There are approximately 100 blogs related to affiliate marketing, according to the 2009 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report. With all of these blogs, it’s hard to stand out, hard to get noticed, and hard to achieve success.

So how can you continue to increase your traffic, attract advertisers, and create a loyal fan base while competing in such a heavily saturated market? One of the best ways to do that is by guest posting, which provides a number of benefits.

Authority

Credibility is huge in this industry. As I mentioned before, there are many blogs out there (according to TechCrunch, over 100 million), so in order for you to gain a loyal audience, you have to stand out and prove that you are an expert worth listening to. The more people start seeing your name and content on other credible industry blogs, the more you will be acknowledged as a leader and expert in the industry. This will help you attract advertisers to your blog, sell your own products/services, build a reputation for yourself in the industry and in turn, open doors to many other great opportunities.

Relationships

Relationships are a key component to success in business. By guest posting, you are not only establishing a great relationship with that blogger/affiliate, you are also forming a connection that may lead to more connections and other valuable opportunities in the future. Furthermore, you will be engaging and creating relationships with a brand new audience, which is a great way to expand your network and build a loyal fan base.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Another benefit to guest posting is that most bloggers will allow you to include a short bio with a link back to your site in the beginning of the post. This can be an excellent opportunity to increase your site’s rankings on Google for a specific search term, thus allowing you to capitalize on that traffic. Imagine how powerful it is to rank organically in the top 5 results for your key terms. So think about some terms you want your site to rank for and include them in your byline.

Free Advertising

There are tons of ways you can advertise your site, but the problem is, most of them cost money (some of them a lot of money). Guest posting is an effective way to advertise your blog/site for free to a very targeted audience, but can also be a lot more helpful in getting readers to click over to your site. Just make sure that you put your time in and write a powerful and informative article.

Now that you understand how beneficial guest posting can be, start writing some great articles and contact the top blogs in your niche. You may be surprised at how fast you start seeing results.

Eric Schechter is responsible for ClickBooth’s Social Media efforts and works hand in hand with industry bloggers and the company’s top publishers.

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We all know that blogging is one of the fastest and most effective ways for you to have your voice heard. However, blogging is also one of the slowest methods for generating money online.

Not only do you have to establish yourself or your blog, but you also need traffic, readers that interact, and a blog that people actually want to read.

Once you have established your blog, it’s time to focus on increasing the overall value. I recommend you implement the following tips for instantly increasing your blog’s revenue month over month.

Stop Making the Middle Man Rich

There is no reason why you should be giving up 30% or more to a middle man ad serving company. Take advantage of direct sales on your blog and you can rapidly increase your income.

You know what type of advertisers your readers have an interest in. Do not wait for advertisers to contact you, contact them and make a deal.

Residual Income is Awesome

There is nothing better than residual income. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the harder affiliate programs to come by.

If you can generate leads from your blog that will earn you residual income, you will rapidly see a wave of increasing dollars in your pocket every month.

You Must Have a Newsletter

I cannot stress how important it is to have your own newsletter. The majority of your blog visitors will probably come to your Web site once, and most likely will never come back again.

If you can get them to subscribe to your mailing list, not only can you provide them with exclusive content, but they will also receive a notification every time you write a new post. It’s never too early to start building your newsletter list.

Give Your Readers Something Free

An excellent way to make your blog stand out from the competition is to offer a free ebook or service to your readers. You are most likely already writing a blog about a niche topic you know very well, so why not offer your readers a free ebook in exchange for joining your newsletter?

I’m sure you have seen many of these tips before. The difference is that you may not have implemented them yet.

Now that you have finished reading this article, go to your computer right now and make the necessary changes to improve your bottom line.

Zac Johnson is the President and CEO of MoneyReign, Inc. You can read his blog at ZacJohnson.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
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There’s a perception that blogging is just a platform for creating affiliate sites and generating profits with them, which may not be totally undeserved.

A well-maintained blog features frequent and new content, compared to traditional article style websites. Search engines happily send visitors seeking niche relevant content by featuring blogs high in their results.

However, blogging can be much more than just another quick way to create a Web site and pump it full of advertising and embedding affiliate links in the post. That’s just scratching a blog’s potential.

The big money comes when you establish a brand and THEN bank on your brand.

The Power of Branding

In a study conducted by a retailer which manufactured their own lines of car batteries, it found that one product line consistently outsold the others many times over.

This was despite the fact that the batteries had the same specifications and performed the same.

The difference? The brand.

One brand carried the retailer’s name, while the other product line was labeled Die Hard batteries.

The Die Hards flew off the shelves, outselling the ones carrying the retailer’s name many times over.

How does this relate to Internet marketing?

Think about your niche for a moment. Is there a particular influencer or opinion leader that almost everyone listens to?

Is there an Oprah or Martha or Larry King who talks and causes everyone else to listen?

With the power of blogging, you don’t need to have a million dollar budget to achieve the same effect.

Here are some tips to help you break apart from the millions of blogger out there:

• Integrity: Honesty and reputation are two of the highest valued attributes when people were surveyed about role models they admire and respect. The personality and character outclassed even physical appearance and wealth.

Integrity in the blogging context means you’re objective in your posts, it may even mean choosing not to promote affiliate products with high payouts, simply because you don’t agree with the ethics of the industry or the manner in which it is projected.

• See things in a different light: You may have your favorite news channels, which sounds strange because all broadcasters have access to the same news source. What makes it different is the way in which it’s presented.

Being able to understand how everyone else is doing things, and consciously choosing an approach that reflects your personality and gives a fresh perspective to your audience will have them thanking you for your efforts.

Studying some of your favorite blogs and analyzing their style and techniques will give you ideas for enhancing your blogging style.

While establishing a brand with your blog takes more effort than merely publishing keyword-loaded posts, it can generate huge dividends for your profits and your business.

Andrew Wee is the creator of the SecretBlogWeapon.com blogging system and blogs at http://WhoIsAndrewWee.com

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
FeedFront issue 4 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-4/