Getting your website up, is really just the first phase of your journey to a career on the Internet. You must promote your website, your product or your service to the world. Well, how do you do it?

There are many different ways to promote your affiliate program, however, it depends upon what type of program it is, "Your Turnkey Program" or Affiliate Linked-Program for selling a product. Hmm-mm, interesting. What works, what doesn't?

GET OUT THE WORD

Bulk Emailing - Bulk emailing use to be the craze. Did you notice the word use to be the craze. That has changed with the stricter spam rules and penalties - all to protect us. But bulk emailing can be done, if you have an opt-in list - such as, through a newsletter. But don't overextend the use, you may lose subscribers.

Classified Ads - With free classified ads you can definitely get hits - and possibly some sales. But don't choose this as your only way of getting sales.

There are some drawbacks. You ask, "What drawbacks". From my own experience, I've encountered individuals requesting information about my program - as a ploy to getting me to listen to their sales pitch. SPAM? Maybe. Annoying? Definitely. The height of annoyance is when they ask me to call them long distance, so that I can speak with them - only to have them give me a sales pitch on their program.

However, if you have a classified ad site on your website - you've got yourself a built-in opt-in list. You can gently sell to them, while verifying or thanking them for their ad.

Traffic Generators - Traffic generators can work on a turnkey site that many others are also partaking in to generate money for themselves. What I found is traffic generators are better suited for turnkey businesses. It is basically a simple way for you to entice other people in business to look at your program. You know - it's the "I'm not really happy with what I'm doing. I wonder what else is out there" syndrome. Or it's the - "I really need another program so that I'm not a one-man Joe in business" syndrome. In either case, it's a safe place to see what's happening or new on the Internet.

Messageboards, Discussion Groups, Forums -- These are great ways to get your message out and be personal at the same time. But you have to follow the rules, and you should contribute constructive and/or helpful information that is relevant to the discussion at hand. This is a time-consuming way to build sales - but a great way to build credibility, business relationships, and sales. Note: Please don't blatantly advertising. This action could cause the following problems to occur: 1) you being banned from the forum; 2) your advertising being eliminated and noted by the administrator; 3) making the other members angry and thus, losing credibility. All in all, follow the rules.

I'm currently in a forum - they give you a webpage, and in the back office you are allowed to advertise your services/products of businesses. And trust me, they do read them - and as an added benefit - your links are being picked up by the search engines. Yeah, you got it - more traffic.

Ezine and Safelist Advertising -- Ezine advertising and safelist advertising are good methods of advertising. In each case, you have to join their list and follow their rules to submit your ads.

If you want to try your hand at safelist advertising, I would suggest that you create a separate free email account on Yahoo. Why? A safelist allows all that have joined to submit their ads to you, as well as, you to them. Here, your subject line is your eye catcher - so choose wisely.

Ezine advertising is a very good way to advertise your turnkey site, website, product or service. You have the option for free (need to watch for their instructions), and various paid ads. What's great about ezines? It's an opportunity to sell to a more targeted market. The more targeted your market, the better the opportunity to get a sale.

Articles - Articles are a great way to get the word out about your website and your product or products. However, please make the article informative - or you'll lose your credibility and the reader.

Search Engine Optimization - If you have a website you should submit to the search engines.

Linking - Linking is the exchange of your link with that of another webmaster. This can be very beneficial, however, make sure the websites that you link to compliment but does not compete with your site.

I've touched on only some of the methods of advertising that you can use to get the word out about your product/service or website. The most important thing to remember is to keep your mind and eyes open for new ways to promote your product or service - and do your research.

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. She left the corporate world as an Reports Programmer, to begin her journey as an Internet Marketer.