The question has been asked.

And asked.

And asked.

And.... you get the idea.

I knew it was a problem for many people. I know it`s hard to find concrete information that actually helps. I didn`t know that it was causing problems with roses too.

`How do I start advertising?` `What is the best way to advertise?` `Can you show me what exactly I need to do to advertise my website?` No matter how you ask it, the question`s the same. How do you advertise your website for the most traffic, most profits, and least cost?

Recently I received an email with the strangest subject `Help my roses!`

I was intrigued, so I opened it and I`m glad I did. It was from a woman who has been involved with affiliate marketing for roughly a year now and, sadly, wasn`t any better now than when she started. As a matter of fact, she was spending so much time on the computer trying to find affordable, but responsive advertising, that she had neglected her rose garden.

The poor flowers didn`t have a chance against the allure and pull of advertising for a profit.

Basics Are Powerful

When I answer these questions, the response is always the same, `Yes, but isn`t that just basic stuff?`

It`s a funny thing about advertising. New, shiny, glamorous, and technical can`t beat basic. The same techniques that worked one hundred years ago still work today and should always be the cornerstone of your advertising.

It`s like woodworking. I have a brand new planer that I can put my pieces of wood into to make it to any thickness that I want. But, when it comes to shaving a little bit of wood off a corner, or targeting one specific area on the wood, then my old, basic hand planer is the tool that works best.

Target, Target, Target

When I asked the woman with the neglected roses what she was doing for advertising, her answer was the same as everyone else`s. `I take the ads that the affiliate program supplied me with and I buy ezine ad space.`

I still cringe when I hear someone say that. It`s really no wonder that so many people fail at successfully advertising their affiliate sites.

There are a few problems with taking the supplied ads and buying ad space

Those ads are guides to get you started, not something to rely on forever.

If you`re using those ads, then everyone else is also.

You can`t seperate yourself as an `expert` if you`re doing the same as everyone else.

The market is already saturated with those supplied ads and people are `turned off` from them.

Just buying ad space is not putting your ad where it needs to be.

Do you really want to succeed at affiliate marketing? Then throw those supplied ads away and narrow your ezine search to those whose readership (their subscribers) are a perfect target for the product you`re selling.

That`s the secret. That`s the magic formula. There is nothing glamorous or technical about it. It`s the same technique that has been in use since the dawn of man.

The Right Tools

It`s been my experience with affiliate programs that the tools that have been supplied always worked real well for the initial traffic... and maybe some sales.

But, after that initial burst, they just didn`t work anymore. I had to come up with my own. After a lot of research and trial and error I realized that three very basic advertising tools worked best.

--- classified ads

`What is the best software to blast my classified ads out with?`, the woman with the roses asked me. `None of them`, was my reply.

Classified ads, ezine ads, small text ads... whatever you want to call them have an important and distinct place in your advertising. But, not with some software that `blasts` it out to thousands of so called classified sites.

These are your work horses. This is where you start to lay the foundation of your online business. These little gems of traffic, when submitted to the right places can produce tremendous amounts of first time visitors. This is what you want.

Create an ad that is creative, provocative, stimulating then manually find ezines and websites where you can submit them. I recommend contacting at least five to ten different publishers and site owners a day to secure positions. And not just any ezines or sites. Only those that target the same audience that you need to buy your product.

--- solo ads

Here is where the framework of your online business is built. You`ve got a nice foundation of first time visitors coming to your site, but now it`s time to build the frame.

Those first time visitors are probably going to leave. It`s hard to imagine, but that`s what happens. They saw your site, saw the products, maybe signed up for your opt-in list (you have one right?), but they will leave.

Solo ads are the brick to the head that triggers their memory, gives them more information, instills emotional desire, and transports them to your site ready to do a little more than sign up for your list. They will want to spend money.

I like to think of these ads as not really ads at all. Kind of in between a classified ad and an article. A classified ad`s sole purpose is to sell the reader into visiting your site. Fast, and maybe a little hyped copy, hits the reader and before they have time to think... they`re at your site.

A solo ad follows that up with an assault on their emotions.

The best way to use these is to place them in the exact same ezines that the classifieds ran in. And if you can, have the website owner dedicate a complete page, on their site, to your solo ad. And, you can always send it to the ones that already signed up for your list.

The two types of ads must work together. They are not seperate, but have the same goal. Targeted traffic.

Note: for more information on solo ads check out my ebook

--- articles

Here is where we actually build your business. Classifieds are the foundation, solo ads are the framework, articles are the completed building.

Articles that deal with your topic, and are read by a targeted audience, can build your business faster than anything else. This is where you ultimately seperate yourself from other affiliates or competitors.

Establish yourself as the expert. Why spend so much time using tools and materials from other people, giving them the `expert` status, while you spend all your time advertising their product?

Write your own article. Submit it to ezines, and websites, that deal with the topic. Cash in.

It really does work that way.

Nothing, not even a free ebook, can build a tremendous amount of consistent traffic like an army of articles circulating around the Internet.

The secret of course to articles is to be dedicated to it. Release at least one a week and more if you can. This way you

keep publishers supplied with fresh material

establish yourself as a resident expert

create an environment where people actually want to buy from you

lay the groundwork for your own products
Caution!

Just like ads, a super duper, shiny new software program that automatically submits your article to hundreds of different ezines and directories will do nothing for you. I`m a firm believer in doing it yourself. And this really applies to articles.

Do you really want your article sent to an ezine that deals with home repair if you article is one on fishing? I don`t either. Search. Search. And search some more.

What Happened To The Roses?

It gives me great pleasure to report that after taking my advice and following this simple three step advertising plan, my distraught client now has beautiful, healthy roses. Why?

Because, instead of spending all her time wondering why her advertising isn`t working, she knows exactly what to do and can enjoy her work. Thus, giving her roses the attention they need.

You don`t need to worry about advertising if you have the tools you need. Automatic submitters and ads supplied by affiliate programs will hurt your business instead of helping it.

Develop these three basic tools and you`ll have an unstoppable advertising campaign that will always work.