Links and affiliate programs 2

[Aishaa]

Hi - I signed up for a couple of web marketing ezines and of course my mail got flooded.
But I am curious about what people think of all these affilliate programs where they keep pestering you to join up.
Is it worth it to do this? Will it drive traffic to my site?

I am also wondering about free classifieds - are they a good place to advertise my site for free? And if so, how many posts should I place per day?

Aishaa

 

[JHoarty]

I suspect by "affiliate programs" you are referring to the "link exchange" style programs where you place a banner or banners in the rotation, and for every two clicks on the banner at your site, you get a banner displayed on someone else's site. These are okay if you like banners. Are they a good way to drive traffic to your site? No. Banners in general do not serve that purpose. Click thru rates on banners tend to hover around 1 percent at best. That means you might get 10 visitors for every thousand impressions. That means you would need to offer two thousand impressions to get 10 visitors back. Now, look at your site stats and figure out how often you could generate two thousand impressions. Of course, you can place the ad banner code on all of your pages. But, you get the idea. Ad banners are only good for brand awareness in my opinion. I never expect to actually see a measurable increase in traffic as a result of placing an ad banner.

Just my opinion. Hope it helps. John Hoarty
jhoarty@quickestore.com

http://www.quickestore.com

 

[foxdev]

I'll second John's advice and add this:

If you really believe that your site offers something that others do not, and are serious about driving traffic to it, then:

1) make sure you have good, unique content
2) make sure your page is error-free and easily navigable
3) submit to ODP (

http://www.dmoz.org)

in the appropriate category
4) if you're willing to spend a little bit of money, spend $30 at PositionTech to get your main page indexed by Inktomi. Robert Bradley

http://www.lowcostprints.com

http://www.foxdev.com

 

[Aishaa]

ok, so now I understand why banners are useless.
Thanks, that has saved me from wasting my time...

But what about putting ads in the free classifieds - does that work?

Also, someone sent me a place where I can submit my ad once and it gets sent to thousands of classifieds free places. Is that a good idea to do?

TIA
Aishaa

 

[foxdev]

In theory, getting as many inbound links as possible is a good thing. But in practice, some search engines may penalize you if you take part in "link farms". There is no hard rule, and SEs are constantly changing their algorithms to thwart cheaters.

But one thing remains constant: content is king. -----------------
Robert Bradley
use coupon code "TEKTIPS" for 15% off at:

http://www.lowcostprints.com

http://www.foxdev.com

 

[jcb5565]

Aishaa

I agree with all of the above! Stay away from site that offer free listing and links it will not help and could hurt you ranking. I would suggest good content on your site,using keywords in the text of your body etc. More advise can be found on the diffrent web Browsers. Ranking take time and some work on your part.

jcb5565