I'm going to give you a step-by-step plan for the next month. Part 1 got you into an affiliate program and gave you a web presence. Now on to Part 2, finding money, creating a monthly budget and getting some targeted traffic to your website.

Step One: Finding some money, the first step in creating a budget.

Goal: Finding a minimum of $50/month to invest in your business, and creating a budget.

It's time to search your monthly expenses, search your soul, for any way you can cut back on your current expenses and put $50 or more aside for business investments.

• A carton of cigarettes in Ontario costs $31.50, $51.40 in Michigan and $48.46 in New York State. (No, smuggling isn't a good choice for a home business...)
• A large Domino's pepperoni pizza with extra cheese $15 Blockbuster's movie rental $3.99
• Starbuck's double cappuccino $3.75

You see where I'm going here. Maybe you can set aside $12.50/week from your paycheck, or maybe you can whittle that much off of your "luxury items" allowance. Maybe a little of each.

That's what I mean by finding money. Sure, you can look in all your pockets and under the armchair cushions, but that usually only works once. We're talking monthly investment here.

Once you have "found" your money, you have to decide how to spend it. Having chosen your affiliate programs, you will need to pay any charges within those programs. You can expect to start and continue in any program for free, but within the program's training you will find recommendations for wise investments. Follow the recommendations of your sponsor or teammates when possible. But also educate yourself about the possibilities. Here are some things I would consider:

1. Buying leads:
   Empowerism: http://ads.profitrally.com/4611/trafficbarticle
   Membership in this program includes 50 leads per month, an autoresponder pre-loaded with an email marketing course, marketing tools and much more.
   Lead Factory: http://leadfactory.com/leads/
   PushButton Leads: http://www.pushbuttonleads.com

2. Pay-per-click advertising:
   Google Adwords: https://adwords.google.com/
   FindWhat: http://www.findwhat.com
   Overture: http://www.content.overture.com/d/
   Top 10 PPC Search Engines: http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com

3. Classified ads (on high-traffic websites, in ezines, as well as offline)

4. Program upgrades: Some people prefer to wait until they start earning money in a program or gaining affiliates under them before they upgrade. Trust your instincts on this one.

End of Step 1: You've freed up some investment cash and decided where to spend it each month.

Step 2: Getting traffic to your website can also be free:

1. Reciprocal linking: Reciprocal links information: http://www.linking101.com/

2. Article writing:
   http://www.web-source.net/write.htm

3. Free classifieds: to find the ad sites that will truly attract prospective customers, conduct a search as if you were that customer.

   If you use the search engines and type in "classified ad sites" you will find a lot of ad sites. But is that what the people you are trying to reach do? No! They search for a phrase like "work at home, or "home based business" or "home business selling gourmet cheeses". So if you place ads on classified ad sites you have found searching for "classified ad sites" your ads will be on pages your targeted visitors never find.

   Put yourself in the shoes of someone who's looking for a work at home opportunity. How would they go about searching for this on the net? Think of the phrases they might type in their favorite search engine search box. Now type one of those phrases in the search box of the major search engines and research the sites that shows up in the results. Then try those phrases with different search engines (Yahoo, MSN, Google, Lycos, etc.).

   Go to every site that comes up in the 1st 20 matches (anything lower than 20 is not worth your time). Take notes or print out the 1st 20 results, especially the Yahoo and Google results. Decide which of the 3 advertising tactics above will work on that site--posting an article, reciprocal linking, and/or posting an ad.

4. Traffic exchanges:
   The key here is to find the exchanges that will deliver targeted leads. This means they must allow you to choose surfing categories. Here are a few I have found:
   Bullseye Traffic: http://bullseye-traffic.com/
   Traffic Swarm: http://ads.profitrally.com/4670/trafficbarticle
   NoMoreHits: http://ads.profitrally.com/4714/trafficbarticle
   AllFreshClicks: http://ads.profitrally.com/4716/trafficbarticle

End of Step 2: You are using each of the four free advertising tactics: reciprocal linking, article writing, free classifieds, and traffic exchanges.

Spend a couple hours a day using one or more of these tactics, and you'll see your website traffic grow.

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About the author: Glenn Beach is a poet, writer and home business entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, Canada. Free newsletter, more articles, and business start-up info at: http://www.work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com


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