I have been in the Internet marketing world for almost 10 years now… wow have things changed (yet stayed the same). When I first started I knew that "optimizing" a site for the search engines was smart but didn't really know why or how a site got good rankings. Now of course we know that there are many factors that go into achieving good website rankings like: unique content, inbound links, domain age, and other factors that are less superficial. Affiliate marketing and search engine optimization are intricately interwoven because the majority of affiliates use the search engines to generate traffic with their website for merchants and/or adsense. The principles of getting better search rankings haven't really changed much over the past several years. You should still have to have a very well-optimized site, with complete meta-tags, good site content and an ever-growing site that updates frequently. These concepts relate to any webmaster or site/blog owner that aspires to generate more traffic with their site. Pay per click has added another dimension to search engine and affiliate marketing, and has created another tool to generate traffic. Certain verticals are of course ridiculously expensive, which forces more keyword research and testing new search terms for conversion rates and ROI. Video has also turned into a great way to generate traffic to sites. As has various social applications like StumbleUpon and Digg. The savvy affiliate will use all these methods of generating traffic to achieve the most sales and commission. I am so very excited about the future of affiliate marketing because everyday I meet people on Digital Point that have never even tried affiliate marketing. They work so hard on their sites and have never really done any niche focusing to generate commissions. When I first started out in affiliate marketing there were maybe a couple hundred “SEO affiliates†that really knew how to drive traffic. Now there are thousands and thousands of “SEOs†that are driving traffic for merchants. Yes it has gotten harder to dominate the search results as an affiliate, but this scenario has forced affiliates to innovate and use some of the alternative ways of generating traffic to stay ahead of the curve. I met a guy from China the other day on Digital Point that was so excited about affiliate marketing I could feel his desire to learn and produce over IM. People that know me will tell you that I have always had the philosophy that EVERY affiliates is valuable not just the “super-affiliates.†In fact, the real power of affiliate marketing lies with the noobies and novices that are just finding their way. By working with new affiliates, you are ensuring their friendship and loyalty. Tools like blogs has made it even easier to publish content on the web and generate traffic. Forums like DP create the community that helps aspiring webmasters find their way by learn from the pros and from the mistakes/successes of others. This is why I am so excited about the future of affiliate marketing. I have been thinking of writing a post like this for a while, I hope I didn’t bore too many of you and let me know your feedback. Now get out there and publish some great content!