Are you interested in being an Affiliate Marketer? Then, perhaps you have everything you already need to succeed. You must have drive, perseverance and diligence, as well as discipline. This is because you need to know how the system works and then put in the time and effort to actually make it succeed.

Having a unique and interesting web site that customers will want to see is a good start, however, one of the most important tools to success is that you must be able to drive traffic to your site. Simply put, in the Internet world, traffic is king. This is what you need in order to survive, even thrive, as an Affiliate Marketer.

Getting prospects who can turn into customers to come to your web site can be a difficult thing to do. Competition is everywhere, and everyone wants the traffic you want for themselves as well. Because you have so much competition, each with a better product to offer than the last, you have to be able to stand out from the crowd.

How do you do this?

Here is a list I like to call: "The Power Of Seven" to drive laser targeted traffic to your own web site.

First, develop an opt-in e-mail list. This will give you a list of subscribers that you can send out personalized newsletters to, and you can also let them know about new products and services you might be selling. This, in turn, keeps your customer base steady and provides your potential customers with something of use to them as well.

Second, start an affiliate program. You will gain large amounts of traffic with very little effort if your affiliates do most of the work for you. In addition, you're not losing money out of pocket, since your affiliates are paid a percentage of sales instead of a salary. More sales can come as a result, and both affiliates and you benefit. This means that it's win-win for everyone.

Third, consider joint venture marketing. This can be one of the most powerful ways to promote a product or service. If you acquire a partner through an ad swap or link exchange, it helps both of you, because it allows you to reach a broad potential market in very little time.

Fourth, write your own articles and include your web site address at the end of the articles. Then, post these articles in various article directories and submit them to various e-zines. This is a free way to market your web site (except for the time you put in) that also provides readers a benefit through the content of your articles. Make sure your articles are especially good, because it will encourage readers to visit your web site simply out of interest. This, in turn, may actually encourage them to purchase your product or service.

Fifth, seek out other webmasters and do what is called a link exchange partnership. By locating web sites related to your own and then exchanging links with them, you help each other out.

Once you have established a relationshiop, keep the lines of communication open by personalizing everything as much as you can. You increase traffic for both of you by doing a reciprocal link exchange between you and these other webmasters.

Sixth, you need to know about search engines. Search engines are the lifeblood of the Internet. They are what can make or break your success in affiliate marketing. Why is this so? Because if people can't find you (which they do by performing keyword searches in search engines), they can't buy your product, no matter how good it is.

You are going to need a top search engine ranking to be successful. One easy way to do this is to build popularity links. You also need the proper keywords, so that anybody who types one of your keywords into the search engine will have your page list near the top.

Seventh, know your market thoroughly. You want targeted traffic to come to your site because they have a particular interest in the theme of your web site, and thus your product or service. This is how you build a strong customer base; once a prospective customer has shown an interest in your web site, let him know how much you appreciate his visit.

In short, for you to have the best success in affiliate marketing, you must generate traffic to your web site. To make your undertaking a success, you will have to plan carefully and make adjustments as necessary.

As long as you give people relevant content, your products are valuable, and people know where to go to buy them, your success will basically make itself happen. Plan ahead and keep yourself on the right path.