is traffic the key

Yes traffic is always one of the vital key for getting success. But it will be more appropriate to say quality traffic is more important for affiliate success.

And I hope you understand the importance of quality traffic. So try to get that.

As above - traffic is the key

Remember: Traffic x Conversions = Sales

It is the quality of that traffic and the relevance of your website that determines your conversion rate.

To increase the quality and relevance of your traffic for higher affiliate conversion rates you need to focus on:

-BUYER KEYWORDS
-FAST RANKING
-CLEAR ON CONCISE META TITLE AND DESCRIPTIONS

To speed up rankings:

-TARGET MANY LOWER COMPETITION BUYER KEYWORDS RATHER THAN LESSER HIGHER COMPETITION ONES
-EMPLOY A SAVYY SEO TEAM OR CAREFULLY STRATEGIZE YOUR OWN SEO CAMPAIGN

To improve overall conversions from this traffic:

-ENSURE YOU HAVE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION
-APPEAR CREDIBLE AND BUILD TRUST
-CREATE HIGHLY RELATED CONTENT TO YOUR KEYWORDS (AND VICE VERSA)

^Rinse and repeat and get more sales!



Dave

I'd say 2 of the viral keys of making sales = traffic + product.

If you don't have traffic, no-one's going to buy your product.
If you don't have a product, your traffic has no where to spend their money.

Quality and great content will NOT get you traffic. You need to market your product, drive traffic to your site and THEN deliver great content AND over deliver to build up your database of happy customers.

Of course traffic is the key, but it has to be targeted traffic. There is not point in having lots of visitors and no sales.
Cheers

I have only browsed briefly through thread so this may have been touched upon.. BUT.. Traffic is just one ingredient to a successful web business!

It's how you control the traffic and how your sales funnell is set up.

I am a sole believer in BUILDING YOUR LIST. Send targeted traffic to a squeeze page.. Offer something of value in return for their name and e mail and walla you have traffic on tap so to speak..

Once you build a big enough list of responsive subscribers you can tap into your own traffic source at will.

BUILD A LIST, build trust and rapport with your subscribers and constantly tweak your sales funnel.. BINGO..

In fact, you need traffic before you can test anything. Do all you can to get traffic fast, then test your offers and conversions.

I've done it the wrong way around before. I've tinkered with a page or a site endlessly that had no traffic. Total waste of time because I couldn't see results. Now I focus on getting traffic first, then test.

Once you have an offer that converts, promote it like crazy by driving more traffic. Drive more traffic with more posts, your list, PPC, article marketing, etc.

Traffic is only half the equation

Traffic + conversion = money or still better

Traffic+ Sales Funnel + conversion= More Money

Cheers

Melvin

As nearly everyone has said above traffic is a key component but not the only factor if your goal is to make money on-line. The overall strategy probably looks a bit more like this:

Having a good offer/product to promote + Traffic which converts = Sales

There are tons of small details which you could get into including if you want to or indeed need to spend money on your own domain for instance (something I highly recommend) as well as exactly what promotion techniques to go for when you want traffic.

I think your question was where you should start. The answer to this is simple and one you have already found since your using it: The warrior forum has an immense mass of knowledge to kick start your ideas and to give you a solid foundation for growing your business. In the end thats ultimately what you need to decide, if Internet marketing is going to be a simple hobby for you or a business. If its a business (and I hope thats how you consider it to be) then you will realise that nothing comes easy, you will have to set things up, test and retest in order to succeed. The fruits of your labour now will however pay off, the first thing you need to do is have a solid plan of action and then have some fun putting things together to see how they work out. I know the world of internet marketing can be daunting at first, trust me we have all been there but slowly the shroud lifts and things become clearer. You simply have to take one step at a time and dont let analysis paralyse your efforts. Best of luck

Absolutely yes, traffic is the key! But keep in mind that it needs a quality traffic not just traffic alone.

In I.M world, traffic plays an important part. You can't get success if you don't have traffic.

Follow the "YELLOW BRICK ROAD"

Affiliate marking basics (in a nutshell)

1.) Create a Wordpress site or squeeze page
2.) Offer a "VALUABLE" free gift (eBook - Video tuturials - etc)
3.) Install an auto responder
4.) Marketing (Drive Traffic - Traffic - Traffic to your site)

Affiliate marketing is all about building a relationship with your list.

(You don't want to bombard them with "buy this and buy that") Offer tons of valuable information for free and every so often offer a product or service to your list.

(for every product or service recommendation you decide to make - make sure to send 4 to 5 valuable - useful - helpful - engaging content rich article or videos to your list.)

Good Luck....

Traffic is only a part of the equation, and I only give it maybe 33% of the importance.

If you just want to do affiliate marketing, then just master traffic as you'll need to go through a ton more people to make the money you desire.

But if you're serious about how a 'newbie' should market, you need to do 4 things...

1) Create a squeeze page to drive traffic to
2) Convert the visitors to subscribers
3) BUILD A RELATIONSHIP with your subscribers (this is where the money is made)
4) Offer them products, either your own products or some affiliate products

Traffic is only one part of the equation, but building your list AND building your relationship with your list is the most important thing you can do... and it'll pay you way more than just selling affiliate offers ever will.

Traffic and a good website= money...but it takes a lot more behind the scenes to have a successful website

No, traffic is not the key. I would say that copywriting is the key because it converts your visitors into costumers. Even if you’ll have a few visitors, if you’ll manage to convince them to purchase your products, you will feel happier than those who get a lot of traffic but make no sales.

Of course, traffic is indispensable. However, it is not the key. As many others have already said, if the traffic you have is not targeted, you won’t make sales.

The key is a combination of factors: Traffic + convincing sales letters + excellent products. You should not believe that traffic is The Big Solution to your online problems. Traffic is indispensable, but you must be well-organized if you want to sell your products. Only traffic is not enough.

You have to be very professional and give bonuses. You need a nice website with a smart design, you have to give many guarantees to your potential customers, etc and etc… the list is quite long.

The key is TARGETED traffic. You need people on your site who are interesting in your product.

Start with some simple, basic traffic building methods. And don't spent any money until you earn some money.

I would say it is not as simple as that, yes you need traffic, of course but I have a site in a very specific niche, it only gets 10-15 visitors per month (yes really that few), but brings in several £xxx of commissions per month.

One could argue that if I increased that traffic to 100 per month then I would make £xxxx, but I doubt it, I am getting most if not all the traffic in that niche.

Traffic yes, but quality over quantity

Yes as everyone stated TRAFFIC IS the VITAL part of making $$ as an IM. BUT and this is even more important its the TYPE OF TRAFFIC you have/get.

However this is not all!

It also depends on where your traffic comes from and what you offer. I can drive 1000's of visitors to your site and you wouldnt sell a thing but your adsense or what ever you else use could explode...

E.G.
You could have a site with 1000 visitors a day and wouldnt sell a thing on the other side my site with 10-15 visitors a day sells 5-8 items.

You have a great offer for "dog training" in NY but your traffic comes mostly from NJ or even china nobody will buy a thing...

For china traffic you cant offer "free junk food in NY" but you could offer them a "green card" and explode your "sales" - a wierd example but I guess you understand what I mean.

So whats the difference? -> Simple its called TRAGETED TRAFFIC.

The better you target your traffic the more conversions you make. But you also have to split this even if you have targeted traffic for e.g. "gardening" doesnt mean you will sell "lawn mowers" like crazy. Even Targeted traffic is split into "buyers" "eager buyers" and "seekers".

Seekers - I call them so - just look around for whats insteresting I get some good adsense clicks from them.
Buyers - are what you are typically after. they buy guides, videos for what they are searching for.
Eager buyers - on the other hand is what every IM is really after. They buy everything whats offered just because then can buy something even if they dont need it. Offer it for the right price they will buy anything even if its not really related to your main offer.

....

However it sounds very simple but it for sure isnt.

The best way to be successfull as an IM is to build a list of targetet buyers from your niche its not just a joke or phrase that everybody says: "Cash is in a list"...

I can give you 500 targeted visitors for your site or blog from free if you need m8

Same goes for anyone else who needs a boost. No catch. No payment details required.

500 Targeted Visitors Free

If you like what you see please help spread the word and hit a tweet, like, stumble or so on. Enjoy

Yes traffic is one of the key areas of IM and the equivalent to a shop full if customers. Building a targeted email list is another key area and if you're a successful in both areas then, you'll do really well in this business.

Yes...Traffic is one of the keys to success.

I must say traffic is a main key to generate money online.

No one here will say otherwise, Yes traffic is the only key and there are free ways to do that but you have to need time to execute that. Writing quality contents and doing backlinks are two of the great ways to get traffic for your site.