New affiliate marketers quickly realize that just driving traffic to there sites doesn't turn into profits as often as they would like. 98% of the visitors to your site do not buy anything and will never return. The best way to get around this is to capture their name and contact information. With this information you can build a relationship with your customers and use that relationship to sell your products to them for years to come. This is where list building and email marketing comes in.
By adding an opt in form to your website and encouraging visitors to sign up for a free report or newsletter you can capture their contact information and turn visitors into customers. Offer something of value so your visitors will be eager to trade their information for your report or newsletter.
It will generally take between 7 -10 contact messages between you and your customer before they feel comfortable enough to buy your products. You can not just use your emails to try to jam your offer down their throats, doing this is a sure way to get people to opt out of your list. The money is in the list, so be good to your list. Give them free and valuable information or programs that they will find useful and you will be able to keep them as repeat costumers.
You should also keep this in mind when creating your follow up messages. If all you ever do is try to sell them one product after another most will never buy anything from you and many will opt out of your list. Keep giving them free and valuable information and products and then include the odd link to your product or affiliate program. It is fine to encourage your list to buy your product but don't try to force it on them.
The best way to increase your affiliate marketing profits is to build a trusting relationship with your list. If the people on you list trust and recognize you as someone that gives good products and information then they are far more likely to buy from you.