How do you work WITH search engines? You offer content: articles, reviews, specs. If you can provide search engines with what their users want, then search engines will gladly send you free traffic. Affiliates are taking a strong turn towards doing search engine optimization and search engines want to see content.

Building Your Site Rule #5 Add some other services and products to your site.

Focus your site on one niche AREA; then introduce additional products or services in key spots throughout site. These additions should ALWAYS be tightly related to your site theme. Your potential customers are introduced to additional choices in CONTEXT of an article or a review. You’re giving them additional ways to spend money on you.

And by additional products, I mean products that you have potentially created yourself – high ticket products that can bring in a lot of money. High-ticket affiliate products are OK as well.

Building Your Site Rule #6 Include an FAQ section – most critical!

Almost NO affiliate sites use this strategy. However, it’s one of most powerful.

You’re probably very well aware of most common questions people ask? Well, build them into your sales letter/endorsement/article. Use sub-headlines to draw attention to them. The quicker your visitors can find their answers through your website, quicker they will buy from you and more they will return to your site.

The above 6 rules should be followed very closely for every affiliate site you ever launch. Together they optimize your website to be most profitable.

In fact, we found our financial planner through a raffle offered through local Boy Scout troop. We "won" a full financial analysis and eventually purchased some of his products as a result of raffle.

Referral System # 5

Most everyone has a barber or hairstylist they use on a frequent basis, especially if you have children. I don’t know about you, but my barber always engages me in conversation during my haircut. And most barbers and hairstylists are very happy when you give them a $2 - $3 tip. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Why not approach local barbers and hairstylists and offer them $1 for every referral card they pass out to their customers. You might even motivate them to talk up your business by promising them a percentage of each sale that results from their referral.

Referral System # 6

The last referral system will not only bring you referrals, but will also create a lot of goodwill. I learned this tactic, strangely enough, by Princess Diana and a local real estate agent. When Princess Diana died a close associate of hers was interviewed and revealed that Diana always carried a set of "royal" thank you notes.

Every time she met with someone she would remember their names and as soon as she got in her car she would write a short thank you note to them. The people cherished thank you notes they received from Princess. After hearing that, I started to carry around my own box of thank you notes.

But here’s what really will make this referral tactic take off. Not long ago I received an email from a subscriber to my Marketing Best Practices Newsletter that had this phrase under man’s signature:

By Referral Only

By Referral Only...means: We invest 100% of our time and energy to delivering first-class service to our clients. As a result, our valued clients, suppliers, and friends refer their family, friends and work associates to us for advice on buying or selling real estate. We're interested in building strong life long relationships one person at a time.

You see, its not enough to send a thank you note. People need to know that you want and appreciate their referrals. The phrase, in essence, answers question, "What can you do for me in return for this nice thank you card?" Immediately, I had this phrase printed on bottom of my thank you notes and my referrals took off.

Conclusion

Each of these referral tactics that I have shared with you are s-y-s-t-e-m-s. They motivate others to generate referrals for you without you having to play role of beggar and asking for referrals face-to-face.

The best thing you can do to excite your referral partners is to get them to experience your product or services themselves. Then they can talk about it with first-hand knowledge. It will not only make them more credible to others but once they've experienced benefits of what you have to offer, they will be more excited to tell others about it.

In referral systems that require you to pay referral fees, make sure you pay quickly, honestly, and with gratitude. Always give your referral partner benefit of doubt. If you treat them right, you will be benefactor.