OK, this might be a Dumb one! Pay per click, SEO etc..?

[zaba99]

I am new and am anxious to get started.
As in affiliate marketing, what are the percentages that one uses to get people (traffic) to their site? How much do you rely on SEO, Pay Per Click, Print Advertising etc......
Please list others that you may use. I am just wondering if you need to spend a lot of money with Pay Per Click, or should one really try for SEO and rely on that?

Ros, what do you do with your Watch site (can not remember the name at this moment)? You say it always has done well for you and you really do not advertise it..... Do you just let it SEO for you and you get enough traffic from that to make money with it?

Thanks,
Duane

[avwaard]

Duane,

Read the following report on SEO Website Builder;

Greetings,

Ton

This is a rather long-winded review, but I like this software program and I know people have a lot of questions about it.
Here's the short version of my review: SEO Website Builder is not a get-rich-quick type of software program. It's a website building tool that requires no HTML knowledge. For those with little or limited HTML skills, it's a very good tool to use to build a site. If you have moderate HTML skills and you don't mind losing flexibility in design and layout, SEO Website Builder is a good program that takes care of a lot of the on-page optimization so that you can focus on getting quality content up. If you have advanced HTML skills, you're on your own, because I really can't say whether you'll enjoy working with the program or not.

There are some things I don't like about the software, and I've mentioned them at the end of this review, but on the whole, it does exactly what I want it to do, and it's helping me to build my sites more easily and quickly.

I almost didn't buy SEO Website Builder, because while I'm not exactly proficient with HTML, I can build a site using an HTML template and I know enough basic code to handcode the content portion of the template without an HTML editor if absolutely necessary (like if I found myself stranded on a desert island with a laptop that only had Notepad).
However, a friend of mine, who's been building his own sites for years using Frontpage, decided to buy SEO Website builder and give it a try. He sent me a detailed report of his experience with SEO WB, giving it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. He also answered "yes" to my biggest question: Can SEO WB be used to implement the Martell method?
James Martell's Affiliate Marketers' Handbook was one of the very first ebooks I ever bought. It's a great blueprint for building affiliate sites, but it's not exactly a quick road. I'm not looking for "get rich quick", but it just seemed to me there had to be a way of building Martell-type sites a bit quicker.
I have to admit, when I first started reading the SEO WB manual, my heart sank. The software, without a doubt, is meant specifically for people who don't know any HTML at all (so if you fall into this category, you definitely should take a look at the the program).
But by the time I finished the manual, I felt much better. I knew that I would be able to put the software to good use.

SEO WB is a very good program for people who don't know very much HTML. With SEO WB, you'll be able to put up websites without having to worry at all about learning how to code.
But people who do know enough HTML to "get by" definitely shouldn't discount this program.
I'm not advanced in terms of my HTML knowledge, though, so if you are, I can't say whether this is something you might want to consider.

Here's what I like about SEO Website Builder:

The software works by taking a list of your primary and secondary keywords and building skeleton pages for each set of keywords. It's up to you to provide the content, but the bones of each page are already generated for you to work on, and each page's framework is optimized for the specific keywords you provide. In terms of on-page optimization, you're off to a good start.
Once your content has been entered, you can further analyze the optimization of your page by using the Analyze feature. This will make various suggestions, such as having your keyword in your title, and recommended tweaks to your keyword density.
The entire site-building process is very organized. Pages are named in an optimized way, and every page is easily accessible for internal linking. No more trying to remember the name of the page you built a few days (or months) ago when you want to link to it. Very nice if you aren't always as organized as you'd like to be.
An Articles module lets you build pages using the Martell method. I actually don't use this module much when I'm building a Martell-type site, though. I just use the regular page-building modules for my articles pages.
If you want to get a quick start on your site, you can use the plain templates that are provided with the program even if you don't really like the template. When you're ready to switch to a new template, you simply do so by recompiling your site. So basically, site-wide template changes are done at the touch of a button.
The Library module works like a server side include (SSI). It's a great tool to use for putting your affiliate links on your article pages. One reason why people recommend you don't include merchant links on your article pages is because these links can change, and if you have them on your article pages, changing them can be really time-consuming. Putting your merchant links in a Library module allows you to easily change links later if you want to. You make the change to the library module you've used, and the changes are made on all the pages that include that particular module.
The program creates a sitemap for you. That in itself is a huge time-saver.
The Adsense feature lets you add Adsense to your pages. Andy has recently released an update to the program which lets you use the rectangular Adsense block in the top left position, which many people have been finding is a good block/positioning to use on their pages.
Okay, that's what I like about the software. Now here's what I don't like:

The templates. You get a set of different templates, but they are basically just the same template, in different colors. The good thing, though, is that Andy includes a section in his manual showing you how to modify any HTML template using the SEO WB placeholder tags. I haven't done this yet, but his description of the process looks relatively easy. And since you can upload any logo you like, you can use your logo to differentiate your site quite a bit. You can also purchase templates (update: Andy has just announced that Andrea Thompson, who creates Martell-style templates and is recommended by James Martell, will be releasing templates for SEO WB this week.). The nice thing is that you can start building your site using the included templates without worrying about changing templates later, since it's fast and easy to change to a different template when you find one you like.
It's definitely a program that you should use with the manual open in front of you the first few times, as it's not the most intuitive program I've ever used. But once you've used it a few times, and become familiar with the different ways of doing things, you'll start feeling pretty comfortable with it. You are pretty much restricted to the layout in your template. There's little flexibility to change the layout without actually going into the actual templates and moving things around in there. On the other hand, the layout itself is geared towards on-site optimization, so the rigidity is not such a bad thing when it comes to the potential for high search engine rankings. The Adsense feature is pretty rigid. You can place a thin vertical ad block on the left hand side, a wide horizontal ad block at the bottom, and now you can place a wide horizonal ad block in the upper left corner. Right now this last option is the one many people have been having good success with, but if this changes, and another ad block/positioning combo proves more successful, you'll have to figure out a workaround until there's an update to the program.
Click below to purchase the software, get more information, or see Andy's demo site, built using SEO Website Builder.

[sellportal]

Duane,

Ros will most likely answer the questions directed directly to her as soon she find this post!

But here's my answer for the rest of your questions.

I have sumarized it down to, how (what should I do) to get traffic to my site?

As far as I see it, are there some variables that decide what you do, and how you do it.

A. How fast do you want traffic?
B. How much money can you invest?
C. How much time can you invest on your site?


And then you evaluate the options based on these 3 factors.

1. SEO
A: Will take time. Everything from a couple of weeks to many (3-6) months. And this if you manage to get some good listing in a SE.
B: Everything from $0-$gazillions (it depends mostly on C. below.
C: A lot of work=very little $. No work yourself=a lot of $.


2. PPC
A: You can have it up and running in just hours.
B: A lot of work=very little $. No work yourself=a lot of $.
C: More or less A lot of work=very little $. No work yourself=a lot of $.

And so on.

The most important thing to understand is that there is no foolproof way of creating traffic fast, easy and cheap

Everything takes time, work, money in different measurements.

If you're low on money and have some time. Create some pages yourself using free or lowcost resources. There are plenty of material at a low cost or even for free that will help you get started.

Once you have have some 3-4 pages on your website, write (or even buy) some 5-10 articles and post them around internet with your name and url in them. This will get some people and the search engines to start visiting your site.

And then take it from there.

Kenth

Ps. There are as many ways to do this as the stars in heaven...

[Rosalind Gardner]

Hey Duane, Hello All!

First of all, Duane, I suggest that you read my article "Will Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy Stand the Test of Time?"

I use PPC advertising as my primary marketing method for several good reasons...

1. As Kenth mentioned, you'll get traffic to your site today, unlike relying strictly on SEO. Waiting for SEO to kick in can take 3 - 6 even 12 months.

2. Getting immediate traffic allows you to test your visitors' response to your offers. Not good enough? Stop the ad campaign, tweak your offer (or the campaign itself) and run it again. Keep doing that until you're making at least 2 bucks for every dollar you spend.

3. Driving traffic via PPC encourages search engine traffic. Between 30 and 40 percent of my traffic comes from the search engines.


There are good reasons NOT to rely exclusively on SEO.

In addition to the long waiting period for your sites to get listed, they may never list well. That means going back to the drawing board and starting all over again. Tweak, tweak and tweak some more.

Google is constantly on the lookout for 'patterns' that show that a webmaster is designing for high rankings, as opposed to designing for surfers. Those patterns include Keyword 1, Keyword 2, (or tier 1, tier 2 keywords) patterns in body text.

Writing for the engines is something I've never done, because it reads like crap, and I won't subject my visitors to that nonsense. If you write an article on a particular subject, your keywords will naturally come up in the article.

I suspect too that standardized templates also set off alarm bells somewhere at Google.

All you need to do is read a few of the affiliate marketing forums to see how many affiliates lost out BIG time during the last couple of Google updates. That's a frightening prospect, and for that reason I personally can't imagine 'relying' on Google traffic... period. Never have, never will.

It is a well-known fact that Mr. Martell had at least 50 of his sites delisted in early 2005. You can imagine what that did to his income... overnight!

One of his students went from 40K per month to $800 per month, and I know of many affiliates who (after their SEO-only sites crashed and burned) were too scared to try other marketing methods and have since found jobs.

Others who embraced the logic of building a real affiliate business which is user-centric, builds customer lists, and uses multiple methods to market (including ppc) are back on the horse and riding in fine style.

As for my WindingWay.com site... I do very minor PPC for it, and mostly market it through customer lists I've built in other niches... 'cause who doesn't wear a watch?

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Ros

[sammoro]

I'm researching this business based primarily on my introduction to Rosalind's site and information. Like many, I'm trying to seperate hype from reality but the hype can be quite seductive even for a skeptic like me.

That aside, when I lauch my first sites, I'm wondering if buying bulk 'targeted' hits can be of any value for getting my sites indexed quicker as well as encouraging some actual prospect visits later?

While it would be nice to beleive the claims of the bulk hit marketers, I don't really expect to generate much if any business from the mass number of hits I buy. Rather, I wonder if the exposure would help the site in any way. I look forward to any replies and look forward to pestering the pros here more as I get more into this.

Thanks

[sellportal]

My advice is that you avoid all bulk traffic like it was the plague.

You could as well try to sell to people in a jet plane when they fly by you, and you're standing on the ground.

This is the 1 gazzilion visitors for $xx deal I'm talking about.

And no, you will not profit in any way from the "traffic".

You may see a counter like alexa rise, but it will die as soon as the traffic ends.

So it may look like a low cost way of having a lot of people coming to you, but its not worth even the low cost.

Go for making good content, page by page, finding external links, write some articles, maybe some press release and you will see traffic in a while. It may not be a fast way, but it is the best way as you get real traffic, with real people this way.

And back to the PPC if you're in a hurry.

Adwords is the fastest and easiest way to get things moving.

Most other PPC SE have very akward interfaces, long handling times of campaigns and they actually deliver less quality visitors (to my sites according to my testing).

Kenth