Affiliate Web Site Pros, Cons and Getting Traffic

With the web these days growing at a substantial rate, just about everywhere you turn on the web, you will see offers to own your own web business. Many of these offers are legitimate businesses with real products and items waiting for you to open one of their affiliate sites and start selling. They can sound very good, get you excited, tell you that you can make tons of money and sometimes be under $100.00 dollars to start. But there are some important things you should consider before you buy.

Pros:
Affiliate sites can be a good thing if you're looking for a low maintenance way to have a business on the web, like if you're retired or like to travel a lot. They can also produce a fairly good income 24/7 once you become established and if you know where you can pick up some local traffic just through friends and neighbors.

Cons:
But there are downfalls to having an affiliate site, and the most important one is you probably won't have much control over it, sometimes none at all. First, you may not have control over the ad banners that appear on your site, you probably won't have control over the content, links or text links and on some of them, you may not be able to control the keywords or optimize the site for the search engines, or possibly even see your daily traffic or check your stats (how many visitors you have gotten and how many items you have sold).

First of all, do some research on the company to be sure they are indeed legit. But one of the things they won't tell you as they are trying to sell you a web site, even if they are a legitimate company, is that even the big time companies with web sites consider themselves a top notch site if they make one sale out of every one-hundred visitors. As the matter of fact, this is what companies web sites aim for. Traffic is simply just not an easy thing to build up. A web site is not like putting a convenient store on a corner and everyone will see it as they pass by, and stop. If you do not advertise in some form, no one will know you're on the web. The old adage "if you build it, they will come" just isn't true when it comes to opening a web site.

Getting The Traffic:
Of course getting some heavy duty traffic will become your main goal when you open a web site, and it doesn't matter how good it is or what it is selling. But web advertising can be flat out expensive, even scary. When you run a search for web advertising, you will find all kinds of bargains and promises to get heavy traffic to your site, and some of these are legitimate businesses, while others are mostly full of wind. Once you have your site and you begin searching the web for advertising, there's one old adage that you should always stand by, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is". Don't fall for so-called bargains such as "100,000 visitors to your site for only $39.95!" Because it's not just the traffic you need, it's the quality of it.

If you pay for 100,000 traffic hits to your site that are pretty much forced to land on your page, more than likely you aren't going to land a sale for it. There are plenty of advertisers that will do this. Such as pursuading you sign up on a traffic building list where people are forced to click on your link, just so they can earn a credit for it to get traffic back to their own site. Or joining and paying for an MLM type traffic builder where the member simply passes their site around to other members who desire more to sell than to buy. These sites can have as many as 25,000 members (so claimed), but all they are really doing is advertising their sites to other members while trying to make money from one another. As far as I have seen, normal outside web traffic or non-members rarely see these advertisements, if ever. Watch out for what can also be called FFA ads (free for all). They make it sound really good to join these, but when you place your ad in the rotation, you must give them your email address, and you will get literally slammed with everyone else's ads in YOUR email box.

Personally, I think the best advertising for any web site is word of mouth. Start locally by spreading the word and grow from there. Use flyers, penny saver papers and of course business cards and spread them all over your town, and county if necessary. Put a magnetic sign on the side of your car and give relatives and friends some business cards to pass around. All it really takes to get started, is a few people who know a few people and so on. But above all, don't get discouraged, because it can take up to a year or two for a website to really take off. The most important thing is traffic, traffic, traffic (but QUALITY) traffic. Because the more you get, the bigger chances are of getting bigger and better sales. Good luck!

R.L. Young is the owner of National Wholesalers, a wholesale website open to businesses and the public and to help those who would like to have their own home business. Mr. Young began web marketing in the fall of 2002 with many experimentations and much research in web marketing, advertising and sales; including studies with affiliate web sites, and always learning more. Visit National Wholesalers at: http://www.natlwholesalers.com

---

Become An Affiliate Champion: 10 Tips

Affiliates programs are one of the easiest ways to make... Read More

Why Arent You Making a Ton of Cash as an Affiliate?

5 keys to you becoming a successful affiliate:1) HAS THE... Read More

Multiple Income Streams From Niche Markets

Multiple income streams; exciting words, but what does it mean... Read More

How To Create Your Own Successful And Profitable Affiliate Program

Most of the truly successful marketers have three competitive advantages... Read More

Make 100% Commission on Your Affiliate Sales!

If you've been involved in making money on the internet,... Read More

Affiliate Programs... A Not THAT Easy Start To Your Own Online Business

"Where is all the help I'm supposed to get. I... Read More

Free Affiliate Marketing Page Pays $755 in Commissions From its First 100 Visitors

Affiliate marketing is an easy way to get started making... Read More

Pros and Cons of Third Party Online Affiliate Networks

Online affiliate marketing has taken the internet by storm and... Read More

22 Questions to Ask Before You Use Any Shopping Cart System

Many seasoned professional speakers agree that you can make more... Read More

Seven Ways to Set Yourself Apart From Other Affiliate Marketers

Okay so you've read (fill in the blank with internet... Read More

How Much do YOU Charge Per Hour? Avoid the Question by Setting up Passive Income Streams

If you work with clients, at some point in your... Read More

Affiliate Marketing Pros and Cons

Want an online business with a win-win opportunity for both... Read More

How To Make Money On A Music Website Through Affiliate Programs?

Do you find yourself looking for a way to make... Read More

Are You Making These Costly Affiliate Mistakes?

There are many ways to generate sales, but there are... Read More

How to Grow an Affiliate Marketing Business

The biggest failure in affiliate marketing is not collecting prospects'... Read More

Why Top-earning Affiliates Have Their Own Domains And Websites

Many affiliate programs usually provide special web pages for their... Read More

6 BIG Benefits To Selling Big Ticket Items As An Affiliate

Today, we'll cover another set of benefits to selling Big... Read More

High Paying Lateral Keywords

If you run AdSense on your site you know that... Read More

How To Build An Email List As An Affiliate

You have probably heard "the money is in the list"... Read More

Affiliate Communication

Communication is Key!When building an affiliate network communicating with affiliates... Read More

Affiliate Marketing

Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is one of the most common... Read More

Content Really is King

It is every affiliate's wish to have unique site content... Read More

The Secret To Exploding Your Affiliate Profits

Are you concentrating too much on manually promoting your affiliate... Read More

11 Awesome Ways To Explode Your Affiliate Commission

1. Start your own affiliate program directory. Join a large... Read More

Affiliate Marketing Or Market Your Own Products?

How should you organize your online business?Affiliate marketing seems to... Read More

How To Boost Your Affiliate Sales With Free Articles

Free Articles continue to be one of the most effectiveways... Read More

Googles Secret Guidelines On Thin Affiliates

Journalist Henk van Ess has caused a flurry of excitement... Read More

12 Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Program

Hundreds of people sign up for affiliate programs everyday because... Read More

Vital Things To Check At Any Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs are now one of the most popular ways... Read More

How to Become a Super-Affiliate

Did you begin your affiliate marketing business like this? You... Read More

5 Deadly Mistakes That Affiliates Make - A Quiz

Some people are making big money with affiliate programs-some are... Read More

The Secret Shady Practices of Affiliate Marketing

You've probably heard it a hundred times...affiliate marketing is a... Read More

How Joint Ventures Can Catapult You to Success

Substantial opportunities for increased sales and profits are missed by... Read More