Getting The Word Out
| Category: E-zines: Promotion | Date: 2003-11-12 |
Youve finally done it! Youve read the how-to manuals, taken your first steps on the way to financial independence and set yourself up with an Internet business. You have your product, started an account to accept credit cards, registered your domain name, and set up your website. So why arent web surfers flocking to your site to buy your product?
As with any business, the key to success is advertising. You may have the best product anywhere, but if no one knows about it, youll never be able to get it off the ground. This is especially true on the Internet. With a "brick & mortar" business, you may get by if you have a great location that gets a lot of foot traffic regardless of how much you advertise. On the internet, however, if you dont advertise you wont get any hits at all.
The good news is, there are many different ways to get the word out about your site, some for free. The bad news is not all of them work. The most popular form of advertising on the Internet is through the use of banner exchanges. This kind of advertising may have been effective in the past, but today it is perhaps the least effective way to advertise.
The biggest downside of banners, aside from the fact that they have very low click-through rates, is that many of the exchange programs force you to place a reciprocal banner on your site. This is a bad idea for two reasons. First, it cheapens the look of your site, and second, you have no control over what your customer sees. Besides, you should never give your customers an opportunity to click away from your site before theyve made a purchase.
Another popular form of free advertising is placing classified ads on FFA (Free For All) pages and Safelists. Once again, these methods of advertising are little more than ineffective spam generators. Most people who sign up for these pages dont even use their regular email addresses. They create dummy accounts for the sole purpose of receiving the spam that inevitably floods their email box as a result of signing up for these lists. The truth is, almost no one actually reads the posts to these lists. The time it takes to post to them could be spent much more productively.
If you have a little money to spend on advertising, you will get better results much faster. Just be careful where you spend your advertising dollars. Buying direct hits to your website may sound like a good option, and it will definitely get you traffic, but its not targeted and will result in few, if any, sales.
Some people try using email lists purchased from a list broker. Unless youre sure the list youre mailing to is 100% opt-in, dont take the risk. Make no mistake about it, this is spamming and it can get you into big trouble.
So what does work? Ezines. Ezine advertising is generally accepted as the best way to advertise on the Internet. Right now there are thousands of ezines that will accept outside advertising, many of them for free. While a vast majority of ezines only have a small subscriber list, if you advertise in enough of them it is possible to get your ads out to thousands, if not millions of people.
You can also take out solo ads with some of the larger Ezines. This has the advantage of direct mail, but without spamming. Because the subscribers have opted-in to the list, theyre much more receptive to your ad. Remember to keep a log of which ads you placed in which ezines, so you can track the effectiveness of your ads.
Getting the word out about your product or website isnt difficult when you know where to advertise effectively. Find some ezines related to what youre selling and place some ads. With the right ad, your website will get all the traffic you could want.
Copyright (C), 2002 Dave Barrett eMoney Monthly
About the Author
Dave Barrett is editor of the ezine eMoney Monthly. Subscribe now and get 3 free ebooks plus your chance to WIN the #1 Online Home Business FREE! 6 Money-Making, automated, order-pulling websites, costing over $500 if purchased separately. VERY limited time offer. Act now!
dave@emoneymonthly.com
http://www.eMoneyMonthly.com
As with any business, the key to success is advertising. You may have the best product anywhere, but if no one knows about it, youll never be able to get it off the ground. This is especially true on the Internet. With a "brick & mortar" business, you may get by if you have a great location that gets a lot of foot traffic regardless of how much you advertise. On the internet, however, if you dont advertise you wont get any hits at all.
The good news is, there are many different ways to get the word out about your site, some for free. The bad news is not all of them work. The most popular form of advertising on the Internet is through the use of banner exchanges. This kind of advertising may have been effective in the past, but today it is perhaps the least effective way to advertise.
The biggest downside of banners, aside from the fact that they have very low click-through rates, is that many of the exchange programs force you to place a reciprocal banner on your site. This is a bad idea for two reasons. First, it cheapens the look of your site, and second, you have no control over what your customer sees. Besides, you should never give your customers an opportunity to click away from your site before theyve made a purchase.
Another popular form of free advertising is placing classified ads on FFA (Free For All) pages and Safelists. Once again, these methods of advertising are little more than ineffective spam generators. Most people who sign up for these pages dont even use their regular email addresses. They create dummy accounts for the sole purpose of receiving the spam that inevitably floods their email box as a result of signing up for these lists. The truth is, almost no one actually reads the posts to these lists. The time it takes to post to them could be spent much more productively.
If you have a little money to spend on advertising, you will get better results much faster. Just be careful where you spend your advertising dollars. Buying direct hits to your website may sound like a good option, and it will definitely get you traffic, but its not targeted and will result in few, if any, sales.
Some people try using email lists purchased from a list broker. Unless youre sure the list youre mailing to is 100% opt-in, dont take the risk. Make no mistake about it, this is spamming and it can get you into big trouble.
So what does work? Ezines. Ezine advertising is generally accepted as the best way to advertise on the Internet. Right now there are thousands of ezines that will accept outside advertising, many of them for free. While a vast majority of ezines only have a small subscriber list, if you advertise in enough of them it is possible to get your ads out to thousands, if not millions of people.
You can also take out solo ads with some of the larger Ezines. This has the advantage of direct mail, but without spamming. Because the subscribers have opted-in to the list, theyre much more receptive to your ad. Remember to keep a log of which ads you placed in which ezines, so you can track the effectiveness of your ads.
Getting the word out about your product or website isnt difficult when you know where to advertise effectively. Find some ezines related to what youre selling and place some ads. With the right ad, your website will get all the traffic you could want.
Copyright (C), 2002 Dave Barrett eMoney Monthly
About the Author
Dave Barrett is editor of the ezine eMoney Monthly. Subscribe now and get 3 free ebooks plus your chance to WIN the #1 Online Home Business FREE! 6 Money-Making, automated, order-pulling websites, costing over $500 if purchased separately. VERY limited time offer. Act now!
dave@emoneymonthly.com
http://www.eMoneyMonthly.com
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