15 Terms Everyone in the appointment setting Industry Should Know

Traffic brokering is one of the ways you can use to make money online. In simple terms, it means you direct traffic from your promotional content straight to the affiliates' sites or your own sites which display the affiliate providers' products. Here you hope that the sales page is convincing and enticing enough to convert the prospect into a buyer. ™

Although traffic brokering is not seen as ideal because it is a way of making inconsistent income, sales wise it could be very profitable. However, this method is generally seen as inferior to list building, because the latter captures the contact details of the prospect and can result in more future sales. Traffic brokering knows no buyer, only the number of sales. No contact details are recorded so there is no way to contact the buyers and hopefully build a more profitable relationship in the future.

Here are some situations where you can become a traffic broker:

1. You have little or no time to get to know a niche better. A few traffic generation techniques here and there, just to get some sales with little or no effort is what you are aiming for.

2. Your potential customers may be just inquiring in general about a product or service they want to know more about. You can then redirect these potential customers to niche sites offering suitable products. Here you hope that the potential customers get the answer they need in the form of the promotional content outlining the products or services which eventually might earn you a commission.

3. The niche might be new or it might be related to a new trend. You do some quick research for information and affiliate products. You are then able to refer people, asking questions related to these types of niches, to your site or the affiliate provider's site.

4. Avoiding tax and legal explanations where it is best that you do not get involved unless you are qualified and authorized to give such advice. Examples of these niches are insurance and financial advice. In these niches, you will just refer the prospect to a provider's site to sign up and be given the advice they seek. Cost Per Action (CPA) affiliate programs usually operate this way and then you are paid for leads generated or when an action taken by the prospect occurs, depending on the provider's terms of service.

5. The niche is very competitive and the affiliate commissions are high, such as when there are giants in the niche. For example banks, insurance companies, medical businesses etc. Competing with them is usually out of the question. Trying to establish a foothold or gaining recognition in such an environment is also very difficult as this would take a lot of energy. In these cases, you aim for one-off sales that could compensate you nicely. You just need to have a general overview of the niche and then redirect potential customers to these sites where appointment setting you hope they might buy something.

6. The niche is very popular and therefore overcrowded with customers. This situation usually means that the chance of getting one-off customers is large. Again, you just send potential customers to the affiliate providers' sites, hoping for a quick sale.

The above situations reveal that traffic brokering should be used as part of your arsenal of money-making tools, as it can be a fast route to generate additional income.

Many businesses make a big mistake in their quest for local sales leads.

These businesses fail to realize that online lead generation is no longer limited to those businesses with an internet based business whose ads appear all over the country (or the world!) when a particular keyword is queried. Rather, Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines now allow a business's online ads to appear only when a search term is typed by someone living in a particular geographic area, like a state, city or even a zip code. Because the advertiser pays on a "per click" basis, they only pay for prospects who a) live in the targeted area, b) searched for a targeted keyword, and c) clicked on the business's ad- all good buying signs. This is great news for businesses like real estate agents, restaurants, florists, insurance agents, gift stores, pharmacies and more. Some of these businesses are only seeking local leads - they want customers who can come see them in person and purchase the business's products and services locally.

Many of these businesses are ignoring the power of online lead generation, quite often because the business owners do not know how it works. As more and more people use online search engines such as Google for their "first look" when seeking the services of a local business (Google is replacing the Yellow Pages in this respect), those owners who ignore this powerful medium are in danger of losing business to more savvy competitors.

When looking for local leads, business owners have several options.

They can place an advertisement in the local newspaper. They can use direct mail or hand out flyers. They can place an ad in the Yellow Pages. They can run radio or television spots. They can hand out their business cards. And yes, they can have a landing page (or a complete website) and run pay per click campaigns.

Not all of these methods are right for all local businesses. The trick is to find the right medium for your particular business. The first step towards doing this is to know your customer. The way to do this is to ask your current customers how they found you. Did they see an ad in the Yellow Pages? Were they referred by a friend? Did they hear a radio spot? Or did they go online and type in the particular product or service they were seeking? More and more often, local businesses are hearing that their customer's first query was on Google. Google know makes it possible for businesses placing ads to target local leads (or lead local) only by allowing the advertiser to limit the area where the ad will be shown to a particular state, city or even zip code.

Local leads are the lifeblood of certain businesses. How could a real estate agent survive if not for the power of local listings? Restaurants need patrons. Florists and gift shops need customers. Before a customer becomes a customer they are a prospect, or, a lead.

Businesses that cater to local customers have both a distinct advantage and a distinct disadvantage in the marketplace. The advantage is that when your customer is local, you are able to meet them face to face. If you have a good business and are able to portray trust, the odds are that your potential customer will give you a shot. If you treat them right, they will return again and again. The disadvantage of local leads is that your list of potential customers is limited to those people living in a particular geographic area.