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As an online entrepreneur, we often live and die by the flow of online traffic. Traffic is the source of all income online and without it, you will not make a single red cent. So what will you do when the traffic stops? This is a question few of us are prepared to answer, just the thought of it can bring on a panic attack.

Whether you have one, two, four or more websites or not even one, your online income depends on real people visiting your offers (traffic). You must take steps today to insure your survival because in a digital world it only takes the click of a mouse to change everything and before you know it, you are last weeks news and nothing more.

Let me tell you a little story about my experience with the dramatic change of the flow of traffic.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I started my first online business adventure. I knew little about doing business online but made a few lucky decisions that great financial rewards.

I was selling a single product on my below average site using a popular payment processor and a new advertising system. Sales were coming in faster than I could ship out the product and everything was right in the world. I never even thought for a second about why business was good or that it could ever stop, I was living in the moment and enjoying every second of it.

Then out of the blue there was a policy change in both my payment processor and advertising agency which stopped me in my tracks. Some traffic continued to trickle in, even though I was able to fix the payment processor situation, the traffic eventually completely dried up and the business folded.

I did not have a backup plan and all of my traffic was dependent on a single source which meant all of my income was dependent on a single source. If only I knew back then what I know now.

Where is your traffic coming from?

On average, most websites get the majority of there traffic from a single source which is usually search engine or some form of paid advertising. What happens when there is a policy change? 10k views per day drops to 500 views overnight. $200 per day income drops to $2 – $3 per day and panic sets in. The reality of everything you worked so hard for coming to an end is enough to induce a mental breakdown.

You need to diversify. Your traffic sources need to come from a variety of places and you need to continuously strive to increase your incoming traffic (preferably free organic traffic).

The very best known way to increase your traffic for long term results is through content creation, more to the point, external content creation. The key is guest posting. Putting quality content on other sites in your industry/subject with one or two links pointing back to your site has enormous benefits.

The power of guest posting is greatly underestimated. Imagine having quality content on a quality site in your industry with a solid text link back to your site. Now imagine having hundreds of them. Not only people follow those links back to your site, but so do the search engines and they also increase the relevance and authority of your site which will propel you up the serp rankings.

With guest posting you automatically create two new traffic streams. The first being the direct traffic from visitors following the links and the second from the added exposure in the search engines.

Don’t let the click of a mouse crush your online income, get started today insuring your traffic survival.

Category: Internet Traffic | Comments Off

It seems everywhere we look someone has the answer, the key to all your problems. There is a guru for every subject and a fail-proof system for solving any problem. I am a firm believer that every problem has a solution but not enough money for one person can very well be more than enough for another person. This is perspective and it is why no single solution is a perfect fit for everyone.

The Good News

The good news about success (no matter how you define it) is that there are only 5 steps to it.

1. Discipline
2. Motivation
3. Commitment
4. Education
5. Action/Application

You must first discipline yourself for what it is you have to do. This step is the hardest one for me. I get complacent when there is no immediate threat to my way of life.

Once you are disciplined you have to be motivated to take the necessary steps to achieve the success you desire.

Discipline and motivation take you to the 3rd step which is commitment. You have to be committed to your cause.

You must then educate yourself in any way you need to achieve that which you call success.

Once you have discipline, motivation, commitment, and the proper education, you must take action. Apply your educated knowledge with a committed discipline motivated by your desire to succeed.

Easier said then done right?

Unfortunately, the lack of any of the 5 steps to success will result in less than desirable results. If you first discipline yourself to follow the steps one by one, you can have success in anything. Try writing down a plan of action for each step.

• Discipline – Decide to dedicate yourself to taking the necessary steps for achieving your desired success.
• Motivation – Create a list of the benefits of achieving that which you seek. What is the desired outcome and how will it benefit you? How will your life be better? How much will you enjoy the success?
• Commitment – Make a written contract with yourself. Write down the complete details of everything you need to do and what is expected of you. Include dates and even allotted time you must dedicate to this process. Make the contract accurate and strict, then sign it.
• Education – Surely you don’t know everything you need to know in order to achieve the success you are seeking, so educate yourself. All education is self education because it is a disciplined action you must take. Do whatever you have to do in order to have the knowledge and understanding needed to reach a successful end.
• Action/Application – Take action and apply everything you have to making your dream of success a reality.

All the ingredients are there, you must simply take the steps. This process will work for achieving anything.

I really don’t know what else to tell you. I feel like I need to tell you to stay motivated or committed, but that’s part of the steps, so….. stay focused, don’t panic, and know that the process is time tested and battle hardened.

Category: Success | Comments Off

If the internet was a pizza shop then affiliate marketing would be an extra large supreme stuffed crust with extra everything on it and a side order of awesome. Affiliate marketing truly is the ultimate in variety when it comes to earning money online.

Pick any subject or industry and there is bound to be dozens if not hundreds of affiliate programs to choose from.

Affiliate Marketing Basics

• Join affiliate program(s)
• Market
• Get paid

Join

Finding the right affiliate program that meets your needs is simply a matter of deciding what you want. You can look for subject or industry specific affiliate programs that match your desires and pick the best match or you can take the more financially oriented route and pick the highest converting or largest payouts.

Market

With the vast variety of products and services available to affiliate marketers there will always be good ones and bad ones, but no matter how good a product or service is or how great the price is, your just not going to see much in the form of affiliate commissions if you are not marketing.

Marketing comes in many different forms and varies in effectiveness. You can rely entirely on third parties for marketing such as email, paid ads, and social sites but in my opinion, nothing beats having your own website at the center of your marketing efforts.

Setting up your own site is quick, easy, and relatively cheap (free in some cases). Having a central location to draw potential customers to such as a blog greatly improves and simplifies all your marketing efforts. Many affiliate programs won’t even let you join unless you have your own website.

Setup a simple site with some relative content to what you are marketing and then divide your time between creating content on your site and working outside sources for increasing traffic to your affiliate programs. Having your own website adds a sense of professionalism and legitimacy to your marketing.

How you choose to market your affiliate programs is completely up to you and having your own website increases your marketing options.

Get Paid

Most affiliate programs pay per action or per sale and the pay schedule varies but monthly payouts seem to be the most common. Payments can be made via check, direct deposit, PayPal, or some other form of payment system which also varies from program to program.

If you are new to affiliate marketing or making money online, try not to get discouraged if you don’t make $1000+ in your first month. It can take time to build up a decent income, but if you already have an established website with traffic, you could start making money on day one. It’s a numbers game, the more targeted traffic you get to your affiliate programs the better chance you have of growing your online income.

Volumes could be written about the intricacies of making money with affiliate marketing and it was not my intention to cover every aspect in this short article. I just want to introduce the idea and possibilities available to those that might consider affiliate marketing as an internet income source.

Category: Affiliate Marketing | Comments Off