Affiliate marketing isn't rocket science - you sell the product and services of a vendor merchant in exchange for a commission. Affiliate marketing is both the cheapest and easiest way to break into internet marketing. Knowing how to boost sales is as simple as knowing how to drive traffic to your site. It is really a numbers game, and if performed well by you, can make you very rich.

Here are some tips to help you increase traffic to your affiliate site:

Increase visibility. This can be done by using the many SEO (search engine optimization) tricks you can find almost anywhere on the internet - for free. SEO is really a practice of using all the rules needed to make your site do well in the SERP's (search engine results page). SEO is highly technical and beyond the scope of this article. Know that there is a great deal of free information available on SEO.

Make it a point to join internet directories. Many are free, but some can cost you to join. The paid ones are always the best. However, if starting on a small budget, use the free directories to begin. When you are making money, you can move to the paid directories for even more visibility on the web.

Always use fresh and unique content on the site, updated on a regular basis. Content should always be relevant to the product you are promoting. Submit your articles to the many free article directories to increase traffic and give your site backlinks from a high ranking site.

Make navigation onsite as easy and visible as you possibly can. Be sure to use both external and internal text links to other sites which are relevant to your content. Use internal links to link to content on your site that is relevant to the content you are writing.

One thing many new marketers overlook is insuring that links work. Always be in the habit of checking any link you put into your content, and check these links to insure they are working on a regular basis.

Build an online community - make your site a place people want to go to and learn about your niche. Many savvy internet marketers use blogs to market with. They can be updated on the fly, and are structured so the search engines appreciate them. You can begin with a blog on Blogger.com to begin with. It is free and will get you in the habit of blogging. Blogs almost always rate high in the SERP's.

As a new internet marketer, learn to focus on one task, learn that task, and do not move on until you are comfortable with it. Many new marketers make the mistake of jumping into every affiliate program they see and attempt to make money with it. They almost always fail because they neglect some important aspect of the affiliate marketing strategy. Stick to three products to begin with, and learn the tricks of the trade. You will find that soon you are driving targeted traffic to your site, and before you know it, you have learned how to increase your affiliate site traffic. Without that traffic, the site may be the prettiest one on the web, but won't get you in the money without good traffic.