Testimonials are a great strategy to pull traffic to your website and in list building. What makes them special? Testimonials come from the actual users, which gives them their authentic feel.

Buyers write testimonials when they are happy about using your product or service. They like to highly precisely what they liked about your product and how it benefited them specifically.

Testimonials from your customer help you increase sales. On the other hand, when you write a testimonial for another site and let them publish it, it becomes a good linking strategy as well. When you write a testimonial and have it published by a website that receives tremendous amounts of traffic consistently, your link is going to be exposed to all that traffic. You also gain link popularity.

Testimonials need not be confined to merchant sites. You can also write testimonials and have them published in ezines with your link.

By their sheer simplicity, testimonials make an effective marketing strategy and a list builder when used in the right manner. How do you go about it?

You can let your existing customers know you care about how they perceive your product or service by asking for feedback in the form of testimonials. Have a separate testimonial page linking to your products pages.

Every affiliate marketer can greatly benefit from unbiased testimonials. Here’s how you do it:

• The testimonials you use must produce measurable results. Its not enough to publish a testimonial that just rambles on about feelings. The testimonial must be specific about the benefits and results. This could be in the form of saving money (how much in what time); testimonials could also highlight your responsiveness to your customer, good presentation of product, promise of quality kept, etc. The exact info would be based on what your product is.
• Testimonials must be short and well worded. Long lengths of text are usually quickly browsed through without actually reading them.
• Ensure that you include information about the writer of the testimonial instead of a couple of initials. This will establish credibility. So, first and last name, city/state, website url if there is one, occupation, plus any other info that the customer feels comfortable about disclosing in public.

The thing about testimonials is that most people wont volunteer one. You’ve got to ask for them. And watch your list grow as you feature them on your website and elsewhere.

Popularity: 89% [?]

A major advantage of social bookmarking sites is their complement to search engine optimization which is something no website can do without. Who doesn’t like being Google’s favorite? These social bookmarking websites are easy to use. They work wonders for generating massive traffic to your websites when you add a bookmark tool on your web pages. Your visitors do the rest of the work - the ones that come by read your content, love it, bookmark it with the bookmark tool, and start the link building process. Does that sound sweet?

You’ll find social bookmarking most popular at the social marketing sites mentioned earlier - YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo etc. one of the best ways to begin benefiting is to sign up with social networking sites that are suitable to your business and create a profile. To get the best out of your association, there are certain vital things you need to do that will help your website, which we’ll cover in a later part in this training series . If you are too impatient to wait, just go ahead and grab your copy of the complete Social Bookmarking Guide at right away.

Social bookmarking is a vital marketing strategy that has a major impact on the following for you, as an online marketer:

Links - You know inbound links are the biggest things that influence your website’s rankings. Using social bookmarking can give you millions of new inbound links to your website. And you what is really wonderful about these links? They are neither pushed nor forced nor bought - they happen independently and naturally.

Managing your reputation - Google just loves these social bookmarking sites. Depending on what you give your visitors to talk about on Digg, MySpace, YouTube and the like, you can literally shoot up in search engine listings very quickly.

Page Ranking - We all know just how long it can take for a new website to get ranked by the search engines. But with social bookmarking and media sites, you don’t have to wait. You can get the word out there by uploading videos on YouTube, creating profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter -and build some links to these.

Search engine optimization or SEO - social bookmarking complements seo quite nicely. Here’s how it works - you bookmark your site or blog, creating an inbound link. Others visit and bookmark your content - so more links. Search engines love quality links. If your content is optimized well with the help of keywords - you are well on your way to seo success.

The collective outcome of the above benefits of social bookmarking is traffic that will convert to sales and profits. Mission accomplished! But how do you actually go around achieving what we’ve discussed above with the help of social bookmarking? You can get the complete guide right away and get started. Social Bookmarking Guide is an investment well worth it!

Popularity: 24% [?]

In this article, I’m going to discuss the importance of AdWords when working with ClickBank. I’m also going to be looking at some popular strategies affiliate marketers use to sell their products. But perhaps most importantly, I’m going to take a look at why some of these strategies work and some don’t.

Let’s start with the basics- first of all, why is AdWords so important to your marketing strategy on ClickBank? Affiliates use AdWords in two very important ways. One, they are used to find out what people are looking for on the Internet. In that way, you can choose to promote a product that people actually want to buy. Secondly, affiliates use these same AdWords to market and promote their products. If your Adwords match the ones people tend to use in the search engines, you can drive a lot of traffic your way.

It used to be pretty easy to use AdWords in affiliate marketing- all you had to do was set up a direct link campaign, put your feet up and cash the checks when they came in. Today, the search engines have made things more difficult. In fact, Google now won’t allow more than one affiliate on the same page. This has simply meant that different strategies are needed to make AdWords and ClickBank work better together.

Choose A Strategy

One of the popular ways to make AdWords work for you is to bid on a specific product name. This approach can be very competitive, especially when you are bidding for a very attractive name that drives enormous amounts of traffic- you could end up in a very aggressive bidding war. The benefit of this kind of strategy is that, it gives you a direct link to traffic that is interested in making a purchase. However, the cost per click for these words could also be high.

Another option is to use keyword lists- this means, consolidate as many keyword phrases as possible and track the sales of each one. This is a very thorough strategy and will put you right on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not. However, this can be a time-consuming job as well. You’ll probably have to invest in some keyword software to help you along.

Some affiliate marketers create campaigns, which are targeted towards sites that are AdWords enriched. This is probably one of the most difficult strategies of all, since it tells Google which web pages should hold your ads. Another drawback of this method is the click through ratio- this means that if you don’t generate enough sales, you’ll end up paying for the impressions, even though they didn’t translate into clicks.

An effective and relatively easy method to work your way around affiliate bidding wars is to write a review for your product, then offer visitors a gift or bonus if they buy using your link. It’s even better if you can harvest names and email ids, so you can do direct follow-up sales later on.

If these methods still seem too time consuming for you, you can visit CB Affiliate Revenue for a quicker way to start attracting traffic for high-profile products.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Much of your marketing efforts rely on email marketing. So you want to make sure that the emails you send your subscribers reach their inbox and are read by them. To be successful with your email marketing efforts, you need to develop your own lists. Why? Because if you rent a list and email them, no matter how legit, its very short term. With your own list, you can build a customer relationship and communicate with them again and again. You build your list as a result of your subscribers opting in to receive your messages and avoid the risk of being reported as spam.

In spite of a well-planned marketing strategy and designing an effective series of emails, sometimes these emails end up in cyberspace, thanks to automatic spam-filters. To avoid this happening, you will need to be conversant with the words, phrases and characters that can kill your email before it reaches your recipient.

There are a lot of unscrupulous marketers out there who send unsolicited messages and give the legitimate ones a bad name, causing people to be doubly wary about which websites they subscribe to and which emails they receive.

The first step, then, is to do some quick research on the kind of words and phrases that can activate these filters and avoid using them completely. Filters especially look for certain symbols and words and by knowing what they are you can avoid them. So make sure your emails comply with the CAN SPAM Act.

You must put specific information in the title and from fields of your emails. Include your name and state your purpose. Don’t write so much in your email that your recipient has to keep scrolling till eternity to get to the point of the message. Rather than use superlative words, present the topic and content of your email so that your recipient is keen to know what it contains and how it will benefit them. Sign off with a call to action.

Many affiliate marketers invest in a reliable email service provider who also makes sure about email deliverability, hosting, customizing content and compliance with the CAN SPAM Act.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Before I answer why you need a squeeze page, lets talk about what a squeeze page is. It is a really interesting list-building tool. In fact, squeeze pages have brought about an amazing change in the way Internet marketing is done. They play a vital role in increasing traffic on your website. If you design your squeeze page well, you will directly benefit in multiple ways.

A squeeze page is like a prelude to your website and is used to attract your visitor to sign up and make them want to be on your list. The main elements of a squeeze page are

• A web form that your autoresponder will use to sign you visitors up automatically so that more information can be sent to them as promised.
• An attention grabbing headline
• Interesting content that is very relevant to your main website with brief info helping your visitor to sign up quickly.

Your squeeze page must be as simple as possible so that you can get your visitors to respond right away. It is okay to offer something for free, like a report or an ebook for signing up with their email address and name, so that you can send them the download link via email with their consent.

Here’s what you do:

Squeeze page title (what will the sign up do for me)

• What info will I get
• How it will help me
• How will it benefit me

SIGN UP form

That’s it. With a squeeze page, you can get your visitor’s email address so that you can build your optin list - which is your goldmine. It is a must have strategy for every Internet marketer because it helps you get your visitor’s permission to send them email so that you are not treated as spam. Of course, you also allow them to opt out of your list whenever they want.

You can use your autoresponder for double optin subscribing. After your visitor subscribes on the squeeze page and goes to the confirmation page - it redirects them to the information they wanted or alternately, onward to the free report you offered. For each website you own, a squeeze page is essential if you are serious about building unlimited optin lists.

But let me share a secret here with you. Sometimes, your visitors are clever enough to see the html source code of your squeeze pages and find the URL of the web page that will follow. Rather than wait to sign up and be led to the information they are eager to see, they try and directly access the URL. You can avoid this by encrypting the URL for the information page.

In fact, an even better way to send the information for which your visitors signed up is by email. By this, you ensure that your visitor signs up with an authentic email id. If it is an invalid email id then you simply don’t send the info to them! If they try to bypass the squeeze page, then they don’t get the promised information. You can be pretty sure that someone who is keen on the information and really interested will not find signing up a big ordeal.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Are you using appropriate Web 2.0 Marketing strategies to get the traffic you deserve?

Talk about marketing products and the four P’s come into mind: Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement. The first step is to identify the service or product that consumers need. Then, you have to affix the right price. After that, it is promote, promote and promote. Traditionally, marketers focused their attention on advertising and publicity through special events that spread brand awareness. But, in recent times, marketers have started using another powerful strategy to earn ‘clicks’ - Web 2.0.

Why?

Traditional marketing is controlled. It is a process where marketers develop, craft and deliver messages through their PR department. But with Web 2.0, this top-to-bottom pyramid level of communication has been inverted to peer-to-peer communication. The advantage is obvious: information passed on by peers is highly trusted. It also spreads faster.

Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way messages spread across the web. A number of online tools and platforms are now defining how people share opinions, perspectives, thoughts and experiences. Social media tools like blogs, podcasts, videocasting, social bookmarking, wikis and photo sharing are just some of the methods that are becoming more and more popular.

So, the first thing you need to market via Web 2.0 is to have direct access to Web 2.0 marketing resources. Let us look at the various tools marketers use.

Blogging: Marketing on the web cannot be done without a Blog. That is why Web 2.0 places the greatest importance on blogging software. Among all the blogging services available out there, Wordpress is perhaps one of the strongest. It is strong in that it incorporates a number of free and paid plug-ins that make it possible for you to unleash the power of Web 2.0. While free plug-ins are useful, some of the paid plug-ins like the Wordpress Sitemap Plug-in and the Adsense Deluxe help you harness focused traffic to your website.

Linkbaiting: Obviously, the ‘in’ thing in the last couple of years is to create a social marketing buzz. Linkbaiting is another tactic used by web masters to attract cross-links. A number of websites allow you to create it. Examples are Technorati, Reddit and PRWeb.

RSS feeds: RSS feed creation and promotions are potent methods of spreading the word about your website or services. The more number of sites you submit your feeds to, the better ranked your websites would be. By using some of the best automation tools available, you can improve traffic to your website by 70% or more.

Social bookmarking and media bookmarking are powerful tools to woo traffic. One great free service is OnlyWire. They are free and good enough for beginners. But as you start getting serious traffic, you need to consider other bookmarking sites.

Video, video marketing and video syndication are some of the big tools of 2007. Most web marketers ignore video because it can be a little daunting, which is precisely why you SHOULD go for it right away, before the web gets cluttered with it. Video is getting big and the only way to beat your competition is by getting ahead of the curve. You can easily learn how to create video for the web, how to edit your video and how to make free legal soundtracks for your video from various Web 2.0 resources freely available on the net.

Of course, most of the information given here may sound vaguely familiar. But trying to do all of these by hand and one-by-one is going to cost you something very valuable - time; time you should spend on strategizing and providing new services. You could always hire someone to do these tasks for you but the ideal solution would be to have access to cutting-edge automation software that does all the hard work for you and keeps your marketing strategies running on autopilot.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Here is a list of methods you must NOT use to generate traffic! Why? Simply because they don’t work! Why waste your time and money on them? Here we go!

Through traffic exchanges

The concept of traffic exchanges is this: it is a website with a lot of member websites. If you look at another member’s website they will look at yours and you earn credits in the process that you can use. This does bring in a lot of traffic - you will see your counter go up, but chances of getting focused traffic that will sign up with you or buy from you are very less. Instead, focus on forums, ebook or article marketing!

Buying traffic

Many Internet marketers buy lists. Huge lists are available at affordable prices. But unfortunately, most of these lists have dead information. We already know that quite a few of these list sellers buy domains that have expired. They then use pop-overs and pop-unders to direct visitors to their customer-websites. While this looks very attractive, what if only two out of 100,000 visitors sign up? Suppose you paid $100 for these 100,000 visitors just imagine the waste of money per subscriber!

Another problem here is the authenticity of these lists. What if the list provider sells you someone else’s list and you send them emails without their consent? You will be accused of spamming and get a bad reputation.

Tricking search engines

Every Internet business must use search engine optimization as a strategy - but some try to cheat the search engines by link farming, masking content, etc. As long as there are methods, there will be loopholes. There are plenty of fly by night Internet marketers who will offer to increase your profits instantly. There is nothing ‘instant’ in Internet marketing. Everything requires careful planning and implementation and constant monitoring. “Instant automatic methods” just get you banned from the search engines. So do not think of cheating the search engines.

Be wary of traffic generation scams that tell you that they can bring you millions of visitors at negligible costs. In Internet marketing, often ‘free’ methods like using forums to generate traffic and profits works much more steadily than the so-called ‘cheap’ methods.

Online marketing and affiliate marketing are as challenging as they are interesting. Constant experimentation is required to make use of all the techniques and strategies you come across. The Mike Filsaime Butterfly Marketing Manuscript is a blueprint for both beginners and advanced marketers alike - since it is packed with all the little known simple strategies that make all the difference between a very successful business and an average one.

Popularity: 19% [?]

You are probably wondering how a well-written article could possibly bring people to your website. But it’s the simplicity of this method that is the most charming. It is based on the fact that most people set out looking for information on the web

You can build huge lists by writing keyword rich articles relevant to your business. These articles can be featured on your website, submitted to article directories and other websites that are continuously looking for good content for their readers.

Articles are a great way to generate high quality focused traffic since they establish you as an expert in your area based on the info you provide. They are also useful for building trust, which is very important in the online marketing world. It is important to write them and use them in the right manner.

Here are tips to ensure that your articles bring in the kind of visitors you can convert to customers:

• At the end of your article provide a resource box with a link to your website. Include a brief message with your optin URL, telling the visitor very briefly about how they will benefit. The reader will be encouraged to visit your website to know more and will be in a receptive mood to sign up. Provide a full link to your website.
• Articles must be original content. You can either write them yourself or have them outsourced. They must stimulate the reader so that they will bookmark you and keep coming back.
• The title of your article must be catchy and include the keywords that your visitors use to find you, making them eager to read on. Something like “One secret strategy that will change the way you make money online” if make money online is your main keyword.
• Here’s a no-brainer, nevertheless very important as it is often overlooked. Check your content for spelling errors and make sure it makes for continuous reading.
• Remember to link the articles on your website to your blog, your ezine, your newsletter, the forums you frequent - as all these will bring focused traffic.
• We’ve already said this - but don’t forget to optimize your articles. This is how search engines will find them and help you get traffic.
• Allow your articles to be republished with the resource box intact - this in turn will bring in traffic from various sources. There are many newsletter and blog publishers who keep looking for good content to reprint.

The beauty of article marketing is that you can use the same article to bring in traffic from different sources.

Popularity: 23% [?]

One of the most effective ways to generate online traffic is through FORUMS or online communities. Every online business identifies a niche to plan its marketing strategies and chances are that it has signed up with a forum or two. Let’s see how you can maximize your benefits from a forum!

Forums are not just a place to share your knowledge and views. Forums are goldmines, literally. You can effectively use these forums to generate focused traffic and establish your web presence. And you know the best thing about this? It is free!

People love to express their views on various subjects and head over to the relevant forums and sign up there to do so. This is why online communities exist - so that like-minded people can communicate freely. These forums or communities experience massive traffic and you too can tap into this traffic to grow your business.

The critical thing to remember here is - you just don’t go and advertise in a forum! You become a part of the community. Advertising on a forum is a total no-no because you’ll not only be banned, but also labeled a spammer. Nobody needs a bad reputation, now, do they?

Instead, you sign up with these forums and become a relevant contributor. This is what will bring you traffic. Forums are basically like message boards where members help each other with information. They are highly interactive places. As a feasible list-building strategy, forums are up there with the best. They are great places to build credibility and trust through good content.

Okay, so here’s how you can use forums to get that focused traffic rushing to your site:

• The first thing to do is identify a forum (or two), which gets massive traffic that is relevant to your site. A Google search can help you do this. See the number of members and posts to get an idea of its popularity.
• Become a member of the forum(s) you shortlist. Make a profile. Introduce yourself briefly, but NO hardsell promotional messages. It is quite likely that you will receive several welcome messages from existing members - so don’t forget to thank each one of them.
• Read previously posted messages to post useful content. This could be in the way of answering questions, asking relevant questions, and so on. Never advertise your website. However, you can include your website in your signature, but make sure this is allowed when you join.
• Spend at least a few minutes each day on the forum to be active. Forum members like someone who posts regularly and the best part is - they will recommend you to others who will not hesitate to click your link!

These steps can be followed with more than one forum. You will benefit by building your list, getting affiliates for your affiliate programs, subscribers to your newsletters, and a lot of new customers. Just make sure you diligently follow the forum rules.

Why not go out, find a couple of forums right now, and try what I’ve described above?

Popularity: 16% [?]

Lets define niche marketing first. A niche market is a segment of the market where you can group people with similar needs. Now, it makes more sense to sell to fifty people who want your stuff instead of 10000 people about whom you have no idea at all, doesn’t it? Here’s an example - you might be offering a variety of stationery items especially for scrap booking. So you would try to understand how scrap bookers (your niche market) tick and work out a strategy that would appeal to them and get them to buy from you, right? Right! By identifying your niche market, you ensure that your visitors convert into sales - and money!

That said the most important thing is to actually find the RIGHT niche market. After that, the rest is easy. When you select your niche carefully, you will be laying the foundation for a steady and stable business that will thrive. So find those buyers, give them precisely what they want and get assured profits. But suppose you choose the WRONG niche market? Here are three critical mistakes to avoid - so that you are never left wondering why you are not making any money.

Mistake 1: Niche market not big enough

Your niche market must be big enough to produce enough sales. If only a hundred or so people are interested in your product - no point making the effort.

Mistake 2: Niche market too big

If your niche market is too big, then the competition will also be intense. Can you keep up with them? Will you spend more on promotion than the sales? You will need to pick a niche market that is neither too big or too small.

Mistake 3: Niche market Out of reach

In online marketing, your niche market must be within easy reach. Suppose your niche market is not online; then to whom will you send your emails, ezines, newsletters, etc.? So make sure your niche market can be reached.

But it does not end with just understanding who comprises your niche market. You must also figure out

• How to find them,
• Know their browsing behavior,
• Find forums dedicated to them,
• Know the kind of information they look for,
• The words they use, etc.

Popularity: 10% [?]