Breaking Your Blog Traffic Addiction

When I decided one of my niche's would be Affiliate Marketing and I first started blogging, I kind of got sucked into this analytical quicksand (so to speak) and thankfully I survived. In the beginning, for someone who has never done this before, I found it to be very exciting to watch my blog about Affiliate Marketing grow and grow. After waking up in the morning and couldn't wait to check and see how many hits I had over night on my blog. When I was away from my house, I would check the hits from my cell phone too.

The thing with checking your traffic, e-mails and comments, it can and often does lead to procrastination. You think to yourself, "someone may have sent me an e-mail or left me a comment, I have to check or respond." Then you go to your blog, log into your admin area, and proceed to check for comments and then you go check your e-mail(s). This cycle could go on and on. Without even knowing it, that cycle lasted all day (I know because it’s been done!). This means that you're actually less productive because you didn't concentrate on the important things, like getting more traffic. Unfortunately this analytical quicksand could be a bad thing since it could actually reduce your traffic which is exactly the opposite of what you watch traffic for.

So, here are a few techniques that will help you (just like they helped me) to be productive and help your blog about Affiliate Marketing.

1. Make a Plan

Now I know the nature of most people not to plan, especially in the beginning. That is how I got stuck in the rut in the first place. I would say to myself, “I’ll just check this while I am thinking of what to do.”
So the way to get around this is to plan out your day the best that you can. If you can plan your day, the day before, that's ideal. If not, then plan your day first thing in the morning, before you get on the computer or even look at it. Put your plan on paper if you have to. Give yourself tasks and time limits for the things you are going to work on for your affiliate marketing blog. If you are part-time, then plan when you are going to work and plan on what you are going to work on during that time. Do not use the excuse, “I only have a couple of minutes.” A couple of minutes is enough time to get a bit of exposure for your blog.

Try going to another blog and writing a comment. Or you could even find a good forum to see if anything interesting has been talked about that day and if there is anything you can help with. If  appropriate, leave a comment that maybe includes a link to your blog. This only takes a short amount of time and your efforts could pay off with more site traffic and maybe even a back-link or two.

2. Restrict Your Time

This method is very simple. Just do not allow yourself to go look at your emails. comments or your analytics outside a certain time of the day. Write down all of the things that are included in your “procrastination list” and then give yourself a small window of time during the day that you are allowed to check them.

This is the method that I used for myself. I would restrict myself  to where I allowed myself to look at them first thing in the morning and then again after I had finished my work for that day. Each time I tried to limit myself to 15 minutes or less. This may sound a little extreme to some, however when I look back over how much time I spent looking at stats, looking for e-mails and/or comments, I know the restriction was worth it.

3. Stay Productive

This may seem obvious to most, but its easy to get stuck in the quicksand without even knowing or realizing it. So this very simple, as soon as you think of going to check up on your stats, comments or e-mails, redirect your activity by changing the thought into something constructive. For example, every time you have a thought of doing one of those things, immediately do something else like write an article or socialize on your networks (yes, this can also be a form of procrastination, but that’s another article entirely!). After doing this for a little while, you will soon get into the habit of doing constructive things.

Try the methods above. Once you try them, you should see the results relatively quickly in your traffic rankings. Keep in mind that everything you are doing will help you in the end. While checking your stats, comments and/or e-mails are important, they shouldn't be the main focus and it should be done at the appropriate time(s) of your day.

Time management is essential to your affiliate marketing success. You may not realize it, but you have more in common with the Super Affiliates than you might think.  All affiliate marketers we all have the same amount of time to use. It's what you do with your time that will help set you apart from the average affiliate marketer.
By nature, affiliate marketers are kind of a jack of all trades. You have to do a little bit of everything on a daily basis. Update your website, write reviews and tutorials, send out your newsletter, manage link exchanges, research new products and niches. In affiliate marketing, good time management is crucial.

Here are some tips to help you squeeze more production out of your valuable time.

1. Get Organized - The longer you are involved in affiliate marketing the more activities you will have to manage on a daily basis. As an affiliate marketer you will more than likely be involved with several different merchants and affiliate programs. You are going to need to have access to lots of information, such as, email addresses, partner information, ad campaign information, website information, and link exchange programs. It is easy to see how you can get quickly overwhelmed if you don’t have some sort of system to organize your information. You will want to set up a system that will allow you to store your information in notebooks, folders, spreadsheets, or anything else that allows you to quickly and easily access information. Just remember that this information is vital for your affiliate marketing business.   
2. Set Realistic Goals and Deadlines – If you have a limited amount of time per day to work on your affiliate marketing business,  it is important for you attack your affiliate marketing tasks with a sense of urgency. Set some short term goals and establish deadlines to achieve those goals. Focus your energies on one task at a time. Make your goals realistic and achievable. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in a short time each day with the right mind set and creating a sense of urgency.
3. Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin- You cannot do it all. There is a huge temptation to sign-up and try to promote too many affiliate programs at once. Concentrate your efforts on one (1) or two (2) quality affiliate programs and products. Learn how to duplicate success. Take your successes from your first program and apply it to the next one. Do it right the first time, then do it over and over again with each new program.
4. Never Stop Learning – Make it a point to learn something new every day. Affiliate Marketing is a constantly changing landscape. You have to be able to adjust and adapt to change very quickly. Do everything you can to stay on the cutting edge. Stay up to date on the latest affiliate marketing news, tips, and strategies. Find someone that has been successful that offers some good training such as Fast Cash Commissions. Additionally, visit some affiliate forums and read the posts and the comments. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and when you feel comfortable in that environment post your opinion. Find some high quality informational products and buy them, print them out. Then just set aside some quiet time to read and further your affiliate marketing education.