Affiliates have been consistently pioneering innovative ways to drive targeted traffic to web properties. The three most popular ways are Search Engines, Pay-Per-Click and Email marketing. However, the laws are becoming more stringent to do email marketing and the limited search space available is getting more saturated. Affiliates are once again searching for groundbreaking ways to drive targeted web traffic. In this article I will be discussing proven unique methods to drive online and offline users to your websites.
Online Traffic:
· Blogads.com – Blogads is a network of bloggers who accept advertising.
· Link Partnerships – We have all heard about the importance of linking to increase your rankings in the search engines. Don’t forget about the ancillary benefit of people actually clicking on those links to find YOU.
· Capturing Newsletter Leads – Setting up a lead form for users to continually get information from you is relatively inexpensive and easy to manage.
· Online Press Releases – www.prweb.com is a service that affiliates are having success with.
· Text Advertising – www.adbrite.com sells advertising via text links.
Offline Traffic:
· Flyers – This is an extremely cheap method to drive traffic to your web properties. Black and white copies usually cost $.03 to $.10 a piece.
· Industry Magazines - suggest or submit an article and put your URL and contact information within it.
· Freebie Newspapers – becoming an authority on the industry you are in will not only increase traffic but credibility as well.
· Local TV – This method has been stated to work well with eCommerce affiliates around the holidays.
As our industry continues to mature the savvy affiliates are diversifying their traffic and finding new and innovative ways to be profitable. There are many affordable online and offline promotional practices. I hope this compels you to begin cultivating other avenues of media with greater intensity. Because, next time I will raise a chilling question about how Advertisers and SEO firms may be adversely hurting affiliate marketing.
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