So your blog is "known" by the search engines.

Along comes someone who types in Affiliate Marketing into the search box.

The serp's (Search Engine Page Results) come back with your blog as one of the results! Done right the serp is a link to the best page or post around those keywords.

Those are the results we call the"Organic" results. The organic results are the best form of advertising for a couple of reasons.

One...it's free! ?The price is right! Those Google returns on the right side of the search results page are the sponsored ads that are triggered by your keyword search phrase.

Two...If you have a blog (or website) about affiliate marketing and you have some affiliate marketing offers on it, the person who typed in "affiliate marketing" and was guided to your site by the search engines is probably (maybe) interested in what you have to say...and...interested in what you are offering.

That person is known as "targeted traffic" (the best traffic - the most likely to buy).

Once upon a time, I lived next door to the man who sold the most tires in the United States. He was big time. We talked.

He told me that the people who read his ads are the people with bald tires. The rest of the population barely sees the ad, let alone buys tires.

Now this conversation was way before there were computers on every desktop. But he knew. There's always somebody with bald tires! And you can sell them new ones. But, probably NOT if they don't have bald tires!

Now, the keywords you use for an article or a post on a blog are a HUGE discussion which I'll go into depth on at another time but here's the "gist" of it. Broad match keywords are words that bring broad market slices, like "Internet Marketing".

If you target broad keywords you'll have too much competition AND you really don't want that keyword anyway because it will bring you "unfocused traffic". ?Not sorted to suit you. Not "targeted traffic"

A person who types in "Internet Marketing" could be looking for ways to earn money...any old way because he's just starting to look OR they are interested in web page authoring, pay per click traffic generation, blogging, affiliate marketing, or any of a number of things under the "umbrella" of Internet Marketing.

So... you want to sort out your traffic into people who are more likely to buy what you have, compared to a person who types in "Internet Marketing".

Here is the distilled version of Direct Sales on the Internet...many names actually...like Search Engine Marketing.

The essence of direct sales online...TRAFFIC + CONVERSION (SALES) = MONEY

No traffic - no conversion (sales) = no money. ?That's an easy formula to understand and it took me a HALF YEAR to work it out. I may be a little "thick".

To sell something online you need a good offer on a webpage targeted to a good market and you have to get traffic from that market to the webpage! Not just any old traffic. Targeted traffic. The kind that is most likely to want what you are offering!

This is how you can equate a blog to advertising?" Remember this in Algebra? If a=b and b=c then a=c! Get it? Basic math.

Advertising generates traffic - Blogs generate traffic - Blogs equal advertising!

I was being told these things a while back but I couldn't hear them well.

I was in a dazzled state. I was, and still am, fascinated by almost anything related to Internet Marketing. I still am. Except maybe keyword research. That bores me. I prefer to "borrow" my keyword research...that is a different topic for another day, and it's a big one.

When I settled into this long term affair with a blog was when I started making money, and I'll tell you why.

When I am writing my posts I write them to cover a few select keyword very well, just like you do in Article Marketing. Now that my blog has been spidered 100's of times Google sees fit to offer up my posts when searchers type in my keywords.

Another plus to Blog/Website marketing is this...in every post...I put links to offers I have. The offers are at another domain of mine at which I post standard HTML web page offers and their support pages.

Think about this. Everyone of my posts has links to offers that I am an affiliate for.. My blog also has "special pages" that offer and create sales. In addition to that, my autoresponders send out emails to my subscribers with affiliate links of mine in them and it's starting to look like an online business!

I have realized this simple fact...Drive the "right traffic" from the "right market" to the "right offer" and you'll get the sales!"

Pick a way - give it your best - stick with it. Now... a caveat...pick carefully.

Copyright (c) 2009 Riley West