long it took you to build credibility and trust among your visitors. All that will take to destroy it is one big mistake on your part. If possible, have recommendations of products that you have 100% confidence in. Test the product support before you begin to ensure that the people you are referring it to would not be left high and dry when a problem suddenly arouse.

How do you establish this aura of expertise?

Best Affiliate Marketing ProductsBy offering unique and new solutions they would not get anywhere else. Show proof that what you are promoting works as promised. Display prominent testimonials and endorsements from respected and known personalities, in related fields of course.

Avoid hype at all costs. It is better to sound low key and confident, than to scream and seek attention. Besides, you would not want to sound unprofessional and have that thinking stick to your potential customers and clients, now would you? Best to appear cool and self-assured at the same time.

And remember; prospects are not stupid. They are actually turning to experts and may already know the things that you know. If you back up your claims with hard facts and data, they would gladly put down hundreds, or even thousands worth of money to your promotions. But if you don’t, they are smart enough to try and look at your competitors and what they are offering.

How Affiliate Marketing WorksWhile recommending a product, it is also important that you give out promotional freebies. People are already familiar with the concept of offering freebies to promoting your won products. But very few people do this to promote affiliate marketing products. Try to offer freebies that can promote or even have some information about your products or services.

Do not be afraid to mention things that you do not like about a given product or service. Rather than lose any points for you, this will make your recommendation more realistic and will tend to increase your credibility. Furthermore, if your visitors are really interested in what you are offering, they will be more than delighted to learn what is good about the product, what is not so good, and how the product will benefit them.

Remember this simple equation: Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust. If your visitors feel and believe that you are an expert in your niche, they are more inclined to making that purchase. On the other hand, if you are not exuding any confidence and self-assurance in endorsing your products, they will probably feel that same way and will go in search of another product or service which is more believable.

When you are recommending a certain product, there are some things to remember on how to make it work effectively and for your advantage. Sound like the true and leading expert in your field.

If the customers or visitors trust you enough, then they will definitely trust your recommendations. Be very careful in using this approach, though. If you start promoting everything by recommendation, your credibility will actually wear thin. This is seen especially when recommendations are seemingly exaggerated and without much merit.

One of the more important ways of increasing affiliate marketing bottom line and sale is through the use of product recommendations. Many marketers know that this is one of the most effective ways in promoting a certain product.

In affiliate marketing, there are many ways in which you can increase your earnings and maintain the account that you have worked so hard for already. Most of the techniques and tactics can be learned easily. No need to go anywhere and any further. They are available online, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Marketing Tips for Web Site Owners

Affiliate Marketing Site BenefitsIf you are the owner of a site designed to promote a product or service – such as affiliate marketing sites, the first thing you want to do is ensure that your site attracts an ever-increasing number of visitors. Even if a potential customer is not ready to make a purchase yet, if your site is easy to navigate and features helpful information, chances are they will “bookmark” it to return at a later time.

Be clear about the purpose of of your site. Web surfers do not take time to “dig” for hidden information. You may only have a few seconds to capture a visitor’s interest, so be sure to include a message on your home page that describes what product or service you are providing.

It’s very important that after you launch your Web site that you update its’ contents on a regular basis. It’s the kiss of death in Internet affiliate marketing to own a site with stale information.

Where possible, invite visitors to sign up for a house publication or catalogue, or to register to receive updated information from you. You now have a mailing list of prospective customers to draw from. Keep your company name at the front of a prospect’s mind by touching base with them from time to time with small nuggets of information, like helpful hints.

Using questions to peak interest is a good strategy to use. This immediately gets your visitor’s interest and gets them to start thinking that your product or service will be of benefit to them.

If you receive positive feedback from your customers, feel free to include them on your site (with contact information deleted, of course). Nothing builds credibility for your business like testimonials.

Keep in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whenever possible, include photographs of available products so that your customers can see what your site has to offer. If you are selling a product, post a list of ways the product can be used or places where it can be used.

Invite visitors to your site to sign up for your newsletter or mailing list. If you have a new article or have reported on something newsworthy, make it easy for potential customers to find this information. Give them directions to navigate their way through your site.Internet Money

Make it easy for your customers to contact you and to do business with you. Provide a link to an e-mail contact, toll-free phone number, or contact form in a prominent location. This should be placed on the home page; some site owners choose to place contact information on each page. It’s also a good idea to include a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for your customers’ convenience. Make it easy for customers to order from you; provide an “Order Now” link – this is really common thing on the affiliate marketing sites. Let them know if you accept credit cards and/or Paypal. Have information about shipping options readily available, and be sure to set out your return/refund policy clearly. It will avoid many misunderstandings at a later date.

By following the suggestions set out above, you will make it easy for visitors to your profitable site to learn what it is that you are selling and to ultimately decide to move from the category of site visitor to (satisfied) customer.