I’m living proof that dramatic and positive change is possible. When I started earning an income online in 1999 I was juggling an irksome day job with the more rewarding pursuit of building an online presence.These days my wife and I host the longest running program aimed towards affiliate marketers, Affiliate Buzz.  Arlene and I are so happy with the success we’ve enjoyed from outsourcing much of our content to copywriters we’ve found through Elance that Arlene even started outsourcing the baking of Thanksgiving pies to our daughter.

To say things are going well would be an understatement, we really enjoy the extra time we have now to spend with friends and family.  My wife has really embraced mobile technology as well, she’s a bit of a wunderkind when it comes to networking and increasing traffic to not only our corner of the web, but to the sites of our affiliates as well.  This is one of the biggest areas we recommend to our followers – get involved in social networking, and keep at it.

Small Fish, Big Pond

Relying solely on this drive-by traffic, and word-of-mouth from a select few local businesses, simply isn’t enough to generate a stable flow of income. This goes for any fledgling business, whether online or a brick-and-mortar storefront, if you want to build a long-term relationship with loyal clients you absolutely must expand the reach of your brand. The good news is, in our modern day and age, getting your name out there can be accomplished for the cost of a couple of hours per day.

Back to Basics – If You Build it, the Traffic Will Come

• Location, location, location – Facebook and Twitter both have a population of users numbering well over a billion, with the majority of those users connecting to these sites with a mobile device. Instead of wasting time publishing fliers all about town, or mailing newsletters that will only end up in the junk pile, direct your message to where the people are instead. A well-timed update on Facebook, and a few lively conversations on Twitter, will kick-start your traffic flow dramatically. If you’ve not yet jumped on the social media bandwagon you owe it to your business to do so, even my favorite can of coconut water encourages me to like the brand on Facebook.

• Focus on quality – Facebook and Twitter may be the new word-of-mouth, but if you’re not offering up a quality product, and quality content, no one will share the details of your business with their friends. Notice I mention quality content as well, this means the creation of entertaining, educational and engaging material which is rich with keywords that are used correctly. Include sub-headlines and make sure they’re tagged as H2 headers rather than simply bold-lettered for easy readability.

• Be consistent – It’s okay if you lack the confidence to produce daily, high-quality content, this task is easily outsourced to a talented copywriter with the help of a convenient service like Elance. When hiring contractors and coordinators, however, make sure everyone understands your expectations and sticks to the details of the work order. Then follow up regularly to ensure the level of quality you’ve come to be known for remains consistent from one job to the next, including formatting and attention to detail.

• Keep improving – SEO guidelines change quickly and often, so stay ahead of the curve by keeping up with these changes as they happen, focusing on constant and never-ending improvement from yourself and your team of contractors. Utilize the tools and plugins that are available to make search engine optimization simple. Yoast and Google Authorship Markup can dramatically improve your traffic by ensuring your SEO is configured appropriately.

Why Wait for Traffic?

While there’s a grain of truth to the old adage that you can drop a seed on the ground it will grow, this phrase only applies to the fertile soil, and not to the building of a business. Relying on random visits from drop-in guests and hoping they’ll become converts and return buyers isn’t going to get you into a flashy sports car anytime soon, let alone the matching Ferrari cap and Scuderia Ferrari watch. If a comfortable life built upon a steady flow of traffic is what you want, you’ve got to put forth the effort and nurturing required, a little time each day is all it takes, along with some attention to detail.

Enjoying the Ferrari way of life is about more than just the products that bear its name, and Michael Morrison not only fully understands the lifestyle, but supports, embraces and lives it himself. He built a site called http://www.enzolifestyle.com for Ferrari enthusiast who like quality products and one of a kind gift items.