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2.Common sense precautions should be taken however when arranging to meet anyone face to face for the first time.
3.You4Dating Free Online Dating ,You4Dating is a Free 100% Dating Site, There are No Charges ever. We allow You to Restrict who can Contact You, and Remove those unfit to Date.
4. You4Dating is Responsible for Creating Relationships per Year proving it is possible to Find Love Online. It will Quickly become a Leader in the Internet Dating Industry because of its Advanced Features and matching Systems,and most of all,Because is a 100% Free-There are No Charges Ever.
5. You4Dating is an International Dating Website Serving Single Men and Single Women Worldwide. Whether you're seeking Muslim,Christian,Catholic, Singles Jewish ,Senor Dating,Black Dating, or Asian Dating,You4Dating is a Right Place for Members to Browse through, and Potentially Find a Date.Meet more than 100000 Registred Users
6. Multy Language Dating Site.
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Saturday, 17 May 2008
Top 5 Mistakes In Ezine Advertising
Ezine advertising has been glorified by experts the world over as the last refuge for the little guy/gal to make a buck online. Well, I hate to deliver bad news, and please don't shoot the messenger, but there are some draw backs to ezine advertising and many of the Inner Sanctum E-Letter subscribers are making them daily. Let's look at the most common mistakes and their solutions. Mistake #1: Not Tracking Your AdsMany business owners have no idea how they can track every ad they place. Whether for an affiliate program or their own product, they just don't know. Not knowing what ad is working and producing the sale will cost you and your business thousands of dollars. When you know what ad produces and what ad doesn't you can cut the worst of the ads and only keep the ad/s which is producing for your business. --Solution--: If you own your own website and domain name, you can track every ad by creating a special redirect link that is only used in that ad. Or you can add a question mark to the end of the URL and check that on your stats page. A simple, http://www.yourdomainname.com/pagename.html?trackingcode will suffice in most cases. Check with your web host to see if you have access to your web site stats log. Or sign up for one of the free/fee tracking services online. Mistake #2: Writing Me-Too AdsWhen writing your ad you must take your ego, your desire to boast about you and your company, out of the equation. An example of a me-too ad: "Acme Law Offices have been in business for 20 years. Our staff of lawyers all graduated from Harvard Law School with honors. Call us at 1-800-acme-law today!" --Solution--: Write benefit and results oriented ads. Example: "Guaranteed Settlements! Win your settlement guaranteed and save 43% on attorney fees by calling ACME Law Offices at: (blah, blah, blah)" This ad focuses completely on the end result, the main benefit. Guaranteed Settlements. Which ad do you think would pull more responses? Mistake #3: Running ClassifiedsSince they don't cost much, business owners tend to use classifieds to save costs. Classifieds are cheap, $5-$20 per ad, and in most cases run faster than solo or top sponsor ads because the ezine publisher runs 10-20 per issue. What's not so commonly known is the fact classified sections are often times scanned by the reader (I scan past them every time) and get very little eye time. --Solution--: Run Solo or Top sponsor ads. These ads get more exposure. They are exclusive (solo mailings) or only have 2-3 (sponsor ads) per issue spaced out between the content. Mistake #4: Going for Large Subscriber BasesLarge subscriber stats are impressive. 30,000 subscribers is a ton of eye balls and the potential to return a profit is greatly increased. Well, this is completely untrue. A recent test we ran took our breath away. We spent $180 on a solo ad to a subscriber base in a general marketing publication of 30,000 subscribers. We ran that same solo ad for $65 in an ezine about website design strategies with a subscriber base of 1200. Ad #1 to 30,000+ brought back $0! Ad #2 to 1200 specifically targeted subscribers brought back $900 in pure profit! --Solution--: While tons of subscribers may seem like the right way to go, before you invest money, check out smaller, highly targeted ezines and test your ads in those. You'll save money and odds are your returns will be greater. Mistake #5: Running Your Ad OnceWhen I first started advertising in ezines, I would run one ad one time. If it didn't produce results, I would switch ezines and run the ad again. This was how I tested the ad. Many business owners are doing the same thing today. By running the ad only once, you're cutting your chances to profit in half. Running it 2-3-4 times, even if the first run didn't make a profit, gives your ad more exposure. Readers will "think" it's producing because you ran it more than one time, therefore other subscribers must have thought it was worth looking at, helping your ad produce. --Solution--: Run every ad at least twice. Then instead of switching ezines, switch ads. Run that ad twice. Do this with all your ads. You'll be suprised to find the ezine actually produces profits for one ad but not another. So now you can run that ad 4-5-6 times and squeeze more profits from the ezine. Ezine advertising is profitable. It takes testing, tracking, solo or top sponsor placments and more testing to pin point ezines with high sales ratio's. Don't give up on the ezine just because a successful ad from another test didn't work. Place another ad, test it, test another and so on. All you need is 5-10 profitable ezines and you'll increase sales and profits for your business.
Ezine Article Advertising & Marketing Blunders
Interested in advertising and marketing your web business with ezine articles? Make any of these blunders and you may cut your response in half.
Blunder Number 1: Not including an author's resource box/ezine advertisement
Yes, there are really authors who don't remember to include an author's resource box (the biography/advertisement at the end of the article). That box is the whole point of distributing articles in the first place. Even if the body of your article has a link to your website, you'll be losing all the clicks from dedicated ezine readers who look for that box at the end of articles they like.Blunder Number 2: Not including a link in your ezine article's author's resource box
There are a shocking number of author's who use an author's resource box to include their email address, telephone number, street address, gym locker combination, and everything else but a link to their website. This is a big waste for two reasons:
Few people will contact you directly without seeing your web page first. At that point, people just aren't motivated enough. All they know about you is that they liked an article you wrote.
Search engines rank web pages in part based on "link popularity" i.e., the number, quality, and relevance of links to a website. You may not care about search engines now, but if you ever do in the future you will be pretty upset at having wasted all these opportunities for link popularity.
Blunder Number 3: Not including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text" in your ezine article's author's resource box
As much as reasonably possible, you want to encourage publishers to publish your author's resource box with the link in HTML, using your chosen anchor text (i.e., the text you click on to follow the link, traditionally displayed in blue and underlined), if it's going to be shown in a web page or HTML newsletter. If the article is being distributed as plain text, you can include a link to an HTML-formatted version on your website. There are three reasons for this:
A link that says "discover widgets" is going to get more clicks than a link that just says "http://www.widgets.com" Your call to action (e.g., "discover widgets") is much more powerful when the reader can read it and act upon it in one split second, since there is not that crucial extra split-second of pause while moving the mouse. In that split-second pause your reader might get second thoughts. With advertising (and the author's resource box is an advertisement), impulse is everything.
Anchor text, like bulleted lists, boldface text, headlines and subheadings, has a higher chance of being read than the rest of the text. People tend to scan computer screens rather than read text word for word. Eyes will be much more likely to slow down from scan mode and actually read anything that stands out from the page, especially hyperlinks. This phenomenon and the psychological power of putting a call to action in the anchor text together mean well-written anchor text might easily double the click-throughs you get on your author's resource box link in HTML newsletters and web pages.
A web page will rank higher for a keyword in search engine results if the anchor text of links to that page has that keyword.
Blunder Number 4: Only including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text"
You really want that anchor-text link, but it is foolish only to provide that link. No matter what you do, a substantial number of publishers will reformat your article as plain text, and your link will simply disappear. That's why you need to have both an HTML link with anchor text and a URL written out in this format: http://www.yoururl.com/page
"But I'm only interested in getting my article on web pages so I can gain link popularity," you say. Well, a large number of plain-text email newsletters will be archived on the website of the newsletter publisher. These newsletter-publisher webmasters won't usually remember at that point to get your HTML version to post online. The standard approach is just to automatically convert the URL to a link using special software.
Remember: the publisher may be operating dozens of ezines and websites, so this whole step will be partially or completely automated, without anyone stopping to check for an HTML version. If you don't have a URL written out in your article, that link will simply be lost.
Besides, think of all the traffic you might have gotten from plain-text newsletter readers. Who would say no to free targeted traffic--isn't that why you want to rank high in search engines in the first place?
In fact, with paid online advertising going for more than a dollar a click on average, you really are throwing money away if you make any of these ezine article marketing and advertising blunders.
Blunder Number 1: Not including an author's resource box/ezine advertisement
Yes, there are really authors who don't remember to include an author's resource box (the biography/advertisement at the end of the article). That box is the whole point of distributing articles in the first place. Even if the body of your article has a link to your website, you'll be losing all the clicks from dedicated ezine readers who look for that box at the end of articles they like.Blunder Number 2: Not including a link in your ezine article's author's resource box
There are a shocking number of author's who use an author's resource box to include their email address, telephone number, street address, gym locker combination, and everything else but a link to their website. This is a big waste for two reasons:
Few people will contact you directly without seeing your web page first. At that point, people just aren't motivated enough. All they know about you is that they liked an article you wrote.
Search engines rank web pages in part based on "link popularity" i.e., the number, quality, and relevance of links to a website. You may not care about search engines now, but if you ever do in the future you will be pretty upset at having wasted all these opportunities for link popularity.
Blunder Number 3: Not including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text" in your ezine article's author's resource box
As much as reasonably possible, you want to encourage publishers to publish your author's resource box with the link in HTML, using your chosen anchor text (i.e., the text you click on to follow the link, traditionally displayed in blue and underlined), if it's going to be shown in a web page or HTML newsletter. If the article is being distributed as plain text, you can include a link to an HTML-formatted version on your website. There are three reasons for this:
A link that says "discover widgets" is going to get more clicks than a link that just says "http://www.widgets.com" Your call to action (e.g., "discover widgets") is much more powerful when the reader can read it and act upon it in one split second, since there is not that crucial extra split-second of pause while moving the mouse. In that split-second pause your reader might get second thoughts. With advertising (and the author's resource box is an advertisement), impulse is everything.
Anchor text, like bulleted lists, boldface text, headlines and subheadings, has a higher chance of being read than the rest of the text. People tend to scan computer screens rather than read text word for word. Eyes will be much more likely to slow down from scan mode and actually read anything that stands out from the page, especially hyperlinks. This phenomenon and the psychological power of putting a call to action in the anchor text together mean well-written anchor text might easily double the click-throughs you get on your author's resource box link in HTML newsletters and web pages.
A web page will rank higher for a keyword in search engine results if the anchor text of links to that page has that keyword.
Blunder Number 4: Only including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text"
You really want that anchor-text link, but it is foolish only to provide that link. No matter what you do, a substantial number of publishers will reformat your article as plain text, and your link will simply disappear. That's why you need to have both an HTML link with anchor text and a URL written out in this format: http://www.yoururl.com/page
"But I'm only interested in getting my article on web pages so I can gain link popularity," you say. Well, a large number of plain-text email newsletters will be archived on the website of the newsletter publisher. These newsletter-publisher webmasters won't usually remember at that point to get your HTML version to post online. The standard approach is just to automatically convert the URL to a link using special software.
Remember: the publisher may be operating dozens of ezines and websites, so this whole step will be partially or completely automated, without anyone stopping to check for an HTML version. If you don't have a URL written out in your article, that link will simply be lost.
Besides, think of all the traffic you might have gotten from plain-text newsletter readers. Who would say no to free targeted traffic--isn't that why you want to rank high in search engines in the first place?
In fact, with paid online advertising going for more than a dollar a click on average, you really are throwing money away if you make any of these ezine article marketing and advertising blunders.
Why Radio Advertising Could Be The Best Thing You Ever Did
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT he'll start talking about.)
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn't test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who's also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad, like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops a few points.
Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.
However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.
Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of your mix.
If people already know you (which they might in your local market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're more likely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what happens when other people pass around your business' e-mails to their friends and family, or send them to your Web site.)
Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:
* Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain't going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots. That's why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio -- for instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.
* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself -- hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you. (Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how many people buy.)
People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an Internet business.
* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.
* Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it's an excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk shows in this.)
* Good support medium -- radio works really well when paired with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).
But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:
* Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background, which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they'll act upon your message.
* Little staying power -- the lack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. At least, that's what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it's that subconscious thing again.
And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your customers' heads, you can actually work this to your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'll also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)
* Hard to track – it's impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.
A final note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind when crafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any other branding info, so it gets into your customers' heads. Don't put in phone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name and repeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.
Creativity Exercise -- How can you use radio in your business?
Would radio work for your business? Let's find out.
Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I'm partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.
On one side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea for my business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is a bad idea for my business.
Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.
You might be more comfortable starting with the side that's easiest for you. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn the reasons around.
For instance, let's say you started with the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completely visual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is so visual, I'll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers' minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they're more likely to remember them."
Or what if you started with a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business is local." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding me back -- I'm only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I'm even going against what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could look for ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the area about your business.)
As you saw by my last example, you'll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even if you don't change your views on radio advertising, you may come up with new and powerful insights to your business.
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn't test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who's also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad, like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops a few points.
Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.
However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.
Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of your mix.
If people already know you (which they might in your local market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're more likely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what happens when other people pass around your business' e-mails to their friends and family, or send them to your Web site.)
Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:
* Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain't going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots. That's why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio -- for instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.
* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself -- hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you. (Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how many people buy.)
People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an Internet business.
* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.
* Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it's an excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk shows in this.)
* Good support medium -- radio works really well when paired with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).
But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:
* Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background, which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they'll act upon your message.
* Little staying power -- the lack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. At least, that's what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it's that subconscious thing again.
And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your customers' heads, you can actually work this to your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'll also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)
* Hard to track – it's impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.
A final note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind when crafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any other branding info, so it gets into your customers' heads. Don't put in phone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name and repeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.
Creativity Exercise -- How can you use radio in your business?
Would radio work for your business? Let's find out.
Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I'm partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.
On one side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea for my business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is a bad idea for my business.
Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.
You might be more comfortable starting with the side that's easiest for you. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn the reasons around.
For instance, let's say you started with the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completely visual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is so visual, I'll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers' minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they're more likely to remember them."
Or what if you started with a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business is local." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding me back -- I'm only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I'm even going against what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could look for ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the area about your business.)
As you saw by my last example, you'll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even if you don't change your views on radio advertising, you may come up with new and powerful insights to your business.
The Quest In Advertising Your Website
Website advertising the unending quest of every web site builder. And Free is a word i work towards. But free on the net has many different meanings and many of them or most of them are not free at all. The most effective means of advertising i have found as i am sure many of you also have discovered are the traffic surfing sites. You register your site on a few or many of them. Advertise your main site as well as put a few of the traffic sites themselves in advertising rotation. In the event that you can get people to sign up to the traffic surfing sites, you gain for yourself a constant stream of credit which constantly show off your main website. Add into your main website free banners that also gain credits and in time you will gain a consistent flow of free advertising. This is one of the methods I use and it really does provide a constant flow through to my main website. Getting people to view your site isn't really that hard. The ideas that you can use are really endless. Getting people to purchase products if you are in affiliate sales ect is a whole different article, many articles really. So we will leave that one too next time. Bye for Now. About the author:Michael J. Keenan (CEO - SitePromotionNow) Worked in affiliate sales and website construction for over 5 years. email: mickyk703@hotmail.com website: http://www.sitepromotionnow.org/
Secrets of Getting Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information.
Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up with an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program - perhaps even saving them time or money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting of advertising circulars on all the free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barber shops. Don't discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekends. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to hand out circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address.
Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space - an arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for "stand-by" space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less than the regular price for the space you need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban and neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch with all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for your running an ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people - a simple one-page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other product on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal of your report and the circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all of these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full page ad on the back of the report, and the other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals.
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One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information.
Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up with an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program - perhaps even saving them time or money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting of advertising circulars on all the free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barber shops. Don't discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekends. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to hand out circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address.
Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space - an arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for "stand-by" space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less than the regular price for the space you need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban and neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch with all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for your running an ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people - a simple one-page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other product on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal of your report and the circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all of these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full page ad on the back of the report, and the other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals.
Want to learn how to start and grow your very own Home Business? If so, visit our internet home based business resource center at http://www.internet-based-home-business-ideas.com/
Market Your Dream Online: Internet Advertising Advice From M
You need to be advertising and marketing your home-based business, but what does it all mean? You need customers. You need sales! But where do you start?
FFA Pages
Banners
Traffic Exchange Programs
Reciprocal LinkingThese are just some of the ways for your home-based business to be advertising and marketing online (meaning on the Internet). But, what do they mean?FFA Pages -- You submit your site to a FFA page (or network of pages) and agree to get one E-mail from every other website that is listed there. Definitely not a good idea (see our Advertising/Marketing page for more details).Banners - These are ads shown at the top (usually) of many webpages and they sometimes rotate to show a different ad each time the page is loaded.Traffic Exchange Programs - You submit your ad to be shown to other members of the program when they load the program start page.Reciprocal Linking - You place a link to someone's website on your site and they place a link to your website on theirs.Other Internet Marketing SuggestionsSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) - Keywords are placed throughout your website's pages to tell the search engines what your page is about. Keywords are simply words (or combinations of words) that describe your business.Content is king. Provide good content (basically, articles about your area of expertise) about your subject and sprinkle the keywords (and combos) through the page. This basic strategy will get you a higher ranking with the search engines and many more customers because you're giving them something that they need -- information!PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising - Instead of submitting your pages for inclusion in the search engine's database, you bid on the keyword(s) that relate to your website. You can find out in advance what other sites have bid for a particular keyword and then decide if you want to outbid the number one spot or maybe bid a little less and get the number two, three, or four spot (or lower if the keyword is expensive).Ezines/Newsletters - These are delivered through E-mail and can be either plain text or HTML with full graphics. Although they can sometimes be expensive, you can get free ads by writing articles about your subject area and contribute them to the ezines. Why would you want to give them away? Because you can put in a "Resource Box" at the end of each article. At the very least this box will contain your name, website address, and a brief one or two line "bio" about you (some ezines allow more room). See, free online advertising for your home-based business!For a more detailed explanation, and more great advice for your home-based business, please visit My Home-Based Business Advisor.
FFA Pages
Banners
Traffic Exchange Programs
Reciprocal LinkingThese are just some of the ways for your home-based business to be advertising and marketing online (meaning on the Internet). But, what do they mean?FFA Pages -- You submit your site to a FFA page (or network of pages) and agree to get one E-mail from every other website that is listed there. Definitely not a good idea (see our Advertising/Marketing page for more details).Banners - These are ads shown at the top (usually) of many webpages and they sometimes rotate to show a different ad each time the page is loaded.Traffic Exchange Programs - You submit your ad to be shown to other members of the program when they load the program start page.Reciprocal Linking - You place a link to someone's website on your site and they place a link to your website on theirs.Other Internet Marketing SuggestionsSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) - Keywords are placed throughout your website's pages to tell the search engines what your page is about. Keywords are simply words (or combinations of words) that describe your business.Content is king. Provide good content (basically, articles about your area of expertise) about your subject and sprinkle the keywords (and combos) through the page. This basic strategy will get you a higher ranking with the search engines and many more customers because you're giving them something that they need -- information!PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising - Instead of submitting your pages for inclusion in the search engine's database, you bid on the keyword(s) that relate to your website. You can find out in advance what other sites have bid for a particular keyword and then decide if you want to outbid the number one spot or maybe bid a little less and get the number two, three, or four spot (or lower if the keyword is expensive).Ezines/Newsletters - These are delivered through E-mail and can be either plain text or HTML with full graphics. Although they can sometimes be expensive, you can get free ads by writing articles about your subject area and contribute them to the ezines. Why would you want to give them away? Because you can put in a "Resource Box" at the end of each article. At the very least this box will contain your name, website address, and a brief one or two line "bio" about you (some ezines allow more room). See, free online advertising for your home-based business!For a more detailed explanation, and more great advice for your home-based business, please visit My Home-Based Business Advisor.
Indirect Advertising
I am reasonably sure that anyone reading this article isfamiliar with all the free online advertising resources suchas the all too familiar Sp-m, Classifieds, FFA pages,Banners, Text Ads, Traffic Exchanges, Newsletters,GuaranteedVisitors, Paid to Read, Paid to Join, Link Swaps, Pop-ups,Other 'In-Your-Face' Ads, and the list goes on and on.The question I would like you to consider is, when you seethis kind of stuff yourself what is your 'Frame of Mind'?My guess is you know what's coming and your shields go up.You pull up your waders and trudge on through, oblivious tothe thousands of messages ricochetting off your armor justso you can collect a few more hits for your own website oroffer. With Millions of would be online marketers doing thishour after hour and day after day, is it any wonder that theInternet slows down to a crawl and even stops at times?So what if you could put your message on hold for a timewhen your prospects finished their 'Direct Advertising'chores. They have returned to their curious wanderingsonline, a time when they are now open to checking thingsout. Instead of shoving your material in their face, theycome looking for you to see what you are doing. Maybe evenask a few questions. Kind of like stopping off for a coldone with the gang after work.The online equivalent to this scene is being played outtoday and every day and you can participate for free. It iscalled 'Social Networking' or even more appropriately forus, 'Business Networking' and is easily found with yourfavorite search engine.Since this can hardly be considered blatant advertising (atleast not directly) I will say the one I am most familiarwith and use myself, is the Ryze Business Network. With afree account they allow you to create a 'Home Page' whereyou can display whatever you want other members to see. Isuggest you tell about yourself instead of wasting it onmore advertising. Those that visit know that they are on aBusiness Network and know you are here because you havesomething for sale.Now, think about what 'Frame of Mind' you would be in if youdropped by a potential friends page to sign their guestbook,looked over their 'Home Page' and decided to click a fewlinks trying to gain more insight into their personality.You might even be considering an alliance or joint venturewith them. Can you see the difference?You are no longer perceived as a 'Salesman' but a 'FellowBusinessperson' instead. Chamber of Commerce 'Mixers' havebeen an example of this approach for years and been verysuccessful. Now you can accomplish nearly the same thing foryour home business from your computer.If this all sounds complicated and too hard to understandhow it could possibly work, I would suggest getting a freeaccount and give it a try. There is free 'Interactive' onthe job training available through sub-networks that fitevery imaginable interest, where you can ask questions andread the answers from your peers. There are facilities to search out those you have a commonconnection with and they have already given you permissionto subtilty contact them by virtue of being a member.Blatant advertising is prohibited so you will not bebombarded with junk ads. It's more like receiving aninvitation that you can read privately and decide if youwant to attend.So now it is all up to you. Continue contributing to thedegradation of Internet bandwidth with huge numbers ofattempts required (many not even reaching the target) to geta single response, or try something new.
How to Breathe New Life into Your Advertising Campaign
If you haven't made many sales or perhaps none at all, don't be discouraged. Use this 10-point checklist to breathe new life into your advertising campaigns and improve your response rate.
>>
Remind people they are ordering through a secure server. Tell them you won't sell or share their e-mail address and that all their information will be kept confidential.
>>
Your advertisement should outline benefits and not just features. In addition, your ad's headline should attract your target audience. You should also list testimonials or guarantees.
Here are two free resources you can use to learn how to write effective ads and headlines.
5,000 Hypnotic Words and Phrases
http://www.incomewaterway.com/free-book
Copywriting E-Course
http://www.red-hot-copy.com/downloads.htm
>>
People usually don't purchase the first time they visit. The more times they visit your site, the greater the chance they will buy. The most effective way to get people to return to your site is to give them a free subscription to your e-zine. You can accomplish this by posting a sign up form or guestbook on your website. You could also list free and low cost resources on your website and update them regularly. Ask visitors to bookmark your site and visit again and again to discover newly added items.
>>
People will feel more comfortable if they know who they are buying from. Publish a section called "About Us" (or "About Me" if you're a sole proprietor) on your web site. Include your business history, profile of employees, contact information etc. Here's an example of my own "About Me" page.
http://www.incomewaterway.com/aboutme
>>
Accept credit cards, checks, money orders, and other forms of electronic payments such as PayPal, ClickBank, etc. Take orders by phone, e-mail, website, fax, mail, etc.
>>
You need your own domain. To find if a name is already taken and to register your own domain name go here:
http://www.godaddy.com/
Make sure your website is easy to navigate through. If you site has dozens of pages, consider including a site map.
Websites are most effective when the material all relates to one theme including the graphics.
Here's where you can find out how to download a free ebook that will help you design effective web pages:
webpages@frogleads.info
>>
When you use free stuff to lure people to your website include it below your ad copy or on another web page. If you list the freebie above your ad they may never look to see what you're selling.
>>
You won't sell steaks to a vegetarian. You want visitors that are interested specifically in what you offer. Consider surveying your existing customers to see what made them decide to buy from you. This information will help you improve your target marketing and advertising.
If you don't yet have a customer base, use ezine advertising to begin building one. Find ezines that cater to an audience interested in your marketing area. For instance, if your product relates to humor find publishers that distribute humor ezines. Here's one of the fastest ways to find the right ezines.
http://www.incomewaterway.com/ezines
>>
Every experienced marketer knows you must work at constantly improving various aspects of your business...especially your ad copy since it's the lifeblood of your business. This is how you get the word out. So, you must be willing to try different headlines and revise ad copy if necessary.
Use an ad tracker for your advertising campaigns to measure how many clickthroughs you receive for a particular ad.
>>
Many people are interested in your product but they put off buying it till later and eventually forget about it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount and include a deadline date when the offer ends.
If your business is at a standstill, it doesn't have to be. Use these 10 techniques to breathe new life into your marketing efforts.
Karin Peavy has marketed online for three years. Her goal is to help others zero in on exactly what's needed for web success. In response to this goal she created http://www.incomewaterway.com/, home to some of the web's best marketing resources including free articles and ecourses. Karin also publishes a free weekly e-newsletter that provides product reviews, income opportunities and marketing tips. Free gift with every subscription: http://www.incomewaterway.com/FreeTips.
You may use this article in your electronic publication or on your website as long as you do not alter the article in any way. You must also include my bio in its entirety.
>>
Remind people they are ordering through a secure server. Tell them you won't sell or share their e-mail address and that all their information will be kept confidential.
>>
Your advertisement should outline benefits and not just features. In addition, your ad's headline should attract your target audience. You should also list testimonials or guarantees.
Here are two free resources you can use to learn how to write effective ads and headlines.
5,000 Hypnotic Words and Phrases
http://www.incomewaterway.com/free-book
Copywriting E-Course
http://www.red-hot-copy.com/downloads.htm
>>
People usually don't purchase the first time they visit. The more times they visit your site, the greater the chance they will buy. The most effective way to get people to return to your site is to give them a free subscription to your e-zine. You can accomplish this by posting a sign up form or guestbook on your website. You could also list free and low cost resources on your website and update them regularly. Ask visitors to bookmark your site and visit again and again to discover newly added items.
>>
People will feel more comfortable if they know who they are buying from. Publish a section called "About Us" (or "About Me" if you're a sole proprietor) on your web site. Include your business history, profile of employees, contact information etc. Here's an example of my own "About Me" page.
http://www.incomewaterway.com/aboutme
>>
Accept credit cards, checks, money orders, and other forms of electronic payments such as PayPal, ClickBank, etc. Take orders by phone, e-mail, website, fax, mail, etc.
>>
You need your own domain. To find if a name is already taken and to register your own domain name go here:
http://www.godaddy.com/
Make sure your website is easy to navigate through. If you site has dozens of pages, consider including a site map.
Websites are most effective when the material all relates to one theme including the graphics.
Here's where you can find out how to download a free ebook that will help you design effective web pages:
webpages@frogleads.info
>>
When you use free stuff to lure people to your website include it below your ad copy or on another web page. If you list the freebie above your ad they may never look to see what you're selling.
>>
You won't sell steaks to a vegetarian. You want visitors that are interested specifically in what you offer. Consider surveying your existing customers to see what made them decide to buy from you. This information will help you improve your target marketing and advertising.
If you don't yet have a customer base, use ezine advertising to begin building one. Find ezines that cater to an audience interested in your marketing area. For instance, if your product relates to humor find publishers that distribute humor ezines. Here's one of the fastest ways to find the right ezines.
http://www.incomewaterway.com/ezines
>>
Every experienced marketer knows you must work at constantly improving various aspects of your business...especially your ad copy since it's the lifeblood of your business. This is how you get the word out. So, you must be willing to try different headlines and revise ad copy if necessary.
Use an ad tracker for your advertising campaigns to measure how many clickthroughs you receive for a particular ad.
>>
Many people are interested in your product but they put off buying it till later and eventually forget about it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount and include a deadline date when the offer ends.
If your business is at a standstill, it doesn't have to be. Use these 10 techniques to breathe new life into your marketing efforts.
Karin Peavy has marketed online for three years. Her goal is to help others zero in on exactly what's needed for web success. In response to this goal she created http://www.incomewaterway.com/, home to some of the web's best marketing resources including free articles and ecourses. Karin also publishes a free weekly e-newsletter that provides product reviews, income opportunities and marketing tips. Free gift with every subscription: http://www.incomewaterway.com/FreeTips.
You may use this article in your electronic publication or on your website as long as you do not alter the article in any way. You must also include my bio in its entirety.
Going Beyond Banner Advertising
A major stumbling block for many internet marketing newbies is the false belief that theplacement of a banner ad on a web page is all that's required to immediately start making a fewsales. This is a false premise. There are a couple of key principles of internet marketing that can prevent any newbie from falling into this enticing trap.No. 1) Choose A Relevant Affiliate ProgramLet's hope at least that as a newbie you have chosen an affiliate program to promote that has relevance to your online interests. As an example, if you have placed a website online that discusses the care of young infants, it is certainly easy enough to find affiliate programs thatdeal with infant health, nutrition, clothing, or even security, such as baby monitors.The affiliate program doesn't have to exactly match your website content, but it should be veryclosely related. If your site is about infants why on earth would you want to promote rock videos?Only perhaps, if you think your own child is a future musical prodigy. Yet, many first-time internet entrepreneurs make just such a mistake. Even an affiliate programthat deals with teens or preschoolers is not close enough, because the people coming toyour site, presumably are not seeking information about those subjects.Tiny infants are not preschoolers.Of course you might make a sale or two, by virtue of blind luck, but that is not the way to run aninternet business. You want at all times to be lean and focused. Don't waste effort promoting anything that is goingto be a hard sell. Your effort is best spent elsewhere.No. 2 ) Write Informative Articles and TestimonialsUsing the same example above, let us propose that you have wisely chosen an affiliate programthat relates to young infants. Now what? You've had your banners up for a month or two, and youjust aren't making many sales. This despite the fact that your site receives a reasonable amount of traffic.One of the problems you've unwittingly created for yourself, is that banner ads are too easily ignored. They are like background music. Each hour online, anyone who surfs the web is going to be bombarded with banner ads, such that they become invisible. And it doesn't matter even if thebanner ads are of excellent quality. They are still banner ads.Text-based ads are a much more effective advertising method, although at first glance it wouldseem exactly the opposite. But, let's look at this idea more closely.Banner ads say out loud that you're attempting to sell something. One of the major precepts of internet marketing is that people DO NOT WANT TO BE SOLD. People are online to gather knowledge. Even if they are online as a time for recreation and pleasure, they are still interestedin learning.Human beings are innately curious. This is a plus for you, as you attempt to make a sale. Here's how.One way to introduce text-ads into your web site is to write articles. Or to write a review of thevery product that you're trying to sell. { you aren't trying to market something you haven't purchased yourself, are you? }Testimonials are an extremely effective advertising device. That's why so many web merchantsplace testimonials on their site, and frequently on the very first page of the site, where thetestimonials are most likely to be viewed.Also, testimonials are a form of "aggressive" advertising, that doesn't look aggressive at all. This is because testimonials deliver valuable information to the consumer. Thus, the consumer is more likely to make a purchase because they never form the negative impressive in their mind, that theyare being SOLD something.A person who is feeling negative is much less likely to decide to make a purchase.~~~~~~One final point before we conclude this article. Banner ads are not going to disappear. They canstill serve a useful purpose. Sometimes a banner ad or two, can help dress-up a drab, uninspired-looking site. You don't want your website to resemble a plain white term paper. A little sizzle is okay. But, NEVER let banner ads be your main advertising method.Also, if every other affiliate is using the same banner ads, then the impactof the ads on your sitewill be further lessened. The key to online marketing success is to be unique. Online, as opposedto the offline world, uniqueness is an endearing trait.Don't plaster those same ads all over your pages everyone else in your marketing niche is using. Write your own articles. The customer will become comfortable that you know what you aretalking about. This gives them a reason to return. { a key factor as people rarely make a purchasethe first time they ever visit a website. }Stay on your toes, don't become complacent, and never miss an opportunity to improve the content,relevance, and usefulness of your site. If you have a thought or an idea about something. Then place it online. You're always more likely to receive a click-through from a well-written informative article than from some flashy banner ad. Give the customer more of what they want,without trying to sell them.That is the simple key to increasing the overall marketing effectiveness of your website.
Advertising Approach For The First-time Webmaster
For the first time internet entrepreneur [newbie] the best ways to promote your website at first instance are :
1. Express inclusion of your website for the usual 12 months offered by most of the major search engines. You can choose express inclusion for askjeeves, inktomi, altavista,msn etc but keep in mind to have your site submitted to the local index of your region.
For example if you reside in Toronto, Canada and you are submitting for express inclusion in the DMOZ or Canada.com search engine/directory you must ensure that your site is indexed in the Toronto's business and economy directory. Get your site in the local index first things first.
If your submission listing includes the regional version of the DMOZ directory then thats good enough to go.
One point to note is that many of the major search engines and directories actually inter-relate that is they search across each other's database therefore submitting to only one major engine or directory will satisfice for the Internet Marketing beginner.
2. Next, the most overlooked approach for the first-time website owner is the maximisation of the benefit of offline marketing methods.
Promote your website in exactly the same way you would have promoted a normal business by telling everyone about it.
Word of mouth is still the best way to promote a new business.
Put your motto and logo along with your url address on everything from a pin to an anchor. From stationery, pens, letterheads, postcards, flyers,posters, in your usual email, the list goes on...
You may consider placing classified ads in the local newspapers.
Run other programs such as sponsoring quizzes, prize competitions, trivia and other participating programs with your website address. You might ask readers to submit the answer to a quiz by visiting you website. Anything that gets the local community to know that your website exists. You can do it !!
FACT : You have to make it local before you go global.
Most start-up webmasters usually make the mistake on concentrating on those numerous ways to promote their site and become confused on deciding what works best. What works best can only be determined by careful evaluation of each and every advertising scheme in use on the web today :
Publisher/advertisers programs
Banner exchanges
Exit ads
Pay-Per-Click
Link Exchanges
Search engine blasting
FFa, classified ad posting
Rotator pages
_JavaScript based pop-ups etc
10.Express submit to search engines
11.Search Engine Optimisation
12.Adwords by Google
13. Others
Its interesting to note that no seller of the above services except for Google and the other search engine services has ever took the time to evaluate your website to decide whether or not your site is most suitable to fit the advertising package they are offering.
The best approach is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Not everything out there works for everybody in every instant. Test your website across every platform say 10000 visitor package each and assess the outcome one by one.
Some will work better than others but the ones returning the higher rate of response doesn't necessarily mean they are the most profitable unless they each cost exactly the same per 1000 visitor.
What I had recommended in the first two paragraphs above should work best for the first-timer and is the most prudent approach.
Be careful when trying to find the best way of advertising, Don't be caught up in the Internet Marketing clutter out there as every you come in contact with will tell you the advertising method they sell is the best.
Ignore whatever testimony you see written on these webpages, use these services under a trial based approach before you order that 100000 package or start paying that monthly subscription.
Any method you are interested in should be test and proven in quality. Careful tjought and consideration should be given in order to plan, make decisions and control your business operating expenses.
What works for seasoned campaigners of Internet Marketing does'nt necessary works in the same way for the starter.
Your website is unique just like your fingerprint and its now your duty to determine the most economic,effective and efficient approach in promoting it.
R. Urien Shaw
Webmarketing Financial
1. Express inclusion of your website for the usual 12 months offered by most of the major search engines. You can choose express inclusion for askjeeves, inktomi, altavista,msn etc but keep in mind to have your site submitted to the local index of your region.
For example if you reside in Toronto, Canada and you are submitting for express inclusion in the DMOZ or Canada.com search engine/directory you must ensure that your site is indexed in the Toronto's business and economy directory. Get your site in the local index first things first.
If your submission listing includes the regional version of the DMOZ directory then thats good enough to go.
One point to note is that many of the major search engines and directories actually inter-relate that is they search across each other's database therefore submitting to only one major engine or directory will satisfice for the Internet Marketing beginner.
2. Next, the most overlooked approach for the first-time website owner is the maximisation of the benefit of offline marketing methods.
Promote your website in exactly the same way you would have promoted a normal business by telling everyone about it.
Word of mouth is still the best way to promote a new business.
Put your motto and logo along with your url address on everything from a pin to an anchor. From stationery, pens, letterheads, postcards, flyers,posters, in your usual email, the list goes on...
You may consider placing classified ads in the local newspapers.
Run other programs such as sponsoring quizzes, prize competitions, trivia and other participating programs with your website address. You might ask readers to submit the answer to a quiz by visiting you website. Anything that gets the local community to know that your website exists. You can do it !!
FACT : You have to make it local before you go global.
Most start-up webmasters usually make the mistake on concentrating on those numerous ways to promote their site and become confused on deciding what works best. What works best can only be determined by careful evaluation of each and every advertising scheme in use on the web today :
Publisher/advertisers programs
Banner exchanges
Exit ads
Pay-Per-Click
Link Exchanges
Search engine blasting
FFa, classified ad posting
Rotator pages
_JavaScript based pop-ups etc
10.Express submit to search engines
11.Search Engine Optimisation
12.Adwords by Google
13. Others
Its interesting to note that no seller of the above services except for Google and the other search engine services has ever took the time to evaluate your website to decide whether or not your site is most suitable to fit the advertising package they are offering.
The best approach is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Not everything out there works for everybody in every instant. Test your website across every platform say 10000 visitor package each and assess the outcome one by one.
Some will work better than others but the ones returning the higher rate of response doesn't necessarily mean they are the most profitable unless they each cost exactly the same per 1000 visitor.
What I had recommended in the first two paragraphs above should work best for the first-timer and is the most prudent approach.
Be careful when trying to find the best way of advertising, Don't be caught up in the Internet Marketing clutter out there as every you come in contact with will tell you the advertising method they sell is the best.
Ignore whatever testimony you see written on these webpages, use these services under a trial based approach before you order that 100000 package or start paying that monthly subscription.
Any method you are interested in should be test and proven in quality. Careful tjought and consideration should be given in order to plan, make decisions and control your business operating expenses.
What works for seasoned campaigners of Internet Marketing does'nt necessary works in the same way for the starter.
Your website is unique just like your fingerprint and its now your duty to determine the most economic,effective and efficient approach in promoting it.
R. Urien Shaw
Webmarketing Financial
Hit the target: Target your advertising to make it pay off
Note from author: This article was originally written for people advertising martial arts schools. The principles of targeting are the same no matter what you are advertising.
How well you target your advertising will determine your advertising success. Targeting means you put your ad in front of the people most likely to respond to it. It also means that you tailor your ad to that audience, so they are more likely to respond.
The first thing you need to do is to figure out who your audience is. If you are trying to sell your kids program you want to target parents. If your ad is for daytime classes you might target stay at home moms. Think about what you want your ad to do and the audience most likely to make it happen.
Make sure your targeted audience has the money to take advantage of your offer. Sending out a direct mail ad for $2000 weekend seminar in a town where biggest employer just laid everybody off is probably not going to work.
Try drawing up a profile of someone in your typical demographic. It might be a list of characteristics like this: Unmarried male age 25-40, college educated, income over $35,000 per year, health conscious (non-smoker) lives within 5 miles of the dojo.
How does this information help you?
The first way this helps you is that it tells you where to place your ad. Going by this demographic profile I might place a print ad in the sports section of the local newspaper. I might also put flyers in health food stores, gyms, and other establishments. I could also predict what radio and TV shows my demographic is likely to watch.
The next way this helps me is that it helps me write my ad. With this demographic I may decide to present my martial arts classes as a powerful, intellectually stimulating, and health promoting experience. I am guessing that these are things my demographic might be interested in.
It will also help me with the design of my ad. I do want my ad to stand out, but I will look at other ads targeted to this demographic and see what other advertisers use to appeal to my audience.
If I were targeting young women (who are sadly underrepresented in the martial arts) I would definitely use a picture of a woman or women in my ad. Martial arts can sometimes be perceived as a boy's game – so, to attract women you have to show that your school is also appealing to women. I might even have glowing testimonials from several of your female students.
Severe WARNING: I do not use fear to advertise my self defense or martial arts classes. I once read an ad - printed in red, which talked about how women who didn't sign up for a self defense class might be the victim of sexual assault. I not only find this in really bad taste, but it's a terrible advertising idea.
Your ads should only be about positive things or people will start to associate being scared with your school. This is an important concept when it comes to "branding". People should associate feeling empowered with your school.
To fill your kids' classes with vibrant energetic youth, you want to attract parents who want the best for their kids. Your ad should make parents feel like they are really doing right by their kids by signing them up. Tell them how your young students get better grades, have more self-discipline, and wind up happier kids with lots of friends who are into healthy activities.
Place your ad for kids classes in a local paper when they run a special article or section on parenting. Place your ads at a local arcade, or grocery store. Look for parents with young kids – not babies and toddlers unless you're teaching baby kung-fu.
How well you target your advertising will determine your advertising success. Targeting means you put your ad in front of the people most likely to respond to it. It also means that you tailor your ad to that audience, so they are more likely to respond.
The first thing you need to do is to figure out who your audience is. If you are trying to sell your kids program you want to target parents. If your ad is for daytime classes you might target stay at home moms. Think about what you want your ad to do and the audience most likely to make it happen.
Make sure your targeted audience has the money to take advantage of your offer. Sending out a direct mail ad for $2000 weekend seminar in a town where biggest employer just laid everybody off is probably not going to work.
Try drawing up a profile of someone in your typical demographic. It might be a list of characteristics like this: Unmarried male age 25-40, college educated, income over $35,000 per year, health conscious (non-smoker) lives within 5 miles of the dojo.
How does this information help you?
The first way this helps you is that it tells you where to place your ad. Going by this demographic profile I might place a print ad in the sports section of the local newspaper. I might also put flyers in health food stores, gyms, and other establishments. I could also predict what radio and TV shows my demographic is likely to watch.
The next way this helps me is that it helps me write my ad. With this demographic I may decide to present my martial arts classes as a powerful, intellectually stimulating, and health promoting experience. I am guessing that these are things my demographic might be interested in.
It will also help me with the design of my ad. I do want my ad to stand out, but I will look at other ads targeted to this demographic and see what other advertisers use to appeal to my audience.
If I were targeting young women (who are sadly underrepresented in the martial arts) I would definitely use a picture of a woman or women in my ad. Martial arts can sometimes be perceived as a boy's game – so, to attract women you have to show that your school is also appealing to women. I might even have glowing testimonials from several of your female students.
Severe WARNING: I do not use fear to advertise my self defense or martial arts classes. I once read an ad - printed in red, which talked about how women who didn't sign up for a self defense class might be the victim of sexual assault. I not only find this in really bad taste, but it's a terrible advertising idea.
Your ads should only be about positive things or people will start to associate being scared with your school. This is an important concept when it comes to "branding". People should associate feeling empowered with your school.
To fill your kids' classes with vibrant energetic youth, you want to attract parents who want the best for their kids. Your ad should make parents feel like they are really doing right by their kids by signing them up. Tell them how your young students get better grades, have more self-discipline, and wind up happier kids with lots of friends who are into healthy activities.
Place your ad for kids classes in a local paper when they run a special article or section on parenting. Place your ads at a local arcade, or grocery store. Look for parents with young kids – not babies and toddlers unless you're teaching baby kung-fu.
How To Properly Use Ezine Advertising - Part Three
ANALYZING EZINES
After having selected ezines to advertise your program in based on how the content of the ezines relate to what you wish to advertise, there is still another process to choosing the best ezines for your marketing dollars.
Analyzing the ezines is a rather subjective process, however. There are no hard and fast rules to follow that give you a clear indication of whether or not an ezine is worth the cost. However, there is an information gathering process that can help you to make better decisions.
AD FORMATTING
One important aspect is how ads are handled in the ezine itself. Where are the ads located in the ezine? Are they made visible by being placed directly between or at the start of the articles, or are they pushed all to the end of the ezine or published separately in an ad sheet?
How many ads are run in each issue? Are the headlines of the ads offset to attract attention, are the ads separated in some way from each other, or does the entire ad section look like one big chunk of text?
Naturally, anything the ezine publisher does to give visibility to the ads is a plus for you as an advertiser.
SUBSCRIBERS: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?
Don't be afraid to contact the editor, publisher, or advertising agent of an ezine and ask them some questions. Find out not only how many subscribers they have, but get their opinion of what type of markets their subscribers are interested in, AND how they get their subscribers.
Some marketing practices, such as automatically subscribing people that post to an FFA or ad site, may pull a lot of subscribers for an ezine, but result in very little readers. Ads for subs programs also have mixed results. Some stick around and read the ezine, but many don't. The best subscribers are those that are completely volunteer opt in readers.
However, many ezines use multiple means of gaining subscribers and while some use not so great methods, they may also clean their lists of non-responsive subscribers regularly. That's why it is best to ask and make a judgment based on the answer you receive. This may take some practice and trial and error, but at least if you have the information you are giving yourself something to learn from. So, ask where, how, and what type of subscribers the ezine has. Ask how effectively they retain subscribers as well. That is a good indication of many subscribers are reading the ezine and viewing it as worthwhile.
FREE vs. PAID ADVERTISING
There are many ezines that do offer free ads to their subscribers. Some of these are worthwhile others are not. It really comes down to reader involvement. If people are still reading the ezine and not just subscribed to put their ad in every week, it may be worth your time. If the ezine has passed all of you're other criteria up to this point, it has to be worth a shot. At least this costs you nothing but your time.
Paid advertising at this point where you have studied, selected, and analyzed many ezines and come up with a short list is definitely going to be worth the cost.
Let's just review what you have gone through in selecting the ezines to advertise in.
1. Targeted Content that matches the product, service, or opportunity you are advertising. 2. Acceptable Potential Market based on the content of the ezine and what the ezine's editor says about his or her subscriber's interests. 3. Acceptable Ad Formatting and Placement in the Ezine. 4. Acceptable Subscriber Base as described by the way the ezine gets it's subscribers and keeps them.
Now comes the kicker, ad cost. What's a good price, and what isn't?
Well, it just depends. That's not what you wanted to hear, I know. You'd rather I provided a simple rule to go by that made all of your decisions for you. Sorry, but I don't believe that is possible. It is a big subject, however, so we'd best save it for the final installment in this series.
Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/ Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html
After having selected ezines to advertise your program in based on how the content of the ezines relate to what you wish to advertise, there is still another process to choosing the best ezines for your marketing dollars.
Analyzing the ezines is a rather subjective process, however. There are no hard and fast rules to follow that give you a clear indication of whether or not an ezine is worth the cost. However, there is an information gathering process that can help you to make better decisions.
AD FORMATTING
One important aspect is how ads are handled in the ezine itself. Where are the ads located in the ezine? Are they made visible by being placed directly between or at the start of the articles, or are they pushed all to the end of the ezine or published separately in an ad sheet?
How many ads are run in each issue? Are the headlines of the ads offset to attract attention, are the ads separated in some way from each other, or does the entire ad section look like one big chunk of text?
Naturally, anything the ezine publisher does to give visibility to the ads is a plus for you as an advertiser.
SUBSCRIBERS: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?
Don't be afraid to contact the editor, publisher, or advertising agent of an ezine and ask them some questions. Find out not only how many subscribers they have, but get their opinion of what type of markets their subscribers are interested in, AND how they get their subscribers.
Some marketing practices, such as automatically subscribing people that post to an FFA or ad site, may pull a lot of subscribers for an ezine, but result in very little readers. Ads for subs programs also have mixed results. Some stick around and read the ezine, but many don't. The best subscribers are those that are completely volunteer opt in readers.
However, many ezines use multiple means of gaining subscribers and while some use not so great methods, they may also clean their lists of non-responsive subscribers regularly. That's why it is best to ask and make a judgment based on the answer you receive. This may take some practice and trial and error, but at least if you have the information you are giving yourself something to learn from. So, ask where, how, and what type of subscribers the ezine has. Ask how effectively they retain subscribers as well. That is a good indication of many subscribers are reading the ezine and viewing it as worthwhile.
FREE vs. PAID ADVERTISING
There are many ezines that do offer free ads to their subscribers. Some of these are worthwhile others are not. It really comes down to reader involvement. If people are still reading the ezine and not just subscribed to put their ad in every week, it may be worth your time. If the ezine has passed all of you're other criteria up to this point, it has to be worth a shot. At least this costs you nothing but your time.
Paid advertising at this point where you have studied, selected, and analyzed many ezines and come up with a short list is definitely going to be worth the cost.
Let's just review what you have gone through in selecting the ezines to advertise in.
1. Targeted Content that matches the product, service, or opportunity you are advertising. 2. Acceptable Potential Market based on the content of the ezine and what the ezine's editor says about his or her subscriber's interests. 3. Acceptable Ad Formatting and Placement in the Ezine. 4. Acceptable Subscriber Base as described by the way the ezine gets it's subscribers and keeps them.
Now comes the kicker, ad cost. What's a good price, and what isn't?
Well, it just depends. That's not what you wanted to hear, I know. You'd rather I provided a simple rule to go by that made all of your decisions for you. Sorry, but I don't believe that is possible. It is a big subject, however, so we'd best save it for the final installment in this series.
Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/ Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html
The Online Advertising Scandal
The World Wide Web was an enormous step for mankind, a step not seen since Neil Armstrong sullied the surface of the moon. The idea behind the WWW came across as a veritable information highway where documents, data and info could be rapidly sent and accessed by millions the world over. The potential behind the web is enormous and even now the scope is not fully utilized. The possibilities for growth, for extended usage, are available and enormous yet the system is stagnating and it is very possible that people will soon turn away. The average person seeking information may well return to old-fashioned libraries and the good old book to find the information that they require if the face and image of the WWW is not altered very soon and in-line with customer demand.
The ability of any user to gain information from the Internet is enormous, simple and with positive results. But the information received is increasingly becoming that which a paying body prescribes and thus is advertisement biased or pointed towards the end purchase of a product. Hotels advertise a city or holiday resort with the point of view of potential tourists coming to stay. A detailed description of moon cakes in Taiwan although complete and detailed would certainly be with aim to make people buy some from the store hosting the website involved.
Initially the Internet was heralded as a one-stop point for gaining any type or form of information with the click of the mouse. This is certainly true except with regard to loose information that has no affiliation towards an end purchase or a users change of heart. Certainly this type of information is available and millions of websites exist but unless a user has prior information on how to access this site then the chance of it being found amongst the masses is minimal. Most web users find or locate information by using a search engine. Most web users input their request and wait for results to come up as prescribed and ordered by the search engine system. If for example a request was entered for “travel tales on the sea” many, possibly thousands of choices will appear in return. Number one in the pole position will probably be Amazon.com who feels certain that anybody looking for a story would probably find it amongst their collection – naturally obtainable at a price. The next on the list might be Ebay who feel that certain travel products might appease the searcher or it might be goarticles.com an articles selling service who would assume that travel tales of the sea would be somebody looking to buy such from them and for their own use.
Certainly each and every result that is produced on the first page would point the user towards large companies who are selling an item of one sort or another. The user though may in fact just want to read some Travel Tales of the Sea without having to fork out cash or to issue his/her credit card information over the Internet.
In the bowels of the search results in pages that are covered in dust will reside some very comprehensive and useful websites, eg: http://www.seadolby.com/ a website that is filled with free and in-depth Travel Tales of the Sea. The possibility of any user keeping interest long enough to get to this web site listing is minimal and long before it is reached the user has either fallen asleep or entered another search on a different note. In short the average user does not get past the first page of a search engines results and probably not past the first three that come up: e.g. amazon.com, ebay.com and goarticles.com
Although not-for-profit informational web sites are many and filled with amazing and detailed info these sites ability to gain attention on the world stage is difficult unless money is poured in to boost their ratings and rank positions on the search engine results. Nowadays many search engines have entered the pay-per-click arena with companies putting forward money to buy keywords that will most likely be used to boost their website. Some company buys the word “Travel” and this word is then basically lost forever to the lone free-for-all info site who cannot afford to pay money to boost their popularity.
The art of advertising and paying for positions on search engines is only available to the sites that can afford the exorbitant fees. Should a lone site owner who has built his site-up decide to fork out of his own pocket the money to boost his ratings this will only be achieved on one or two search engines or directories and the amount required to compete with the mega-sites is far beyond any hobbyist can afford. Naturally the ability to submit ones site on free inclusion pages and directories is available but as the webmaster and author behind Seamania found out, so much energy and time is spent on advancing the ratings of his site that not enough time is given to the writing of travel tales of the sea, which of course is the basis and sole point behind the website in the first place.
Large for profit websites can afford to hire web-orientated staff to control, advertise and spend time on boosting the rankings of their particular website. Single owner for profit websites can afford to pay marketing specialists and to buy keywords at exorbitant rates. The lone not-for-profit website owner can either spend all day and all week controlling and submitting his site to the thousands of ever changing search engines and directories and suffer from a serious loss of updated content on his/her website or place emphasis on building up content and never have a visitor to his portal.
Many other factors go towards reducing the effectiveness of the individual website than just search result rankings. Many single website owners operate outdated and very slow computers, use old or outdated software and only perform on odd occasions when not playing with their children or busy at work. Many other free info sites have found that subscribing to some lists to boost their rankings has in-fact reduced them to near invisibility. Google and now other search engines condemn sites for using link pages that they themselves do not agree with, so by simply subscribing or joining one of these sites Google may drop a future crawl of the website involved. It is also impossible for the lone not-for-profit website to keep up with ever changing trends and policies. Where payment is made for a lifetimes inclusion in a search engine, the next year may see the demise of this particular engine or its partnering up with another – thus the lifetimes inclusion becomes null and void and to prevent being dropped from the listings another fee is required – read the small print!
Other means to increase visibility is often initiated by offering advertising space to companies like Google, Barnes and Noble or other directories or affiliates. This can result in a slight income for websites (The Seamania website made 40US dollars over the last three months) but never enough to afford placement on search engine results or to purchase keywords. It is also against the grain for many free-info website owners to have to place advertising on their websites as not only is it taking up valuable space it detracts and reduces the free effect the content within. Furthermore should a website choose one companies advertising it may boost their rankings within one search engine but equally so reduce it in another’s e.g. allowing Google advertising space on an index page may increase the page rank in Google but seriously reduce it in Yahoos search results and possible exclusion from their Yahoo Directory.
>From the point of view of an Internet User in search of free and not-for-profit biased information he/she does not want to see endless sites where a visa card is required to proceed further. It would be very nice to see the advancement of such directories like Zeal.com who divide their listings into those for profit and those who generally provide valuable and non-profit orientated formation. Naturally the question arises as to how such a search engine would manage to cover the costs of these listings but generally with the amount of people available who regard the Internet as a toy and a hobby projects such as Editor of a category volunteers should not be hard to recruit. The other way would be to have search engines run and operated by governments like public libraries are or built and operated by universities as part of study programs – something practical for students to involve themselves with.
Directories abound whose content is managed by volunteers, the Open Directory Project being the most famous. But sites such as Seamania have found to their detriment that trying to get noticed in amongst the debris found in these directories is not easy. Seamania was originally listed as a Personal website in the boating category but over time the emphasis and content of the website has evolved to become a general travel website. It has though proved impossible to change the location of the site in the Dmoz directory to a travel listing rather than a boating listing.
If at all possible and to prevent users who are sick of being asked for their credit card information or being given 30 different porn sites upon entering Travel Tales of the Sea into a search engine, it would be nice to see a shift in emphasis in the way that the search engines operate their listings.
Certainly the idea of switching on a computer and being faced with two choices, one for sites that are-for-profit and one that points towards not-for-profit sites would be a dream come true. To enter in a search request and to not find amazon.com or ebay.com in the first few results would put cheer to any searchers hopes of finding what he wants. And maybe in this way a true exchange of information may be facilitated and the mass exodus of searchers back to the public library for information may be halted.
The ability of any user to gain information from the Internet is enormous, simple and with positive results. But the information received is increasingly becoming that which a paying body prescribes and thus is advertisement biased or pointed towards the end purchase of a product. Hotels advertise a city or holiday resort with the point of view of potential tourists coming to stay. A detailed description of moon cakes in Taiwan although complete and detailed would certainly be with aim to make people buy some from the store hosting the website involved.
Initially the Internet was heralded as a one-stop point for gaining any type or form of information with the click of the mouse. This is certainly true except with regard to loose information that has no affiliation towards an end purchase or a users change of heart. Certainly this type of information is available and millions of websites exist but unless a user has prior information on how to access this site then the chance of it being found amongst the masses is minimal. Most web users find or locate information by using a search engine. Most web users input their request and wait for results to come up as prescribed and ordered by the search engine system. If for example a request was entered for “travel tales on the sea” many, possibly thousands of choices will appear in return. Number one in the pole position will probably be Amazon.com who feels certain that anybody looking for a story would probably find it amongst their collection – naturally obtainable at a price. The next on the list might be Ebay who feel that certain travel products might appease the searcher or it might be goarticles.com an articles selling service who would assume that travel tales of the sea would be somebody looking to buy such from them and for their own use.
Certainly each and every result that is produced on the first page would point the user towards large companies who are selling an item of one sort or another. The user though may in fact just want to read some Travel Tales of the Sea without having to fork out cash or to issue his/her credit card information over the Internet.
In the bowels of the search results in pages that are covered in dust will reside some very comprehensive and useful websites, eg: http://www.seadolby.com/ a website that is filled with free and in-depth Travel Tales of the Sea. The possibility of any user keeping interest long enough to get to this web site listing is minimal and long before it is reached the user has either fallen asleep or entered another search on a different note. In short the average user does not get past the first page of a search engines results and probably not past the first three that come up: e.g. amazon.com, ebay.com and goarticles.com
Although not-for-profit informational web sites are many and filled with amazing and detailed info these sites ability to gain attention on the world stage is difficult unless money is poured in to boost their ratings and rank positions on the search engine results. Nowadays many search engines have entered the pay-per-click arena with companies putting forward money to buy keywords that will most likely be used to boost their website. Some company buys the word “Travel” and this word is then basically lost forever to the lone free-for-all info site who cannot afford to pay money to boost their popularity.
The art of advertising and paying for positions on search engines is only available to the sites that can afford the exorbitant fees. Should a lone site owner who has built his site-up decide to fork out of his own pocket the money to boost his ratings this will only be achieved on one or two search engines or directories and the amount required to compete with the mega-sites is far beyond any hobbyist can afford. Naturally the ability to submit ones site on free inclusion pages and directories is available but as the webmaster and author behind Seamania found out, so much energy and time is spent on advancing the ratings of his site that not enough time is given to the writing of travel tales of the sea, which of course is the basis and sole point behind the website in the first place.
Large for profit websites can afford to hire web-orientated staff to control, advertise and spend time on boosting the rankings of their particular website. Single owner for profit websites can afford to pay marketing specialists and to buy keywords at exorbitant rates. The lone not-for-profit website owner can either spend all day and all week controlling and submitting his site to the thousands of ever changing search engines and directories and suffer from a serious loss of updated content on his/her website or place emphasis on building up content and never have a visitor to his portal.
Many other factors go towards reducing the effectiveness of the individual website than just search result rankings. Many single website owners operate outdated and very slow computers, use old or outdated software and only perform on odd occasions when not playing with their children or busy at work. Many other free info sites have found that subscribing to some lists to boost their rankings has in-fact reduced them to near invisibility. Google and now other search engines condemn sites for using link pages that they themselves do not agree with, so by simply subscribing or joining one of these sites Google may drop a future crawl of the website involved. It is also impossible for the lone not-for-profit website to keep up with ever changing trends and policies. Where payment is made for a lifetimes inclusion in a search engine, the next year may see the demise of this particular engine or its partnering up with another – thus the lifetimes inclusion becomes null and void and to prevent being dropped from the listings another fee is required – read the small print!
Other means to increase visibility is often initiated by offering advertising space to companies like Google, Barnes and Noble or other directories or affiliates. This can result in a slight income for websites (The Seamania website made 40US dollars over the last three months) but never enough to afford placement on search engine results or to purchase keywords. It is also against the grain for many free-info website owners to have to place advertising on their websites as not only is it taking up valuable space it detracts and reduces the free effect the content within. Furthermore should a website choose one companies advertising it may boost their rankings within one search engine but equally so reduce it in another’s e.g. allowing Google advertising space on an index page may increase the page rank in Google but seriously reduce it in Yahoos search results and possible exclusion from their Yahoo Directory.
>From the point of view of an Internet User in search of free and not-for-profit biased information he/she does not want to see endless sites where a visa card is required to proceed further. It would be very nice to see the advancement of such directories like Zeal.com who divide their listings into those for profit and those who generally provide valuable and non-profit orientated formation. Naturally the question arises as to how such a search engine would manage to cover the costs of these listings but generally with the amount of people available who regard the Internet as a toy and a hobby projects such as Editor of a category volunteers should not be hard to recruit. The other way would be to have search engines run and operated by governments like public libraries are or built and operated by universities as part of study programs – something practical for students to involve themselves with.
Directories abound whose content is managed by volunteers, the Open Directory Project being the most famous. But sites such as Seamania have found to their detriment that trying to get noticed in amongst the debris found in these directories is not easy. Seamania was originally listed as a Personal website in the boating category but over time the emphasis and content of the website has evolved to become a general travel website. It has though proved impossible to change the location of the site in the Dmoz directory to a travel listing rather than a boating listing.
If at all possible and to prevent users who are sick of being asked for their credit card information or being given 30 different porn sites upon entering Travel Tales of the Sea into a search engine, it would be nice to see a shift in emphasis in the way that the search engines operate their listings.
Certainly the idea of switching on a computer and being faced with two choices, one for sites that are-for-profit and one that points towards not-for-profit sites would be a dream come true. To enter in a search request and to not find amazon.com or ebay.com in the first few results would put cheer to any searchers hopes of finding what he wants. And maybe in this way a true exchange of information may be facilitated and the mass exodus of searchers back to the public library for information may be halted.
The Online Advertising Confusion
The World Wide Web was an enormous step for mankind, a step not seen since Neil Armstrong sullied the surface of the moon. The idea behind the WWW came across as a veritable information highway where documents, data and info could be rapidly sent and accessed by millions the world over. The potential behind the web is enormous and even now the scope is not fully utilized. The possibilities for growth, for extended usage, are available and enormous yet the system is stagnating and it is very possible that people will soon turn away. The average person seeking information may well return to old-fashioned libraries and the good old book to find the information that they require if the face and image of the WWW is not altered very soon and in-line with customer demand.The ability of any user to gain information from the Internet is enormous, simple and with positive results. But the information received is increasingly becoming that which a paying body prescribes and thus is advertisement biased or pointed towards the end purchase of a product. Hotels advertise a city or holiday resort with the point of view of potential tourists coming to stay. A detailed description of moon cakes in Taiwan although complete and detailed would certainly be with aim to make people buy some from the store hosting the website involved.Initially the Internet was heralded as a one-stop point for gaining any type or form of information with the click of the mouse. This is certainly true except with regard to loose information that has no affiliation towards an end purchase or a users change of heart. Certainly this type of information is available and millions of websites exist but unless a user has prior information on how to access this site then the chance of it being found amongst the masses is minimal. Most web users find or locate information by using a search engine. Most web users input their request and wait for results to come up as prescribed and ordered by the search engine system. If for example a request was entered for “travel tales on the sea” many, possibly thousands of choices will appear in return. Number one in the pole position will probably be Amazon.com who feels certain that anybody looking for a story would probably find it amongst their collection – naturally obtainable at a price. The next on the list might be Ebay who feel that certain travel products might appease the searcher or it might be goarticles.com an articles selling service who would assume that travel tales of the sea would be somebody looking to buy such from them and for their own use.Certainly each and every result that is produced on the first page would point the user towards large companies who are selling an item of one sort or another. The user though may in fact just want to read some Travel Tales of the Sea without having to fork out cash or to issue his/her credit card information over the Internet.In the bowels of the search results in pages that are covered in dust will reside some very comprehensive and useful websites, eg: http://www.seadolby.com a website that is filled with free and in-depth Travel Tales of the Sea. The possibility of any user keeping interest long enough to get to this web site listing is minimal and long before it is reached the user has either fallen asleep or entered another search on a different note. In short the average user does not get past the first page of a search engines results and probably not past the first three that come up: e.g. amazon.com, ebay.com and goarticles.comAlthough not-for-profit informational web sites are many and filled with amazing and detailed info these sites ability to gain attention on the world stage is difficult unless money is poured in to boost their ratings and rank positions on the search engine results. Nowadays many search engines have entered the pay-per-click arena with companies putting forward money to buy keywords that will most likely be used to boost their website. Some company buys the word “Travel” and this word is then basically lost forever to the lone free-for-all info site who cannot afford to pay money to boost their popularity.The art of advertising and paying for positions on search engines is only available to the sites that can afford the exorbitant fees. Should a lone site owner who has built his site-up decide to fork out of his own pocket the money to boost his ratings this will only be achieved on one or two search engines or directories and the amount required to compete with the mega-sites is far beyond any hobbyist can afford. Naturally the ability to submit ones site on free inclusion pages and directories is available but as the webmaster and author behind Seamania found out, so much energy and time is spent on advancing the ratings of his site that not enough time is given to the writing of travel tales of the sea, which of course is the basis and sole point behind the website in the first place.Large for profit websites can afford to hire web-orientated staff to control, advertise and spend time on boosting the rankings of their particular website. Single owner for profit websites can afford to pay marketing specialists and to buy keywords at exorbitant rates. The lone not-for-profit website owner can either spend all day and all week controlling and submitting his site to the thousands of ever changing search engines and directories and suffer from a serious loss of updated content on his/her website or place emphasis on building up content and never have a visitor to his portal.Many other factors go towards reducing the effectiveness of the individual website than just search result rankings. Many single website owners operate outdated and very slow computers, use old or outdated software and only perform on odd occasions when not playing with their children or busy at work. Many other free info sites have found that subscribing to some lists to boost their rankings has in-fact reduced them to near invisibility. Google and now other search engines condemn sites for using link pages that they themselves do not agree with, so by simply subscribing or joining one of these sites Google may drop a future crawl of the website involved. It is also impossible for the lone not-for-profit website to keep up with ever changing trends and policies. Where payment is made for a lifetimes inclusion in a search engine, the next year may see the demise of this particular engine or its partnering up with another – thus the lifetimes inclusion becomes null and void and to prevent being dropped from the listings another fee is required – read the small print! Other means to increase visibility is often initiated by offering advertising space to companies like Google, Barnes and Noble or other directories or affiliates. This can result in a slight income for websites (The Seamania website made 40US dollars over the last three months) but never enough to afford placement on search engine results or to purchase keywords. It is also against the grain for many free-info website owners to have to place advertising on their websites as not only is it taking up valuable space it detracts and reduces the free effect the content within. Furthermore should a website choose one companies advertising it may boost their rankings within one search engine but equally so reduce it in another’s e.g. allowing Google advertising space on an index page may increase the page rank in Google but seriously reduce it in Yahoos search results and possible exclusion from their Yahoo Directory.From the point of view of an Internet User in search of free and not-for-profit biased information he/she does not want to see endless sites where a visa card is required to proceed further. It would be very nice to see the advancement of such directories like Zeal.com who divide their listings into those for profit and those who generally provide valuable and non-profit orientated formation. Naturally the question arises as to how such a search engine would manage to cover the costs of these listings but generally with the amount of people available who regard the Internet as a toy and a hobby projects such as Editor of a category volunteers should not be hard to recruit. The other way would be to have search engines run and operated by governments like public libraries are or built and operated by universities as part of study programs – something practical for students to involve themselves with.Directories abound whose content is managed by volunteers, the Open Directory Project being the most famous. But sites such as Seamania have found to their detriment that trying to get noticed in amongst the debris found in these directories is not easy. Seamania was originally listed as a Personal website in the boating category but over time the emphasis and content of the website has evolved to become a general travel website. It has though proved impossible to change the location of the site in the Dmoz directory to a travel listing rather than a boating listing.If at all possible and to prevent users who are sick of being asked for their credit card information or being given 30 different porn sites upon entering Travel Tales of the Sea into a search engine, it would be nice to see a shift in emphasis in the way that the search engines operate their listings.Certainly the idea of switching on a computer and being faced with two choices, one for sites that are-for-profit and one that points towards not-for-profit sites would be a dream come true. To enter in a search request and to not find amazon.com or ebay.com in the first few results would put cheer to any searchers hopes of finding what he wants. And maybe in this way a true exchange of information may be facilitated and the mass exodus of searchers back to the public library for information may be halted.
The Long Term Benefits From Pay Per Click Advertising
The long term benefits from pay per click advertising.
Businesses are starting to look closely at the long-term benefits from pay per click advertising. Pay per click search engines are primarily used for sales in the now time frame, but they are also being used to build a business identity that their customers will remember. This form of brand awareness can be applied to a company of any size, large or small. If you take a look at a traditional magazine or newspaper ad, the companies are using that advertising to increase their brand awareness. The purpose of the ad is to direct the customer to their products or services but there is no chance to make a sale immediately. They are referred to a website or a retailer. When search engine advertising, as potential customers search the web looking for a product or service and see the same site come up in their searches time and time again it begins to create that same brand awareness for that product or service.
Over 85% of all searches on the Internet are done through search engines and they are the best tools for enhancing a company’s identity. They are identity builders, and they direct targeted consumers who are looking for your product or service right to your doorstep. In the long term, brand awareness can bring visitors to their site without additional advertising. By using the power of search engines you can use the Internet to deliver a targeted prospective customer who is actively looking for your products or services right to your doorstep and build long term brand awareness at the same time.
Businesses are starting to look closely at the long-term benefits from pay per click advertising. Pay per click search engines are primarily used for sales in the now time frame, but they are also being used to build a business identity that their customers will remember. This form of brand awareness can be applied to a company of any size, large or small. If you take a look at a traditional magazine or newspaper ad, the companies are using that advertising to increase their brand awareness. The purpose of the ad is to direct the customer to their products or services but there is no chance to make a sale immediately. They are referred to a website or a retailer. When search engine advertising, as potential customers search the web looking for a product or service and see the same site come up in their searches time and time again it begins to create that same brand awareness for that product or service.
Over 85% of all searches on the Internet are done through search engines and they are the best tools for enhancing a company’s identity. They are identity builders, and they direct targeted consumers who are looking for your product or service right to your doorstep. In the long term, brand awareness can bring visitors to their site without additional advertising. By using the power of search engines you can use the Internet to deliver a targeted prospective customer who is actively looking for your products or services right to your doorstep and build long term brand awareness at the same time.
The Importance of Advertising Your Home Business
The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, no business can exist for very long.
All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.
Generally, the "ad writer" wants the prospect to do one of the following:
Visit the store or website to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check or use a credit card and send for the merchandise being advertised.
Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.
The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what's written about the product - is not doing its job completely.
The "ad writer" must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.
In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all ads are written according to a simple "master formula" which is:
Attract the "attention" of your prospect.
"Interest" your prospect in the product
Cause your prospect to "desire" the product
Demand "action" from the prospect
Never forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting: If the ad is not read, it won't stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!
Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you're just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success in your home business.
Discover more Home Business Tips - subscribe to my newsletter- wealthsystemonline@getresponse.com. Kevin Purfield owns the Wealth System Online Resource Directory where you can find everything you need to start, run and grow a home based internet business at: http://www.wealthsystemonline.com/
All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.
Generally, the "ad writer" wants the prospect to do one of the following:
Visit the store or website to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check or use a credit card and send for the merchandise being advertised.
Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.
The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what's written about the product - is not doing its job completely.
The "ad writer" must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.
In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all ads are written according to a simple "master formula" which is:
Attract the "attention" of your prospect.
"Interest" your prospect in the product
Cause your prospect to "desire" the product
Demand "action" from the prospect
Never forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting: If the ad is not read, it won't stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!
Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you're just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success in your home business.
Discover more Home Business Tips - subscribe to my newsletter- wealthsystemonline@getresponse.com. Kevin Purfield owns the Wealth System Online Resource Directory where you can find everything you need to start, run and grow a home based internet business at: http://www.wealthsystemonline.com/
Small Home Business: Unique Free Advertising For Business Ow
If you find these ideas for free small business advertising a little unusual, that’s not surprising. They are. The reason you may have not heard about them is probably because most business people use the same, traditional forms of advertising paths. If you are looking for something to supplement your existing forms of advertising, these ideas may have the power to lift your sales and expand your business without a large financial outlay.1. Give TestimonialsWhen you purchase a product or service and it exceeds your expectations e-mail the business a testimonial. Tell them in the testimonial the benefits you got from the product or service. Give them permission to publish the testimonial on their web site, in their advertising brochures or other advertising material if they include a short signature about your self. At the end of this article you will find an example of a short signature.2. Leave A MessageParticipate in local online community discussion boards and other local online discussion groups. When you visit a web site with a discussion board leave a message. You could post a question, interesting content or a compliment about their web site. Include your signature file at the end of the message. Some discussion boards let you post your banner ad or text link.3. Sign Guest BooksWhen you visit a well-designed web site leave a compliment on their guest book. You could give them a compliment on their content, ease of navigation, graphics and so on. When you post your compliment include your signature file so other people will see it when they sign the guest book.4. Write A ReviewWhen you visit a web site you enjoyed a lot write a review for the web site. Write about the benefits you gain from the site, the web site design, interesting online services it offers and the like. E-mail the review to the web site. Tell them they can publish it on their web site if they include your signature file at the end.5. Send An E-mail To The EditorWhen you read a good article or enjoy a certain magazine, e-mail a compliment to the editor. Give the editor permission to publish the compliment in magazine if they include your signature file at the end. The editor may also post it on his or her web site.
Local Business Advertising & Google Adwords
Local Business Advertising"I don't need the Internet to advertise - I'm a local business!"Okay...If you could spend £0.04 (or $0.05 in the US) and have a new customer - what would you do with your local business advertising budget?I hope you would spend that money again and again!Granted this is the ideal example and you are likely to pay much more then £0.04 per customer you acquire, BUT - herein lies the rub for local businesses:An internet presence announces your business to the world.When you are online, you have little control about where traffic is coming to you from (if you are not actively driving traffic that is), but what if you could make sure that people who lived in your area, who buy your goods and would make ideal customers could be targeted!Google Adwords can help you target local people, not people from New Zealand if you live in the UK - but people close to you.Pinpoint geographic targeting of prospects is an optimum use of your local business advertising budget.Is it 100% foolproof?Alas no, but it's a good start.How do I do it?Well the easiest way to do this is as follows:Create a national campaign with your search terms and your location terms - eg: If you're a plumber in Poole then "plumber poole" would be a good keyword.Create a geo-targeted campaign (this can be done in a couple of ways - I'll leave the nitty gritty details out for now) which means your ads are served to local people when they search for your keywords.So in the plumber example if a local person types in "plumber" and doesn't mention anything else, your advert will be shown.So goes the theory anyway.Does it work all the time?Like I said - Not always very well.This is because Google uses IP addresses to determine location and this method is somewhat of a cleaver when a scalpel is required.It all depends how diligent ISP's are when allocating IP addresses to their customers, the only way you can know is through empirical means.What if the regional targeting is producing no results?If this is the case then a national campaign with location terms included (as mentioned above) is your best bet.If you were to run a national campaign on the same keywords without the location terms, you will be competing with other players who have a national presence for your particular product/service which could prove very expensive.Your local business advertising budget spend should at the very least give Adwords and PPC advertising in general a tryout. Remember there are an infinite number of keywords in any target market.Just because the big boys may have a stranglehold on the 'obvious' terms does not mean your market is saturated.
Increasing Your Profits Through Other Peoples Advertising.
How can other peoples advertising increase your online income?One of the first questions I ask a new prospect who joins my family ofhighly motivated people is:What other programs have you been involved with, and if you are nolonger an active member, why did you leave?The most frequent response I get is: .......... "I didn't get into theprogram early enough, so too many people were promoting it."Just think about that for a minute.Every day we hear...... "the fortune is in the follow-up" and...." ittakes on average seven contacts before a prospect will act, or clickthrough to your web site".We are told this time and time again because it's true, it's been provenmany times by people who are earning thousands of dollars each month.So start beleiving it.Setting up an effective autoresponder series is one of the first things I helpmy own people do. It's a must if you want to succeed online!So, let's say you just joined a new program or opportunity and youplace an add in a newsletter, but what you don't realize is that in thelast few weeks other people have placed adds in the same publicationfor the same program as you.Does this mean that your add will be less effective because the readerhas seen it several times in previous issues?Of course not!!The reader is now starting to get curious about this program thatpeople are joining, the reader is now getting more exposure to yourprogram from other people advetising in the newsletter, the readeris now sitting up and taking notice.The best part is................the reader is about to click on YOURrefferal link because he has been exposed to the program throughother peoples advertising efforts.So if your add cost $100 and three other people have placed thesame add for the same program but you get the clickthrough, thenyou just got £400 worth of advertising for $100.Not bad!!This type of exposure has a similar effect as an autoresponderseries of messages, and is just one of the many reasons whynewsletter and ezine advertising has become so effective.Just think about the times when you have responded to an addin any of the newsletters or ezines that you subscribe to. Howmany times had you seen that add before you clicked throughto the website or autoresponder for more info?One of the biggest and continually effective businesses online hasover 8,000,000 affiliates and has been in business for over 10years.If over exposure killed an affiliates chances of making a significantincome in a program, then this company would have dissapearedsome time ago. They go from strength to strength year after year,so do those affiliates who can see the big picture and dedicatethemselves.If you needed any convincing about how you can turn otherpeoples advertising into your profit, then that example aloneshould make you realize that it works.Why not use it to your advantage and start seeing your affiliateincome soar?
Balancing SEO and Other Forms Of Advertising
Search engines are by and far the largest supplier of traffic toyour web site. Moreover, its targeted, meaning the visitors thatarrive at your site were looking for information that you aredelivering. At least this is the goal of the search engines: todeliver high quality results to web surfers.Recent major changes in Google, Yahoo and MSN have put theinternet market however in a frenzy. As the search engines battleit out to be the one producing the highest quality results byfrequently altering their index algorithm, search engineoptimization has taken an almost obsessive importance.The problem I see is that the battle is not going to end soon andrepeatedly trying to stay ahead by optimizing after each re-indexing is truly a never ending battle. A balance must be struckbetween search engine advertising and other online venues.Starting out with an online home business business isintimidating. There is pressure to build a quality site, offervaluable information, promote, build subscribers,...and the listgoes on and on. Having a few different forms of advertising thatyou slowly utilize can payoff big in the long run. With a marketthat can change on an hourly basis, you musn't focus too heavilyon any single form of site promotion.Think of it as your advertising bag of goodies. You reach in andpull out one method and give it a try. Don't dump all of yourresources into it. Spread them out. Reach in and pick another,until you have a few in the works. Now pause and see which isworking. Tweak a bit here and there and sit back again.Continuously re-evaluating your advertising campaigns, you willbegin to grow a deep feeling as to which works for your onlinebusiness.Here are a few types of advertising for your home business youshould consider:(1) Classified Ads - cheap and short to write.(2) Article submission - write an article and post for free.The rewards reaped can be enormous in the long term.(3) Paid ads in E-Zines - hit those seldom used small nichemarkets!(4) Link exchange - can you bring in traffic from anothersite? You betcha!(5) Newsgroup and Discussion lists - join in on discussionsand pass out a small blurb about your business at the end.(6) Sig files - after all your online! Make use of all of theemails you send out daily.(7) Flyers - yep, offline!The bottom line here is not to stagnate. Search engines areimportant but not the only way to promote. Its better to balanceyour site optimization with other promotion strategies. If onemethod fails you at least have others to fall back on.
4 Steps to Unbeatable Advertising And Still Keep Money in Yo
Advertising doesn't have to wipe out your bank account to be effective. When you learn to negotiate, know when smaller ads are as effective as large ads, ask for discounts, and create an irresistible offer, you're on your way to skyrocketing profit margins!
1. Negotiate Have you noticed that some people seem to always get the best deals? Yeah, you pay full price and think you did OK until they show up with the same thing, only they paid several hundred dollars less. It really get your goat! How do they do it? They're not afraid to ask for an extra discount.
Yep, don't sell yourself short because you didn't ASK the next time your advertising rep makes an appearance! Even if you're already getting a discount, ask for a bigger one. You have not...because you ask not.
2. Trim Bigger is always better...or is it? When it comes to advertising, don't be surprised if some of your short ads meet with more success than larger more expensive ads. Trimming down on the size and cost of advertising doesn't mean you'll be trimming the results!
3. Exploit the FreebiesWhat's the difference between advertising and publicity? ...who's doing the talking. Yeah, when you sell yourself, it's advertising. When someone else is selling you, it's publicity...and it generates credibility and interest that you don't want to miss out on.
Think about the different ways you can get your business in the spotlight. Do you have some news… write a press release? Write some “how to” articles with a short byline at the end and release them to ezines, magazines, newspapers, and other publishers. Why not promote the product of a non-competitor in return for them promoting yours...think of the totally different market they affect!
Yep, there are a lot of ways out there to get free advertisement that will benefit your business. Of course you won't be able to rely solely on the freebies, but hey, you can get a little extra for nothing!
4. Improve Your Offer Is your deal too good to pass up? If not, you need to improve it. Hey, I'm not talking about cutting prices even more...you've still got to make a profit. You can make the deal sweeter just by increasing the readers knowledge of the value of the product, or adding bonuses that are perceived as valuable, but cost you little.
Motivate buyers with expirations. Yeah, an open ended offer encourages procrastination...which leads ...yep, nowhere. When the customer knows he has until Saturday to purchase an item he'll pay more for on Sunday, he'll make it a priority to head for your shop. Advertising doesn't have to wipe out your bank account to be effective. When you learn to negotiate, know when smaller ads are as effective as large ads, ask for discounts, and create an irresistible offer, you're on your way to skyrocketing profit margins!
1. Negotiate Have you noticed that some people seem to always get the best deals? Yeah, you pay full price and think you did OK until they show up with the same thing, only they paid several hundred dollars less. It really get your goat! How do they do it? They're not afraid to ask for an extra discount.
Yep, don't sell yourself short because you didn't ASK the next time your advertising rep makes an appearance! Even if you're already getting a discount, ask for a bigger one. You have not...because you ask not.
2. Trim Bigger is always better...or is it? When it comes to advertising, don't be surprised if some of your short ads meet with more success than larger more expensive ads. Trimming down on the size and cost of advertising doesn't mean you'll be trimming the results!
3. Exploit the FreebiesWhat's the difference between advertising and publicity? ...who's doing the talking. Yeah, when you sell yourself, it's advertising. When someone else is selling you, it's publicity...and it generates credibility and interest that you don't want to miss out on.
Think about the different ways you can get your business in the spotlight. Do you have some news… write a press release? Write some “how to” articles with a short byline at the end and release them to ezines, magazines, newspapers, and other publishers. Why not promote the product of a non-competitor in return for them promoting yours...think of the totally different market they affect!
Yep, there are a lot of ways out there to get free advertisement that will benefit your business. Of course you won't be able to rely solely on the freebies, but hey, you can get a little extra for nothing!
4. Improve Your Offer Is your deal too good to pass up? If not, you need to improve it. Hey, I'm not talking about cutting prices even more...you've still got to make a profit. You can make the deal sweeter just by increasing the readers knowledge of the value of the product, or adding bonuses that are perceived as valuable, but cost you little.
Motivate buyers with expirations. Yeah, an open ended offer encourages procrastination...which leads ...yep, nowhere. When the customer knows he has until Saturday to purchase an item he'll pay more for on Sunday, he'll make it a priority to head for your shop. Advertising doesn't have to wipe out your bank account to be effective. When you learn to negotiate, know when smaller ads are as effective as large ads, ask for discounts, and create an irresistible offer, you're on your way to skyrocketing profit margins!
How Many Sales Have You Made After Your Advertising Campaign
When you start your online business, you will go through a series of steps like:
==>Domain registration
==>Website designing and installing your inventory and order links
==>Advertising about your products or service
Regarding advertising, you should always target your audience.When you are selling garden tools in Miami, you will get better results with offline advertising and Joint Ventures with other websites that are focused on Gardening and pointing to Miami area.
After Advertising, one important step is 'TESTING' your advertising campaign.
Why?
Look at this example.You spent $50 on keeping an ad on some famous site or a email campaign.Let's say this is one time ad.
If you don't know how many people clicked on your URL or how many people bought your product coming through that link, how are you going to spend another $50 on the same advertising method?
Rather than Click thrus you can go one step further and calculate the number of sales per one advertising method.
Here are few methods you can use to track your results.
**1.Email Tracking:
If you have ezine and you are keeping your subscription email links in different places like other ezines, websites and ebooks, you can give a little code to your email address.
Like this-
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ezine
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ebook
First one in ezines and second one in your ebook.That little code goes in to subject area of emails.
By seeing your emails you can know from where you are getting more response.
**2.URL Tracking:
There are different ways to track your URLs.
You can keep your URL with a little code similar to emails.
www.yourdomain.com/product.html?source=ebook
You can also upload a different page for your each ad campaign.See the example below.
You have a page like- www.yourdomain.com/product.html
Then you can upoload the same page with different URL like- www.yourdomain.com/prod.html
So the visitors that comes to that page can be seen in your weblogs.If you have a good logging software you can save all the visitors information for that particular page.Check this weblogger-
http://www.logitpro.com/
http://perlonline.com/
This weblogger tells you exactly how many hits are taking by one webpage and referers.
So you can see how many hits are coming to your '/prod.html' page and referers.
**3.Click Tracking Software:
Click tracking script is a cgi script that gives you information about a click. The click may be on your website, emails, ezines, banners or anything.
If the click tracking script tells you the number of clicks it is not going to be useful to you. Because you can't differentiate the people buying through your campaign links or your regular links.
So what a Click tracking script should tell you?
1. Tell the number of clicks to tell the click thru ratio:
By this you can optimize your ads. If a specified ad get low click thrus you can change the optimize it.
2. Tell the ip address of the visitor.
By this you can know which ad bringing you the sales. If a particular ip clicking on a specific link buys your product you can know that ad campaign's ROI.
3. Tells the geographical distribution of the clicks.
This is useful when you want to know how many clicks coming from different countries. Like if you see 'jp' with ip address, you can know the visitor from Japan. But this is not possible in all cases.
http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/clicktracking/index.shtml
This is a FREE Click tracking script that gives you all needed information. It comes with easy admin panel.
IMPORTANT TIPS IN TESTING YOUR ADs:
==>If you think your URL is 'Alive', don't delete that page on your server.
If you keep an ad in your ezine articles and submit to other ezines, your articles will be spread all over the net after a while.If you delete that URL on your server people will get '404 page not found' error and you will lose your potential visitor.
==>In email campaigns consider short URLs.Long URLs will break up in to two lines and the reader can not click on it to get your desired page.
==>Test ONE VARIABLE at a time.Suppose you want to check the response and sales rate for two different types of sales letter and by giving free gifts with your product. Don't test both at once. First check the sales page variable.If you don't get good response then go to free gifts variable.
If you get good response to one of the sales pages, then use the free gifts method in different advertising campaign.
Good luck!!
==>Domain registration
==>Website designing and installing your inventory and order links
==>Advertising about your products or service
Regarding advertising, you should always target your audience.When you are selling garden tools in Miami, you will get better results with offline advertising and Joint Ventures with other websites that are focused on Gardening and pointing to Miami area.
After Advertising, one important step is 'TESTING' your advertising campaign.
Why?
Look at this example.You spent $50 on keeping an ad on some famous site or a email campaign.Let's say this is one time ad.
If you don't know how many people clicked on your URL or how many people bought your product coming through that link, how are you going to spend another $50 on the same advertising method?
Rather than Click thrus you can go one step further and calculate the number of sales per one advertising method.
Here are few methods you can use to track your results.
**1.Email Tracking:
If you have ezine and you are keeping your subscription email links in different places like other ezines, websites and ebooks, you can give a little code to your email address.
Like this-
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ezine
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ebook
First one in ezines and second one in your ebook.That little code goes in to subject area of emails.
By seeing your emails you can know from where you are getting more response.
**2.URL Tracking:
There are different ways to track your URLs.
You can keep your URL with a little code similar to emails.
www.yourdomain.com/product.html?source=ebook
You can also upload a different page for your each ad campaign.See the example below.
You have a page like- www.yourdomain.com/product.html
Then you can upoload the same page with different URL like- www.yourdomain.com/prod.html
So the visitors that comes to that page can be seen in your weblogs.If you have a good logging software you can save all the visitors information for that particular page.Check this weblogger-
http://www.logitpro.com/
http://perlonline.com/
This weblogger tells you exactly how many hits are taking by one webpage and referers.
So you can see how many hits are coming to your '/prod.html' page and referers.
**3.Click Tracking Software:
Click tracking script is a cgi script that gives you information about a click. The click may be on your website, emails, ezines, banners or anything.
If the click tracking script tells you the number of clicks it is not going to be useful to you. Because you can't differentiate the people buying through your campaign links or your regular links.
So what a Click tracking script should tell you?
1. Tell the number of clicks to tell the click thru ratio:
By this you can optimize your ads. If a specified ad get low click thrus you can change the optimize it.
2. Tell the ip address of the visitor.
By this you can know which ad bringing you the sales. If a particular ip clicking on a specific link buys your product you can know that ad campaign's ROI.
3. Tells the geographical distribution of the clicks.
This is useful when you want to know how many clicks coming from different countries. Like if you see 'jp' with ip address, you can know the visitor from Japan. But this is not possible in all cases.
http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/clicktracking/index.shtml
This is a FREE Click tracking script that gives you all needed information. It comes with easy admin panel.
IMPORTANT TIPS IN TESTING YOUR ADs:
==>If you think your URL is 'Alive', don't delete that page on your server.
If you keep an ad in your ezine articles and submit to other ezines, your articles will be spread all over the net after a while.If you delete that URL on your server people will get '404 page not found' error and you will lose your potential visitor.
==>In email campaigns consider short URLs.Long URLs will break up in to two lines and the reader can not click on it to get your desired page.
==>Test ONE VARIABLE at a time.Suppose you want to check the response and sales rate for two different types of sales letter and by giving free gifts with your product. Don't test both at once. First check the sales page variable.If you don't get good response then go to free gifts variable.
If you get good response to one of the sales pages, then use the free gifts method in different advertising campaign.
Good luck!!
Advertising the Kanoodle Way
Another great tool for advertising is http://www.kanoodle.com. At Kanoodle.com you can sign up and get $5 free towards you advertising cost. You can then request for Kanoodle to review your submission and create a list for you with the keywords that best describe your website. This process will use up your $5 credit but is well worth it. This is an easy way to get a list of keywords to put in your Meta tags and use for pay-per-click advertising.Also with Kanoodle like Google Adwords and Overture the site does have a Keyword suggestion box so once you get your list of keywords generated by Kanoodle you can use their suggestion box to estimate the amount of clicks you might receive.Kanoodle also has a feature where you can advertise heavier on some days and lighter on other days. Generally, Monday through Thursday are the best days to do the heavier advertising because there are more people online during those days. So with Kanoodle you can advertise heavier on Monday through Thursday and lighter on Saturday through Sunday. Kanoodle also has the basic reporting features like Google Adwords and Overture. It does appear to be a good tool and I have found it useful to supplement advertising that I do with Google Adwords and Overture. However, the one thing that I have found most helpful from Kanoodle is using the $5 credit towards receiving a list of keywords. This is a great start for those who are starting advertising on the Internet but are not too sure about where to start and do not know what keywords to use for their site.
Advertising effectively on the net is FREE
That's right. The most effective way of advertising your business on the net is FREE and mostly ignored. And yet it's so easy to see why it is so effective. We just need to ask ourselves two simple questions. Question 1- What do most people use the internet for? Answer - For email and to seek information to solve problems. Question 2 - How do you get information from the net? Answer - I go directly to certain web sites or I use a search engine like Yahoo or Google. So shouldn't it be obvious that a free article on the net that mentions your business after providing valuable information free will be seen by hundreds of thousands of your eager prospects over time? The biggest marketing mistake that many businesses have made and continue to make over the internet is treating this new medium as if it were just an extension or advancement of the last new medium to change the marketing world, namely Television. In Television, advertising is king. And therefore many assumed that the internet was the next big thing in conventional advertising with predictably disastrous results.The internet is primarily an information medium. So is it any wonder that people get so upset when somebody tries to interrupt their search for information with an advertisement? Being an information medium, it stands to reason that you will only attract attention by providing information - free, valuable information.So the most effective way to advertise on the net is to give away free information of a very specific nature. The free information will of course have something to do with your product or service. But it should be written in such an interesting way and should focus on solving a problem or need of your potential clientele that it will be of great value without them having to purchase your product immediately. For example, somebody selling anti-glare gadgets for computers or headache medication or whatever service or product that deals with the problem of headaches, can post the following useful free information; 1) An article about the different types of headaches caused by sitting in front of a computer the whole day. 2) He can post yet another article hinged on a case study of a headache that refused to go away despite medication etc. 3) How a deadly type of headache feels like e.g caused by a developing brain tumour etc. In all the articles, no direct reference should be made to the product or service except in the resource box right at the end which should have your web-site, email and any other contact information. An article on the web is a very powerful advertising tool that will do more for you than any conventional advertising or email list. Firstly you are guaranteed that many of your target market or people who may be interested in your product or service will read your article and the name of your business. Most so-called advertisements on the net, never get read at all, even by the people targeted - they get deleted long before.Secondly, you create a very favorable image of a knowledgeable and competent person or business and you do this instantly. Offline this is rather difficult to do even over a longer period of time. In fact articles can't even be posted as easily as they can on the net. For example it will be virtually impossible for any newspaper or magazine with a decent readership to find the space for any of the suggested headache articles above. There are various ways one can post articles on the net. You can do it on your web site or you can do it at a wide range of different sites. Actually the idea here is to get it posted in as many different places as you possibly can (remember it's an advertisment.)The real power of the internet is in its' ability to reach a colossal number of people within a very short time, who are interested in the subject at hand. Most of the people you reach may not be in the market for your offering right now, but they will have heard of you and will already have a very favourable image of you. Some of the people who will benefit from your information will be in the market for your product and will request for more information, visit your web-site and so on - still they will not buy immediately. A fraction of these people may buy from you one day in the future. They may also like you enough to tell others about you. The last group of people may end up being a very tiny decimal fraction of the total but these are the people who will become your customers shortly after benefiting from your FREE information. Still there will be a steady and constant flow of these wonderful people who put money in your bank account, as your articles get posted in newer web sites all the time.Can you sincerely think of another marketing weapon on the web that even comes close to this one in terms of effectiveness?----------------If you found this article interesting, you can read another article by this author at the link below that will give you the only 2 things you need to acknowledge to gurantee success in any online marketing program. Here's the link:- http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=26206
10 Tips for Successful Ezine Advertising
When it comes to advertising, I've tried just about everything. I tried free classified ad sites, I tried FFA sites, I tried banner exchange programs.
The results? Not much.
I was tired of hearing that the Internet is the largest market in human history. Maybe so, but how could I reach those millions of people?
The answer, I discovered, is ezine advertising.
Ezines are sometimes called 'opt-in' lists because everyone who receives an ezine has chosen to do so.
And that's why ezine advertising gets results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. And if you've matched the ezine to the product you're selling, you've reached your target audience.
There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach.
Ezine advertising is not only effective, it's cheap as well. A 5 line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.
As a general rule, you'll always get back at least the cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there's very little risk.
But there are some tips for successful ezine advertising. Here they are:
1. The first and most important rule is: "Track your Ads!" Say you place an ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred responses. If you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.
But how do you track your ads?
The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the end of your email address:
yourname@yourdomain.com?subject=ezineA
Then, when you get a reply with 'ezineA' in the subject field, you'll know which ezine it came from.
For a URL, it's the same principle:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?ezineA
However, if you're going to code your URLs, you'll need a good webstats program to track the coded URLs. These two programs are excellent and they're both free:
Here's another way to code your URLs: for every ezine ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So, if the ad is appearing in EzineA, this is the URL you'd place in that ad:
http://www.yourdomain.com/EzineA
2. Target your audience. It may seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If you're selling a web-marketing course, don't advertise in an ezine that deals with stock options; they probably won't be interested.
Use the 'subject categories' in any ezine directory to find ezines that relate to the product you're selling. You can find a list of 56 ezine directories in 'The Free Directory of Ezines' at:
3. Once you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue after issue, you can be pretty sure that it's getting results. You've found a good ezine to advertise in.
4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of those ezines have become hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.
5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of never running ads for two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if it's the only one of it's kind in that particular issue.
6. Small ezines Vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always better. The big ezines with 1000's of subscribers tend to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.
7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web, an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone acts on it; on the Internet it's about 9 times. If your budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer discount packages for bulk advertising.
8. Email address Vs. URL. The advantage of giving an email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the person who responded to your ad. It's also much easier to track your ads with an email address than a URL.
9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It'll often tip the balance between a response and no response.
10. Keep your ads short, even if you're not using the number of words you're allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they pack much more power. Use the word 'You'. Don't describe your product but tell the reader what your product can do for them.
Michael Southon is the publisher of 'The Free Directory of Ezines' http://www.netmastersolutions.com/ He is also the Editor of 'FreeZine Express', a twice-monthly newsletter that brings you details of new Ezines added to the TFDE as well as Articles and Tips on Ezine Advertising and Ezine Publishing. To subscribe, send a blank email to: mailto:FreeZineExpress-subscribe@topica.com
The results? Not much.
I was tired of hearing that the Internet is the largest market in human history. Maybe so, but how could I reach those millions of people?
The answer, I discovered, is ezine advertising.
Ezines are sometimes called 'opt-in' lists because everyone who receives an ezine has chosen to do so.
And that's why ezine advertising gets results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. And if you've matched the ezine to the product you're selling, you've reached your target audience.
There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach.
Ezine advertising is not only effective, it's cheap as well. A 5 line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.
As a general rule, you'll always get back at least the cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there's very little risk.
But there are some tips for successful ezine advertising. Here they are:
1. The first and most important rule is: "Track your Ads!" Say you place an ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred responses. If you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.
But how do you track your ads?
The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the end of your email address:
yourname@yourdomain.com?subject=ezineA
Then, when you get a reply with 'ezineA' in the subject field, you'll know which ezine it came from.
For a URL, it's the same principle:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?ezineA
However, if you're going to code your URLs, you'll need a good webstats program to track the coded URLs. These two programs are excellent and they're both free:
Here's another way to code your URLs: for every ezine ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So, if the ad is appearing in EzineA, this is the URL you'd place in that ad:
http://www.yourdomain.com/EzineA
2. Target your audience. It may seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If you're selling a web-marketing course, don't advertise in an ezine that deals with stock options; they probably won't be interested.
Use the 'subject categories' in any ezine directory to find ezines that relate to the product you're selling. You can find a list of 56 ezine directories in 'The Free Directory of Ezines' at:
3. Once you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue after issue, you can be pretty sure that it's getting results. You've found a good ezine to advertise in.
4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of those ezines have become hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.
5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of never running ads for two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if it's the only one of it's kind in that particular issue.
6. Small ezines Vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always better. The big ezines with 1000's of subscribers tend to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.
7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web, an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone acts on it; on the Internet it's about 9 times. If your budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer discount packages for bulk advertising.
8. Email address Vs. URL. The advantage of giving an email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the person who responded to your ad. It's also much easier to track your ads with an email address than a URL.
9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It'll often tip the balance between a response and no response.
10. Keep your ads short, even if you're not using the number of words you're allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they pack much more power. Use the word 'You'. Don't describe your product but tell the reader what your product can do for them.
Michael Southon is the publisher of 'The Free Directory of Ezines' http://www.netmastersolutions.com/ He is also the Editor of 'FreeZine Express', a twice-monthly newsletter that brings you details of new Ezines added to the TFDE as well as Articles and Tips on Ezine Advertising and Ezine Publishing. To subscribe, send a blank email to: mailto:FreeZineExpress-subscribe@topica.com
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