Advertising
Thoughts...
My sites built but nothing is happening what's wrong?
Advertising...is what it takes for customers to find your website. Advertising can be accomplished in several ways; if you have lots of money you can just buy it. Most newbies don't have much of an advertising budget; some didn't even think about it. Some form of advertising is a must for people to find your website. Advertising is like everything else; you have to keep working at it; if you want it to pay off.
This is a common mistake of beginners, they think if the website is built and on the internet; they are going to rake in the money. It ain't going to happen. No one knows your there, there are millions of websites, and you are like a needle in a hay stack.
The Next Step: Advertising:
There are several ways to accomplish this.
- Writing articles to be published in your product related area.
If you are comfortable writing, you can probably save some money writing articles and submitting them for publication. Always remember to include a reference (signature file) to your website. Allow article to be shared freely as long as there are no changes made. This does a couple things for you, first each place the article is displayed can lead to more traffic. The second is that it also will give you a link pointing to your site, if a high ranking website uses it it should help SEO. - Creating eZines or newsletters that would target your customer.
Sometimes you can create a free newsletter and get customers to sign up allowing you to create an opt-in list. If you come up with some good material; maybe you can get the data passed around the internet (viral lot of exposure). In most cases this will require some other form of advertising to be accomplished. Many use forums and a signature file to get some visitors and maybe subscribers; you will have to post and answer a few questions. - Press Releases announcing your product.
It is possible to get free advertising by writing press releases and submitting them for publication. This will require some useful things your product can accomplish. It also will have to fill a need of the audience to which it is presented. Publications are always looking for good material to give their subscribers. If your product or service will help people, there is a good chance that you can get a press release published. -
Buying advertising from various sources.
Banners, solo ads, safe lists, pay per click search engine ads, there are just to many to try and list. There are so many variables involved I wouldn’t begin to suggest the best way. Many experienced web masters use pay per click.
You pay for each hit that your site gets. The idea here is to make as many sales per hits (conversion rate) as possible. If, you can get 3% you probably have a winner, many get closer to 1% (1 sale out of 100 hits).
To hold costs down using this method; use very Targeted Advertising. Use qualifiers to make your ad more customer specific; know who your customer is and what they want. Your add should be aimed directly at that customer. This reduces the number of hits from non-interested persons and will help to reduce costs.
Start out slow and test to determine what works best, before spending big bucks. Test, test, test, when you have determined what has the best conversion rate (sales/hit) put your money on that type of advertising. This is another area where you have to learn as you go along, one method doesn't fit all. I'd like to tell you I know all the answers, but I don't. I have to work at it just like everyone else.
I have probably had my best success on this site using ads in other very similar type websites. I don't target the high volume websites as much as the site that only have 2000 - 3000 subscribers. I always ask how many subscribers, and what their interests and purchases have been related too. If they are marketing related and have a high number of newbies to marketing; then I usually get a good conversion rate. -
Link exchanges are another method
This is another case where you have to do your homework, and just jump in and get your feet wet. It is a good idea to try and get someone to exchange; that has a higher ranking in the search engines than your website. Search engines have formulas that use various methods of ranking websites. The higher the ranking of the link; the better your chances of attaining a higher ranking. I neglected to mention one thing; make sure the link has a direct relationship to your site. You have to maintain a good degree of very targeted content for higher rankings; this includes links to your website. -
I'm sure there are many other methods of advertising; I'm not aware of existing.
Create a subscriber list and organize and maintain it so a very targeted group is established. Keep focused on what you are trying to accomplish and keep refining the list making it until you know exactly whose on it.
You probably don't want to put all your eggs in one basket; especially if you are paying for the advertisment. Try some different methods and audiences to see what will turn the largest profit with the least amount of work.
