What an affiliate can do without traffic? Without traffic you won't make any sales. Think of it as being like people through the door of your store. So traffic is very important if you run your internet business.

There are a number of ways you can start to drive traffic to your website. They are ranked roughly in order of importance, including the basics - such as getting your own site. Search Engines are always the main source of traffic on the Internet, with other methods falling gradually in effectiveness.

However, your mileage may vary: One strong Viral Marketing campaign has the potential, for example, to outrank all others. There may be some crossover between certain methods (Article Marketing will drive direct traffic, as well as increase PageRank for SEO, for example) and the
ranking is a combination of the total number of potential visitors compared to the number of targeted visitors (visitors who just hit your site vs visitors who want to see it).

1. Search Engines

The Search Engines, and almost by default that means Google (though it is also worth targeting others) are the best source of traffic you can get. People will come to a search engine too look for a specific site, or subject. That means that people who arrive at your site are there for a purpose, to it's targeted traffic.

There are millions of sites in the world wide web, so how do you get yours to the front of the queue? Most people will only look through the resultson the first page or two.

You have to understand how Google ranks your site. First, it looks at the content, for keywords, as well as special "meta" parts of your webpage such as it's title and URL. Then it will use it's own proprietary ranking method known as Page Rank.

Page Rank counts the number of links coming to your site from other sites. The theory is this means your site is more respected, and more useful, than others. It also puts an emphasis on older sites - therefore links from sites that themselves have a high pagerank and age will effect
yours more beneficially.

There are two main theories of getting good Search Engine rankings. One states that just by being the best you can, adding content literally every day, making your site easy to navigate and easy to use will naturally result in a good ranking. The cream rises to the top.

Another says you can actively influence the results. By seeking out sites to link to yours, by adding content that specifically includes keywords you wish to be ranked for, and by ensuring each of your pages are listed.

So here's what's important:

i.
Find out what Keywords you wished to be ranked for. You can use Google's Keyword Tool for this. So, if for example you have a fishing site, perhaps terms such as "Carp Fishing", "Boat Fishing", "Fishing Rods", "Fishing Tackle" etc can be focused on. You can also look at competing sites and see what keywords they are targeting.

ii.
Create pages for each of the terms you have listed. Have the content on those pages include the specific terms a number of times - but don't over do it. And ensure the page URL, Title and Meta Keywords sections include those terms. Make sure the page links to a few of your other pages.

iii. Get links to your
main site, and your sub pages.This can be done by signing up to directories, commenting on other blogs, writing articles, asking other site owners to link to you, or just by writing great content that people are happy to link to. In general, one-way links are best - that is where other sites link to you but you don't link to them. Also, anchor-text can influence the link, so the word "Fly Fishing" linking to your page on that subject is better than just a raw link with your URL.

That is essentially SEO in a nutshell. There is an entire industry around the subject, and there are many other tips and tweaks you can use that mostly cover other methods to get links. But in all seriousness you are generally at Googles whim, as if they change their page rank algorithm overnight(which they do) all your hard work could be lost.

So content is the best strategy. You'll even find yourself ranking for very specific search terms (known as The Long Tail) that you didn't really aim for. And the easiest way to create good, search engine friendly content? Use a Blog! Wordpress is especially easy to install.

One last point. Although Google *should* index every page of a well linked site, by submitting a SiteMap you can ensure all your pages are listed.

Use FreeTrafficSystem to build one-way backlinks to your site.

Write articles for more backlinks and traffic.

2. Your Own Mailing List

Full information on Mailing Lists at this Squidoo page

Having your own mailing list is great, it's a little like having an instant source of traffic whenever you press "send". And it's perhaps the best quality traffic, beyond targeted - since the people here have done more than look for your site. They have actively joined it, and over time will get to know you.

There are a number of ways to store and use your mailing list. The first is simply to keep the addresses in a file and send them manually via your e-mail program. Of course that would quickly become unworkable.

The other main options are to host your own mailing list software at your website, or to use a third-party, external service.

The benefits? Firstly - cost. With a self-hosted script you pay once for the script, or maybe even get a free one. You also have all control at your end. And you can usually use it more flexibly, such as import subscribers directly, etc.

But with a third party Autoresponder you'll have the benefit of better email deliverability, and in the end that is what may sway you, regardless of cost. Services such as Aweber and Getresponse are professional email companies and spend a lot of time negotiating with email service providers to ensure their mail gets delivered, and keeping their names off the spam lists.

They are not so flexible as your own script, because they're unlikely toallow you to import subscribers, and are more likely to come down heavily if they think you are abusing their system. However, if you send emails yourself it becomes your responsibility - if any user
complains of spam (which they probably will, regardless of whether they subscribed themselves or not) it may mean your domain enters the major spam lists.

Once you have your choosen provider and you are ready to start building your list,how do you accomplish that? Simple: Put a form on your site.

This form can simply say "Please Join Our Mailing List" or you can go much further! Offer a bribe, for one. Say they can have a free membership, access to a special report, or a free ebook for joining. Or you can use a squeeze-page. This is essentially form that the user HAS to pass
through before they are even allowed to enter the site.

You can also joint venture with other list builders, so you share each others traffic: for example "Thank You For Joing My List. Please Try xxxxx". Or you can join even bigger events where every marketer will promote the same page or service - that page being where visitors can
sign up.

You can even buy a mailing list directly. This is a somewhat dubious area, though many people have had success this way. The main point is you need to tell these new subscribers why they are now on your list, anad how they can remove themselves - but of course, why they shouldn't :). You are more likely to be accused of spam this way.

Which ever method you use an email list is well worth building. If you have a service or website you can do it on the side, or you can build sites that specially designed JUST to build a list. But this list will be one of your major assests, so it's up to you to nurture and look after your
subscribers.

3. Social Networks

Social Networks are a modern phenomena on the web. Essentially it's where people can gather and recommend to each other sites, services and more as well as communicate and chat.

There are two main types that of use to the site owner. The first kind of social network actively recommends and rates various websites, such as Stumbleupon and Digg. The second type is really a communication medium, such as MySpace and Facebook.

With the bookmarking sites, you can simply add your site, then attempt to get as many votes as you can. With a high vote your site can be shown, for example, on the frontpage of Digg (resulting in the infamous "Digg Effect", literally thousands of hits overnight). Or you can grow your own personal network - by adding "friends" - on sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.

Other social networks are more specialized, such as YouTube and Flickr, but you can still use that sites specific kind of content (videos and pictures in this case) to build a traffic flow. You just need to ensure your site link appears somewhere with the content.

Really this becomes a race for votes. It can snowball easily, so the more people who see your site on Stumbleupon or Digg the more people there are to click the vote button you provide. And with Facebook, for example, the more friends and contacts you get the more likely you are
to get even more.

It's well worth using social networks for traffic but it becomes an ongoing task, otherwise you'll just get traffic spikes and not a steady flow.

4. Viral Marketing

Viral Marketing gets it's term from the fact that the traffic you get grows exponentially. For a simple example, one person can recommend two - and those two recommend two each - and then those four recommend two each - and so on. So it becomes 2x2x2x2x2 etc.

For this work, you have to have something worth sharing.

Videos, eBooks, Websites and Programs can usually share well. As long as your content is unique or funny people will want to share it. And if you provide a simple way for them to do so, they will.

Another tactic is to encourage people to share - by, for example, offering something in return - perhaps more content or another download. Another way is to appeal to their greed, so you can offer an affiliate program of some kind - by sharing they can earn 50%, or whatever.

So you can see that an affiliate program is also a kind of viral marketing campaign! A customer is encouraged to share the site because of the commission, and many of those referred will do the same.

5. Paid Search-Engine Advertising

This mainly concerns Google Adwords. This is Googles paid advertising system, where you can bid on keywords and your ad will show in the right-hand menu.

Many people have a lot of success using this system. As long as you can account for every penny spent along the way! You must work out, for example, how many ads you will get shown for x amount of dollars, how many of those ads will get clicked on, and how many of those go on to purchase your product.

These figures are very important, for without them you will end up throwing money down
the drain. Luckily, Adwords is the best place to get instant results, and to try out new ideas.

It works by you building up a list of keywords and entering how much you are willing to bid on each keyword. If you bid the most, your ad is shown first. Otherwise it will appear in a lower position or even on the second page. It depends on your competition for those keywords.

Once you have your keywords - you can start by using the same ones you use for SEO (step 2) you need to see how many people actually search using that term. If, for example, there are 4,000 searches a month for "Fly Fishing" it may be worth you bidding on that keyword. But if it is going to cost you $2 per click, perhaps you'd think twice.

This kind of mathematical balancing is prevalent in making a success of Adwords. To get back to our example, what if 50% of those people who cost you $2 a click go on to make you $50 down the road? Is it worth the cost, then?

Sometimes, you will get lucky. You'll find a niche with very little competition, and therefore a low cost per click. You can easily make a success this way as long as your website goes on to convert that visitor to a buyer. And even if they don't buy, you are just aiming to get a subscriber,
perhaps your lifetime value of a subscriber is going to be $50+. Worth thinking about!