How to Get All the Free Traffic You Want

Written by Andrew Rondeau in affiliate marketing strategy | 64 Awesome Comments - Add Yours?

blog trafficThis is a guest post by Terry Dean the internet marketing coach.

Traffic…it’s the lifeblood of an internet business.

There are dozens of ways to generate traffic such as Adwords, banner advertising, search engine optimization, social media, and so on.  BUT  the last thing you want to do is get distracted and try to use a dozen different methods all at once.  That just creates confusion for you…and your business.

But what if I told you there was a way to tap into all the free traffic you want…and use every one of those methods at the same time without being an expert at any of them?

There is a way to tap into all of them.  It’s from having your own affiliate program.

Instead of YOU learning everything there is to know about social media, you recruit affiliates who are already experts at this.  You do the same with each of the other advertising formats.  You let them be the experts while you split the profits with them.  You never pay a penny until after your product is sold.  It’s the best source of risk free traffic for any site.

The one issue is just like all of those others methods…you have a lot of competition offering affiliate programs.  There won’t be a mad dash by affiliates to promote yours UNLESS you can make it stand out in the marketplace (just like any other form of marketing).

Step One: Create a high conversion offer

First of all, let’s think about what an affiliate wants.  They want to promote a product which will produce a great income for them and will please their customers.

The biggest mistake I see beginners make here is just grabbing a private label rights package and trying to get affiliates to promote that.  Why should they promote anything they could offer themselves?  Your offer has to stand out…and it has to have a good conversion rate.

The better your site converts, the longer affiliates will stay with you…and keep promoting you.  Most of the people I’ve worked with who have done well hire an outside coach or copywriter to review or even write their sales pages.  This is your sales point with affiliates – a good product with a great conversion system.

Step Two: Figure out how you will entice your affiliates

How will your affiliate offer stand out from everything else?  There are so many competitive affiliate programs in the “internet marketing” industry for example, you have to really push the envelope there.  People sometimes offer 100% off the first purchase, big prizes for an affiliate contests, and tons of free content (like videos, PDF reports, etc.).

Why are they willing to offer 100% on the first sale?  This gives them a customer.  They might not make anything off that sale, but they have a customer to sell all their future products and services to.

Take a look at the market you’re in.  What do other affiliate programs offer?  How will you make a better offer?  Maybe you offer a better conversion, a higher priced product, higher commissions, more content, a longer-term income (membership), etc.

In other words, just like we find a competitive selling point for our products, we need to also find that competitive selling point for our affiliate programs.

Step Three: Find the Potential Affiliates

Here’s several ways to make your potential affiliate list:

- Sites which rank on top of the free search results in Google

- Sites advertising in Adwords on the paid results in Google

- Your keyword phrase in Google plus blog, ezine, or newsletter (“dog training blog”)

- Look for influential people on social media using tools like http://www.mrtweet.com

- Search competitive product in Google to find people selling them

- Search article directories like ezinearticles.com for people publishing in your niche.

There are a LOT of ways to find potential partners.  Notice how I’m specifically targeting traffic generation methods like seo, PPC, and others so they CAN do that work…and we tap into all the different traffic sources through them.

Step Four: Contact the Affiliates

This is the next element that destroys many people starting out.  When you contact these partners, you’ve got to build relationships, not always go for the “quick sale.”

That means the first part of any contact email is to COMPLIMENT them on something unique to their site, their email newsletter, or their blog posts.  What made them stand out so you’d want to contact them?   For example, if they have an email newsletter subscribe to it.  Then REPLY to their email as your first contact.

And I’m wary of giving you an exact email to follow because it depends on the market you’re in.  In a “business conscious” niche you can be more aggressive and quote your conversion rates and things like that.  In a non-business niche they are much more concerned about trusting you first.

Basic Outline:

- Personalized one or two paragraph intro – compliment them or thank them for something

- Mention your product and what it does for customers (conversion rate only if in business niche)

- Offer them CONTENT such as articles, videos, etc. you’ve created for them to use

- Tell them about how you pay the affiliate and how the links in the content are theirs

- Give them a copy of your product for free (digital include the link – physical ask them to mail their address)

- Your contact info if they want to talk

Step Five: Follow-up and Grow Your Program

You’ll find that many people you send the above email to may ignore you OR they respond they’re not interested right now.  The key is to follow-up on them.

If you don’t hear anything back, contact them again next week.  If they respond they’re not interested right now, then follow whatever they’ve suggested (another good strategy here is to ask them for an interview in a couple of weeks to produce content and build the relationship).

Along with the above, you’ll also need to follow-up on them if they do agree by providing them with the tools they need to promote or the content you promised to provide them with.

Then stay ACTIVE with your affiliates. Most affiliate software builds a database of your registered affiliates.  Use this list and follow-up with them as you release new products, run affiliate contests, or put up new promotional materials.

The best affiliate programs are actively pushing forward and growing those relationships with their affiliates…just like every business needs to do with their customers.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Terry Dean

Terry Dean

Terry Dean is an internet marketing coach who has been helping home based entrepreneurs and small business owners for over 14 years.

If you’d like a free copy of Terry Dean’s ” 10 Key Strategies for Any Business Owner to Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Life!” visit
http://www.webuildyourblog.com/td.htm today.

Terry is one of the most respected and successful Internet Marketers around. He went from delivering pizzas for a living to building a million dollar Internet business.

When I first started my own on-line business, Terry helped me considerably. Although I have a long way to go to match Terry, I would not be where I am today without his help and guidance.

________________________________________________________________________________________________




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64 Responses to How to Get All the Free Traffic You Want
  1. Tom

    This is excellent, it is always better when more people promote the same product. But how do you translate this to a business which sells consulting services?
    .-= Tom´s last blog ..A Day in the Life of a Person with a Cognitive Disability =-.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      It’s a little more difficult when selling consulting services BUT personally I’ve promoted other people’s consulting and even copywriting type services for a 10% affiliate commission (much lower than product commissions).

      So it is possible to accomplish this. Depending on the consulting sales cycle you’d likely have to code the lead to the affiliate when it comes in and then manually credit affiliates when their leads are closed.
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Why I Decided to Turn Off Comments =-.

      Reply
  2. Lance Nelson

    Hi Andrew,

    This seems sensible advice. I would also welcome your comment on how to create a product for travel website. I tried a few other people’s affiliates and found it made next to nothing and cheapened the look of the site… but of course i probably chose the wrong ones.
    .-= Lance Nelson´s last blog ..Bansko’s Hot Spring Turns To Snow: Snow Forecast =-.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      On a travel website I’d likely setup a separate domain/url (to keep everything separate) and then possibly create/offer some type of low cost travel guides…potentially even giving away a large commission (75% for example through Clickbank). Then inside the guides you push them back to your main site.

      That’s one way this could be done.
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Why I Decided to Turn Off Comments =-.

      Reply
      • Lance Nelson

        Hi Terry,

        Thank you for this suggestion, I will try and do this. But why is it best to offer this via a separate website…? Just thinking of expense and time of this.

        So much info is given away for free i am nor sure people will pay for anything. But if i get sponsors for the guide there could be freebies included that cover the cost of the guide. But still not sure – anyone got experience of this? many thanks
        .-= Lance Nelson´s last blog ..Bansko’s Hot Spring Turns To Snow: Snow Forecast =-.

        Reply
        • Terry Dean

          You mentioned that it “cheapened the look of a site” so I was suggesting a different site so this didn’t affect anything on your own site.

          You could offer the product someone on your main site also (although I would try to keep the number of links on the page lower – as AFFILIATES want the page they send traffic to promote ONLY that product they get commissions on).

          I’ve helped people in different types of information type businesses for years (books, audios, videos, ebooks, etc.). And that complaint about so much free information always comes up.

          It’s not about just selling information. It’s always about selling information that saves the customer time and money.

          Almost anything can be found for free online if you’re willing to put in the time to find it…but I’d much rather spend $20 than 10 hours trying to find it!
          .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Why I Decided to Turn Off Comments =-.

          Reply
          • Lance Nelson

            Hi Terry,

            Thank you so much for your comments.

            I agree – and is a timely reminder on paying vs searching the internet.

            I will be doing a Sofia city 5 star guide and a new ski guide – and will try charging for them.
            .-= Lance Nelson´s last blog ..Bansko’s Hot Spring Turns To Snow: Snow Forecast =-.

  3. Happy maker
    Twitter:

    Thanks Andrew. More good info coming from you. Got to Love it. You just keep showing me how much more I have to learn. Which is great because I am making good headway. Thanks again. I’ll kkep following your advice.

    Debbie

    Reply
  4. Cheryl from blogging tips
    Twitter:

    Hi Andrew and Terry,
    Excellent article with lots of new ideas to think about. Makes my head swim with how much there is to do. For today, I’m following your MrTweet link to see where that takes me.

    I’m bookmarking this link (and Andrew’s site) to come back to later.

    Andrew, I love that picture of you holding the spanner :D
    .-= Cheryl @ blogging tips´s last blog ..24 blogging tips from expert bloggers – Pillar Content, Privacy and Power =-.

    Reply
  5. John W. Furst from Email Marketing Tips

    Andrew,

    What a great surprise to see Terry writing and participating here. Having an affiliate program is not very wide-spread and the hard part is to get affiliates actually to do something on a consistent basis.

    I see a lot of programs that are set-up once and not really maintained. While it’s true that the majority of affiliates do not much or nothing, there is also a reason for it.

    Yours
    John

    Reply
  6. Joel from Blog Solutions
    Twitter:

    Andrew/Terry – interesting stuff. I do have an affiliate scheme for my own site, and like Tom mentioned in the comments, mine are essentially consulting services. I have actually had more success with the consulting affiliate sales as opposed to a “product” (training videos) even though the commission was the same. However the videos were a little of a “me too” product, and consulting is highly personal.
    Thanks for the advice, there is always something I can improve on.
    .-= Joel @ Blog Solutions´s last blog ..How To Keep Motivated To Write Your Blog =-.

    Reply
  7. Keller Hawthorne

    Great post Terry! I came to the realization last year that an affiliate program is one of the key secrets to a lot of the big guys’ success online. It really is exponential growth – each of your affiliates promotes your product and has the potential to bring you more affiliates, who promote your product.

    I don’t have a product for my blog yet, but I did recently launch a Premium WP Theme company and offer an affiliate program for that. I followed many of your steps and found some great partners who helped bring in sales in the first couple of days of opening.

    The truth is I don’t have all the time in the world to promote my new site as I own several others that require my attention. I will be relying on my affiliates quite a bit for traffic, promotion and sales – they’re extremely valuable.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      That’s another important element we didn’t cover. Thanks for bringing it up!

      The “buzz” from your affiliate program opens up other doors and methods of traffic to you also.

      Basically the more people who hear about you from recommendations (like affiliates will be doing) the more overall deals and other opportunities which open up to you.

      It does take some time to manage the affiliate program effectively, but it worth it.
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Why I Decided to Turn Off Comments =-.

      Reply
  8. Michelle Vandepas

    I’ve used affiliates on several websites and projects, and I’m getting ready to ask for affiliates on my newest author interview site. I’m hoping some of my past affiliates will join us based upon the great relationship I’ve had with them in the past.
    .-= Michelle Vandepas´s last blog ..Spiritual Hitchhikers Guide to Universe Paul Rademacher Monroe Institute =-.

    Reply
  9. Jeremy

    Having higher rankings in the search engines, mainly the first page is a great way to increase visitors to your site. Make sure you use good SEO principles to do this.

    Reply
  10. Mitch

    Thanks Andrew for once again reminding me of another area where I have been letting it get away from me. Sometimes we become too focused in other areas of our business and forget some of the basics, this brings it all back to the fore front.
    .-= Mitch´s last blog ..2010 Masters Preview and Picks =-.

    Reply
  11. David Rogers from self confidence

    It sounds like great advice, my main problem is getting my act together and having a selling product, not just free offer for sign ups. Thanks.
    .-= David Rogers@self confidence´s last blog ..Self Confidence from Failure =-.

    Reply
  12. Keith Andrew

    I once read an article that said adsense is the welfare of online monetization, while affiliate marketing is the 9-5. I have just recently started researching and looking into stuff like that, and I must say there looks to be a ton of potential there. Never thought about it as a source of traffic though.
    .-= Keith Andrew´s last blog ..Peter’s Shadow Healed The Sick =-.

    Reply
  13. Benjamin from Meditation Techniques

    A great post!

    I have to do this… I’ve seen pieces of this process in other places, but never so neatly laid out step-by-step.

    I have to do this!

    Andrew, Terry… this was the kick in the butt I needed… thank you!

    keep smiling,

    Ben
    .-= Benjamin@ Meditation Techniques´s last blog ..Daily Meditation – Keep Smiling (4-6-10) =-.

    Reply
  14. Bruce "the Mid-Life Mentor"

    In what niches have you seen this work Terry? Do you know of a high converting site in the health field. Not some junk, I have seen pie in the sky promises, but real health related products? I have not seen that many and wonder what your experience is?
    .-= Bruce “the Mid-Life Mentor”´s last blog ..5 Tips to help Your skin look better =-.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      I’ve seen it work in some very unusual niches to say the least.

      Yes, I have seen it work in health related products. The upfront conversion rates on the “pie in the sky” promises are often higher in the front end, BUT you can make up for this with continuity type programs and other backend offers (because your customers will stay with you longer by you telling the truth to them).
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Why I Decided to Turn Off Comments =-.

      Reply
  15. Raymond Chua
    Twitter:

    Hi Andrew,

    Thanks for laying out the steps to achieve online business success.

    That’s indeed very helpful especially to IM newbies.

    Reply
  16. Tyrone

    Hi Andrew/Terry,

    Thanks for the wonderful ideas about affiliate marketing-to-gain-traffic and keeping good relationships. Affiliate marketing has been one of those “easy-money” ways to do online although not all the time it seems easy to start off with especially because these partners would always want a “special” treatment for you to help both sides. I’m opening up an affiliate program soon and I’ll surely be using those steps.

    Tyrone

    Reply
  17. Amy LeForge

    Andrew thanks so much for getting Terry to share his expertise with us. I for one have not even come close to offering an affiliate product. But now you’ve got me thinking that I should start thinking in that direction.
    .-= Amy LeForge´s last blog ..4 Links, a Freebie, and a Prize =-.

    Reply
  18. Healthy Eating

    Andrew,

    Once again this is an excellent and quite timely post!

    That was a great interview!

    Krizia
    .-= Healthy Eating @ Eat Smart Age Smart´s last blog ..Buy a pedometer to walk 10,000 steps a day =-.

    Reply
  19. Jan from queenofkaos

    Some really practical tips here. I really liked ‘contact potential affiliates’ and ‘stay active with affiliates’.

    I really think that these can make a lot of difference if you have the others in place but are typically things that we may not make time for (ok, ‘I’ may not make time for :0)
    .-= Jan@queenofkaos´s last blog ..Kitchen Grease Fire Safety Videos and How To =-.

    Reply
  20. Chris Peterson

    This is really amazing tips that you are using as daily tips. Offer option is the good way to achieve better traffic. it should be necessary to give good offer to publisher those are publishing our products.

    Reply
  21. Corinne Edwards

    Dear Andrew and Terry -

    I’d like you to explore a little more on how you can sell services as an affiliate.

    I have a media coaching service. There are people who really need this and I am good at it.

    They can write but put a mike in their hand and they talk too much and get a little boring.

    I guess I could write a book on it but E Books do not sell for much. I have one now on sales that is $9.95. It was too cheap to ask for affiliates even at 75%

    Any suggestions how I make me the affiliate?
    .-= Corinne Edwards´s last blog ..DEALING WITH – “The Crazies” – IN BUSINESS =-.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      Hi Corinne,

      If you have a media coaching service, I would try to get it “packaged” at least on the front end. That means you have some type of package with specific coaching pieces from you that clients purchase.

      Then you could set a 10% to 20% commission on this.

      A second option would be to put together a group type coaching program (multiple webinars or teleconferences in the package) and use the affiliate program on the group coachign program. It’s more likely I would use this 2nd approach.
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Do You Want to Replace Yourself? =-.

      Reply
  22. Dennis Edell from Direct Sales Marketing

    Terry – I think I know the answer to this, but I noticed you didn’t mention, ones own loyal readership/customers as potential affiliates, why?

    Is it because you may not know off hand what traffic tactics they know? Because as far as I can see, that would be the only downside, if you want to call it that.

    They already know you and the high quality you produce, so they would certainly be EAGER; to say the least.
    .-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

    Reply
    • Terry Dean

      Good mention here!

      I would always contact my audience when you launch the affiliate program…and I would also let new buyers know (on the thank you page or in the customer follow-up).

      I did not mention it because it’s one of the items we do first, BUT too many people rely on ONLY this. And I want people to have the right expectations. Unless you’re already a leader in the field, that generally would not be enough.

      But you are correct…that is where we launch it first!
      .-= Terry Dean´s last blog ..Do You Want to Replace Yourself? =-.

      Reply
      • Dennis Edell from Direct Sales Marketing

        I can see that, especially in beginners. They get 20 30 40 50 readers to affiliate and think it’s more then enough.
        .-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

        Reply
  23. Patrick Toerner from Young Entrepreneur

    I do like this post, and it has great information about finding affiliates and persuading them to promote your product. In fact a lot of things I have never heard/thought of.

    The hardest part though, is creating a high converting offer, and that is step one! I feel like if you can get a high converting offer, everything else will just fall into place. I’ll let you know when I get one ;)
    .-= Patrick Toerner @Young Entrepreneur´s last blog ..How to Write Your Ebook in a Week or Less =-.

    Reply
  24. Patrick Toerner from Young Entrepreneur

    Yup, I am writing about it on my blog. Well, I am writing about it as well as making a giant series of how to create, write, and sell an ebook.

    Just posted the writing phase. In a few more posts I will be getting into building the website and split testing, etc.

    I have never stuck around long enough with an info product because I didn’t enjoy the subject I was writing on. I fixed that this time.

    Do you have experience with creating and selling info products? I see you have “Income Blogging Guide Blueprint.” Have you tried selling any info products?
    .-= Patrick Toerner @Young Entrepreneur´s last blog ..Make Your Ebook Stand Out! =-.

    Reply
    • Andrew from Blogging Guide
      Twitter:

      Patrick,

      Several times!

      As we as the blogging guide, we have our Income Blogging Guide Membership course.

      Plus…I started off in the ‘Management niche’, so my first info product was my own e-book on Management.

      I then created a series of audio interviews with ‘famous’ successful people and then a multi-media course on public speaking.

      I still sell those products today.

      Andrew
      .-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Master This Technique and Get More Blog Readers =-.

      Reply
  25. Sherri--Being the Change I Wish to See

    Hi Andrew and Terry,

    I read the post with great interest and I watched Terry’s video. I’ve watched many videos on how to make money on the internet, read a boat-load of reports and ebooks, and keep up with a little more than a few blogs on the subject.

    The biggest take-away I got from this post and presentation is that no matter what you learn or how you learn it or who you learn it from, you have to learn a bit, then implement it. And then you have to test what you implemented to see if it’s working in the way you want it to work. Is that what I should be learning?

    Also, I have an off-line tutoring business where I tutor middle, high school and early college students in science and math. I only have so many hours after school each day and weekend hours to meet with students. I don’t really want to develop an online tutoring business, there are plenty of those.

    I would like to develop a supplementary product and/or service that would help people who can’t afford me locally, or who would benefit if they live far away from my town. Two ideas I’ve had are a weekly (or bi-weekly or monthly) call-in program where students can call me or connect with Skype and ask me anything they want for a monthly fee (perhaps half of my hourly rate for one session). It could be conference call or a one-on-one call.

    My second idea is to get the latest textbooks my students use locally and prepare complete solution manuals for the problems in them. They could purchase manuals in print or as a pdf download. Most schools use the big textbook houses: McGraw-Hill (Glencoe), Houghton-Mifflin and McDougall-Littell, Harper-Collins, Prentice Hall, Norton, Harcourt Brace etc.

    Any feedback would be greatly welcomed.
    .-= Sherri–Being the Change I Wish to See´s last blog ..Ugandan kill-the-gays bill part 13: Now it’s the imprison-the-gays-for-life bill =-.

    Reply
    • Andrew from Blogging Guide
      Twitter:

      “You have to learn a bit, then implement it. And then you have to test what you implemented to see if it’s working in the way you want it to work. Is that what I should be learning?”

      Sherri – absolutely yes!

      I have learned so much from terry but one thing sticks out…testing.

      Re: call-in program where students can call me or connect with Skype.

      That would certainly be something to consider. What you could then also do is record the sessions and sell the recordings. You would need to tell the ‘students’ up front that you intend to do that. Another option would be to ask questions via email.

      Re: My second idea is to get the latest textbooks my students use locally and prepare complete solution manuals for the problems in them.

      Again, that could work – as long at the publications don’t already provide such a service.

      You have some really good ideas. Perhaps ask your exiting students for their feedback.

      And remember…test.

      Andrew
      .-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Is Mastering Public Speaking Good for Bloggers? =-.

      Reply
  26. Beat Schindler
    Twitter:

    Andrew,
    the post has a bit of both, inspiration and “yes, but.” When I listen to Roger Federer, playing tennis like him is easy, but to actually go out and play tennis like him is an altogether different ball game (pun intended). Reading this post, steps 1 thru 5 are easy, actually going out and take them – for someone who doesn’t walk yet – is a challenge. The only way forward is doing it … practice, practice, practice … Thanks for the inspiration!
    Beat
    .-= Beat Schindler´s last blog ..Personal Growth The Easy Way: Focus On Your Strengths =-.

    Reply
  27. Latief from AnotherBlogger

    Great tips for newbie like me bro, thanks
    .-= Latief@AnotherBlogger´s last blog ..Win 8G iPod Nano On An Easy Contest From Income Blogging Guide =-.

    Reply
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  29. Jason from Affiliate Marketing Tools

    Goldmine! I didn’t expect to see affiliate program as the answer to the title’s question. I definitely agree with every thing mentioned here. Though I think this process would also take time before it get pumped up. It may also need some investments, but I know it will certainly be worth it. The only question is, how you can make a product that no affiliate can ever refuse to promote.

    Enjoyed reading this one Andrew and Terry :) I was actually searching for some advanced techniques here and poof! this really caught my attention.

    Regards,
    Jason

    Reply
  30. Henway

    For me, I enjoy working with companies that treat me like a special individual. Give me free content, tips, and even bonuses at the end of the year (one Christmas, I got a nice shiny watch). It’s all about making me feel special
    Henway recently posted..My Colon Cleanse StoryMy Profile

    Reply
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