There's so little time and so much information to absorb.

So many gurus with conflicting information.

Who's right?

Who should you listen to?

Before you do anything, you should sit down and decide what you are passionate about. It's so much easier to succeed if you're promoting something that excites you and gets your blood flowing,

I've always been an information junkie. Selling information, just fits me like a glove.

You may be sports oriented. You may have a passion for selling sports related products.

In words of Shakespeare, "In brief sir, study what you most affect."

Find your passion and you're ready to get started.

The next question should be whether to promote affiliate programs?

I know many marketers may disagree, but I think affiliate programs are a good starting point.

Why?

** Pick right program and you'll get a good education.

One of hottest ways to market on net right now is to create what is called a mini site. Usually one or more pages focused on one theme. Harvey Segal of Ad-tracking.com reveals some of his hard hitting secrets to affiliate success.

[Nathan] Harvey, I think name gives it away but can you tell us about your mini site ad-tracking.com

[Harvey] Well Nathan, I think you've stumbled on tip number one. You need a domain name which is descriptive, so that people know immediately what site is about, is memorable so they can recall it later, and contains keywords which will improve rankings in search engines.

The site describes how ad tracking programs work, how they differ, what to look for and provides product reviews.

[Nathan] What made you build this site?

[Harvey] A combination of two factors. When first ad tracker appeared about two years ago I found it absolutely indispensable but later discovered by chance that better and cheaper versions were available. So I searched around to see if there was a guide to these products but could not find one.

At same time marketing experts were advising us that niche sites (i.e sites with a narrow focus) were way forward and that search engines would favor sites with a common theme running throughout.

Suddenly it struck me: if I wanted a guide I'd have to write it myself. And so site started up - around March 2001.

[Nathan] How does site earn you profit? Is it through banner advertising, getting subscribers, or any other methods?

[Harvey] Nathan I've never clicked on a banner in my life, so there's no way I would use them. There's no advertising at site and I don't even have links to newsletter at my main marketing site. I don't want to distract visitor from goal of site which is to purchase an ad tracker, whereby I receive affiliate commission.

[Nathan] Well I did think that was plan but I could not see usual affiliate links even when I placed mouse on links. Where are they?

[Harvey] I expected that author of Affiliate Success Blueprint would ask that! The links are there all right, but with a few simple HTML tags, onmouseover and onmouseout, you can conceal them. You can check out source code to see how this is done. It's just that some people are put off by affiliate links or remove agent code at end which unfairly undoes hard work of affiliate in bringing them to site.

[Nathan] I found site very easy to navigate and uncluttered. I'm fascinated by way you lead reader through site. Did you base this style on any other site?

[Harvey} I'm always on lookout for good ideas and I file them away for future use. I continually modify site to improve its readability which is so important. It's often a matter of balance whether to have a very long page or a few shorter pages. There's no right or wrong way.

As you can see I just have five pages, starting with a short introduction of why you need a tracker then moving on to a brief explanation of how it works.

I don't want to deter reader with anything complex at this point. By now he may be interested so on third page I can let rip with my "23 ways to use an ad tracker".

There's another reason for this page. I can use Url in a signature or an ad, such as: Discover 23 unique ways to use an ad tracker.

By now I should have an enthusiastic prospect but before moving to final product review page I have a page of advice on how to choose a tracker and here's that appropriate place where I can include a little technical information.

[Nathan] Let's talk about getting traffic to site. How do you go about promoting it?

[Harvey] First I'll explain that there's two types of minisites. You have one page mini site which is essentially a sales pitch culminating in an order. I'll talk about these later.

The other type is a site, like this, filled with useful information, resources and tips and which is not overtly a sales site. With such a site you can submit to two main paid submission engines Yahoo and Looksmart also to Open Directory which is free, and be sure that it will be approved. In contrast a one page is unlikely to get approval.

Also I use pay per click search engines: again there is advantage that other listings will show individual products whereby a title such as "The Complete Guide to Ad Tracking Programs" has more chance of apturing reader's attention.

[Nathan] So do you find search engines bringing you plenty traffic ?

[Harvey] They bring a steady flow but not excessive. The problem is that keywords "ad tracking" or "ad trackers" are not highly searched terms: possibly because these tools are not yet widely known. However with directory entries it helps to create a well constructed description using other terms. For example Yahoo entry says