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Advertising DOs and DONTs
From early on in my online career I realised that the fastest way to internet riches was to find a marketing concept that brought me profits and plough as much as I could into that resource, thus building my business and capital as I went.
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Attract Media Coverage Without Spending Advertising $$
Advertising is expensive. PR is often low cost or free. Try these ten tips for attracting free PR to your business. But here is a word of caution. When sending press releases to the media, remember that less is more. The journalist who encounters a...
Effective Advertising Through Ezines
Everyone knows there's a world of information and services on the Internet. So what does that mean for your business?
Do other businesses or consumers that are looking for a service or product that your business offers discover your service? The...
How To Get Free Advertising By Giving Away Online Content
Giving away content is a powerful way to get free advertising. For example, give other people permission to use your article on their web site or in their e-zine. The resource box at the end of your article acts as an ad. In return, you get free...
Pay Per Click Ads: 3 Quick Tips To Get The Most From Your PPC Advertising
Running a pay per click campaign can be a valuable, fast source of online sales – but it can also cost you a lot of money if you don't know what you’re doing. Many pay per click newbies do the following: ·They sign up with a pay per click search...
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The Fallacy of Free Advertising
The temptation to turn towards free marketing resources can be an irresistable call, particularly to beginners on tight budgets. However, 'free' isn't a good bargain if it doesn't give you *results*! You still 'pay' for free advertising in terms of wasted time and effort.
There are many effective ways to promote your business free. However, let's start with a brief look at a few of the less- effective methods. Although the rare person might get results that justify their continued use, most people find them to be a waste of time. These include:
* Free classifieds in newsletters. Some editors offer a free ad to new subscribers in an effort to build their lists. Unfortunately, if they're getting a lot of new subscribers, they're probably also getting a lot of free ad requests -- which means your ad is likely going to get crammed alongside several others. As you can imagine, readers often ignore 'classified ad' sections such as these.
* Free classifieds on websites, or 'Free-For-All' (FFA) sites where you can post your link. Most people go to post ads, not read them. How often do YOU go to these sites to read ads? Enough said.
* Free banner or link exchanges. You know the type: you place a snippet of HTML on your website, and the links or banners are automatically rotated through everyone in the network. These are not usually targeted enough to give good results.
* Traffic-generating programs. You join a 'network' and 'share' traffic -- on your site, typically a popup or popunder window (advertising another member's site) is displayed as your visitor enters or leaves your site. Other members display your ad in a similar way. A popular example are the 'start page' or 'exit page' programs. Sure, this can give you traffic... but the most important thing is, does it give you *results* -- subscriptions to your newsletter, for example, or sales? The conversion rate is typically negligible or low for these types of programs.
Now onto the good stuff... here are several excellent free marketing methods that have the potential to yield great results:
__Targeted Link Exchanges.
Place a link to another related site on your own, and in return, ask them to reciprocate. Do it consistently and you will eventually have a wide-ranging network of targeted, relevant sites on which you are linked.
Your 'link popularity', as it's called, is used by many of the major search engines to help determine how well your site is positioned in the results. Plus the more links you have, the more places people can find you. You essentially 'share' another site's traffic.
__Build and Use Your Own Opt-In List.
There's nothing like your own newsletter to develop a relationship with your visitors. Make it your goal to provide quality content and you'll have loyal subscribers who trust you.
Granted, hosting the list isn't usually free (although there are still a few free list hosts such as Yahoo! Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/ ). Still, once you have your own list of targeted, interested readers, you also have your very own marketing tool -- you can promote your products or services to this list, plus use it as 'leverage' for potential joint ventures (see below). It does take time to build a quality list, but it can be extremely profitable in the long run.
__Search Engines and Major Indexes.
Web surfers regularly use search engines and indexes to pinpoint exactly what they're looking for. Although more and more search engines and major
indexes are now charging for reviews and/or listings, some of them (such as Google, http://www.google.com/ ) are still free.
It takes time and effort to learn how to properly optimize your site for the search engines. It's no good to be #138475 out of 1437593 search results; no one will ever find you! Learn more about search engine optimization at http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ .
It's well worth the time and trouble to get properly positioned -- if you get a good listing, it could mean a steady stream of targeted traffic.
__Free Publicity.
Imagine getting a radio or TV interview, or a write-up in a popular magazine whose readers are your target market. It's great exposure, and best of all, it's free! Many small busineses simply can't afford the advertising rates... and even if you could, publicity is even better because the radio show, TV show, or magazine provides credibility to your offer.
An excellent site to learn about free publicity is http://www.prprofits.com/ .
__Referral Marketing.
Encourage happy customers to tell their friends about your business. This is a great way to build your customer base, year after year, through the power of the 'snowball' effect -- a happy customer tells a friend, who tells a friend, who tells a friend...
Referrals also tend to be easier to convert into paying customers because your product has been 'endorsed' by someone they know and trust.
You can offer incentives such as discounts or a free gift to encourage referrals. Regardless of whether or not the referred party makes a purchase, be sure to thank your customer for the referral -- reward his behavior and he'll be more inclined to repeat it.
__Write and Distribute Articles, Reports, eBooks...
Create useful free content and include a brief blurb about your product along with a URL. Encourage people to pass it around. Indicate that websites and newsletter editors are welcome to offer it as a gift, bonus, or premium to their vistors, subject to your publishing guidelines.
If you do this consistently, you can eventually have thousands of links back to your business all over the web! And the more people pass it around, the more exposure you'll get.
You can do this with practically anything: articles, columns, lists, reports, eBooks, software, worksheets... use your imagination!
__Joint Ventures.
Approach complementary businesses with win-win proposals. A simple and common 'JV' is an ad swap: you each publish one another's solo ads to your respective lists. You both avoid paying out-of-pocket expenses and have the opportunity to reach a new group of targeted prospects.
Another 'twist' to this common JV is to send endorsed ads to one another's lists. Review each other's products and, if it's worthy, mail an endorsed message to your readers. Endorsements usually outperform 'regular' ads because it comes from someone the readers trust (the editor).
The beauty of the Internet is that it allows you to run a business with very little money. The 'secret' is knowing which of the available free resources are worth your time!
About the Author
_________
Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide to building an Internet business on a shoestring budget. If you're tired of hype and just want solid, down-to-earth information, then visit us now -- and in moments you can have access to loads of instantly useable tips, specifically chosen for beginners! http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html
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Welcome to Advertising.com |
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Advertising - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another ... For example, think of an advertising campaign targeting a female audience aged 25 to 45. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
An advertising network offers content targeted advertising service on CPC/PPC basis. |
www.clicksor.com |
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Online advertising service for webmasters and advertisers. |
Promote your business with today's most effective internet advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, ... |
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Advertising |
You've found the ultimate resource for everything advertising. Weekly feature articles, in-depth coverage of the latest advertising mediums and industry ... |
advertising.about.com |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
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Google Advertising |
Allows you to buy advertising on the Google search engine, or on other sites through its AdSense program. Includes a tour and FAQ. |
www.google.com |
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Business Week Online: Advertising |
Get advertising information on companies that have appeared in our directories, ... Click here to open a new window to our Special Advertising Section. ... |
www.businessweek.com |
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Texas Advertising @ The University of Texas at Austin |
Submit your URL to Advertising World ... Search WWW Search advertising.utexas.edu ... Center for Interactive Advertising Updated November 2006. |
advertising.utexas.edu |
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Advertising Standards Authority - Home |
The ASA is independent regulator for advertisements, sales promotion and direct marketing in the UK. |
www.asa.org.uk |
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Boston Globe Media - Boston.com |
More than one million registered users allow Boston.com to target advertising by demographics (age, gender, income, job title, and industry), ... |
www.boston.com |
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Lycos Advertise@Lycos |
Advertising Opportunities on the Lycos Network ... Banner Advertising, Rich Media, Display Advertising on Lycos Network. Ari Bluman - 24/7 RealMedia ... |
advertising.lycos.com |
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PhysicsWeb - Advertising |
Physics World and PhysicsWeb, the complete solution to your advertising needs ... For detailed guidelines on how to supply your advertising materials, ... |
physicsweb.org |
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MaineToday.com 2006 Online Media Kit |
... Kit Why Advertise on MaineToday.com? Advertising Products · Audience · Content Areas · Service · Contact · Advertisers. Why Advertise on MaineToday.com. |
advertising.mainetoday.com |
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The Wall Steet Journal |
... go to www.wsj.com/freetrial for a free month of WSJ.com to experience the benefits of using print and online together. spacer. Advertising Information ... |
advertising.wsj.com |
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Inteactive Advertising Bureau |
Global nonprofit group open to companies actively engaged in the sale of interactive advertising and marketing. Membership features IAB events, ... |
www.iab.net |
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AAF: American Advertising Federation |
The AAF protects and promotes the well-being of advertising through a unique, nationally coordinated grassroots network of advertisers, agencies, ... |
www.aaf.org |
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MSN Advertising - Online Advertising from MSN including ad ... |
Online advertising from MSN helps marketers build powerful brand and direct relationships with consumers. |
advertising.msn.com |
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Advertising Association |
The Advertising Association is a federation of 32 trade bodies representing the advertising and promotional marketing industries including advertisers, ... |
www.adassoc.org.uk |
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Advertising: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with advertising on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
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