Work-at-home statistics in general tend to be dismal. Success in affiliate and related type marketing isn’t much different. Most people make very little money if anything at all. But what the stats fail to mention is how often failure isn’t in the method, but in the execution. Many people get roped into the idea that once they set up a website or blog, and submit it to a search engine, the money should be coming in. It doesn’t work like that. Launching the site and submitting to search engines is just the first few steps. The “work” in affiliate marketing isn’t building the site, its marketing it. You can have the best monetization resources, but if no one is visiting the site, you won’t make money.  So here are some quick tips and resources to make sure you have the traffic needed to earn income from a monetized site.

1. Provide unique quality content that fits the mission or topic of the site.
2. Optimize the site for search engines (SEO). Even just basic SEO techniques will improve your ranking in the search engines and therefore increase traffic.
3. Create a marketing plan. You can’t rely on search engines to drive traffic to your site. Getting yourself known around the Internet increases your website exposure and well as your search engine ranking.
4. Build a list. To increase the chance of making a sale, provide a list or newsletter. This will give you the chance to make offers to a visitor in the future. Be sure your emails aren’t only offers or readers will unsubscribe. Instead focus on informative articles or tips with an ad or two. To encourage visitors to subscribe, offer them a free report or other incentive.
5. Monitor your results. Study your traffic using Google Analytics, the web stats tools that come with your hosting service, or a statistic plug-in for WordPress (if that’s what you’re using). Use the information to determine what sites are sending people to yours. What keywords are being used to search and find your site in the search engines? What pages are the most popular? You also want to track affiliate results. Which programs are getting the most clicks? Why is that? Is it placement? Program? Type of ad (text vs. banner)?  Many of the programs will allow to create a special tracking code so can know which ads are working where.

Read a full version of this report for free here: Monetize Your Website or Blog