We all know the old fable of the tortoise and the hare. I have come to realize that the tortoise is what you want to be when trying to get traffic to your website.
The hare approach takes you down a path of believing that one can be made rich overnight. Buy this tool and your troubles are over. Follow this method and then traffic will suddenly appear. It never happens and you just run around in circles wasting money.
Well like it or not the internet and running an online business are still subject to the laws of the universe that all of us live in. Hard work and perseverance will work here just like anywhere else offline you may be working. People will take notice of you if walk down the right paths on the internet.
The following is a list of things that the tortoise would do everyday to promote his business.
#1)Make a least 5 contacts everyday. There are lots of lead sources out there for FREE. These can be found on sites like face book, my space etc. They don't even have to be business contacts at first. Making friends is wise and the more contacts you have the better. Even if they have no interest in your affiliate program or starting a home business. They may have friends that they will steer to you down the road if they like you.
#2)Join a social business network. These sites are the new rage and your target market is going to be there. You don't have to join a lot of them. Just one or two good ones. The important thing to remember is not to bash people over the head with your business. Treat it like you are at a party. Build friendships by genuinely taking an interest in other people's businesses and lives. Posting blogs, adding comments,adding friends,posting videos of others,creating your own video, and participating in discussions is the tortoise approach and it will work over time.
#3)If you don't have a blog website get one and post to it daily. It can even be like a public daily diary if you want. Search engines will pick up on your blogging. Remember you are building a brand and your blog is where people will find out about you. Lots of pictures of yourself and your family are good here so learn how to use the blog layout in the back office. You can put your affiliate link somewhere on the page thus promoting your business. Start a blog network and add other peoples blogs you like. This will draw traffic from other blogs to you as well. Link a few other sites with traffic to your blog but not too many. Otherwise it can look too busy and cluttered and turn people off.
#4)If you can, learn to write articles and submit them to free article sites. It is really not that hard and everyone has a field they feel expert in. There are lots of categories for you to write in and at the end of every article is your signature box where you can steer people back to your blog where your affiliate links lurk. If your articles are good they will get picked up by other websites and it will have a viral effect and your link will be found on lots of pages. Write them all the time and get your name out there.
#5)Consider joining Twitter. This is the latest rage where people with similar interests share short little comments like "I'm at the airport" or "my car won't start". Your chat can only be 140 characters and Twitter counts it down for you when you post. The amazing thing is you are forming friendships which eventually turns into business for you. It may seem pointless when you first look into it but like I said it is the latest rage.
So there you have the things I know will work over time for your home business. There are tons of good affiliate programs and home businesses out there so in my mind that isn't the key factor in your success. Finding the right program with the greatest pay plan is secondary. Can you do the tortoise things? Can you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Yes we can(as Obama would say)