Refining your AdSense advertising program to cater to the needs of the most Web traffic is both an art and a science. The growth of social networking and blogging networks is encouraging people to click on advertising that is specific to their needs and behavior, and can benefit them in the long run. Contextual advertising is a fairly new advertising module that lets you launch effective ad campaigns by mining and scanning your user’s behavior. For example, when a user is consistently showing interest in a particular link, Web page, or subject, contextual ads can pop up that relate to that behavior specifically.
Contextual advertising has been introduced on the major search engines, including MSN, Yahoo!, and Google. Google’s Gmail currently uses the concept as a “banner” on the top of the user’s Gmail account. The system looks at the most frequent keywords within an e-mail and elicits ads accordingly! Contextual advertising helps advertisers target their advertising directly to people who are more likely to click on them! This gives you, the AdSense advertiser, a higher return on investment (ROI) and better prospects for your advertising campaign in the long term.
Click-through rates and pay-per-clicks (PPC) are the key reinforcers of contextual advertising, and it is through these that you can gauge how well your site and set of ads are doing. The only way you can accurately determine what to use is by trying! Since contextual advertising programs are fairly new to the Web, there is some room for trial and error. However, because your ROI is much higher than with regular click-through and basic AdSense programs, you will likely see more effectiveness with this strategy.
Google is currently leading the way with contextual advertising techniques, tips, and tricks to increase value and search engine optimization overall. Google’s fantastic search engines are market leaders in data mining and extraction, and the process is only improving each day! Microsoft is attempting its version of click-through and pay-per-click advertising with ContentAds. ContentAds allow publishers to use the MSN portal and data to create unique demographic-specific advertising with text-based advertisements. There are also extensive tools and resources available for ContentAd users.
Friday, September 19, 2008
How To Find Free Advertising Vehicles That Work
I get this question a lot. “Can you tell me great sites to advertise on for free (or very little) money?” In the early days of my home business career I followed other people’s advice and advertised on the free and low cost ad sites they recommended.
Frankly, most sources, especially from popular teachers that have training sites, are useless. These free advertising sites may have been great sources when the teachers found them, but after thousands of their pupils started advertising on them as well, (often promoting the same opportunity) they’re pretty much useless.
The free advertising sites on how2succeedonline.net are much fresher since I am constantly searching for new ones that have enough traffic to deliver good results like CraigsList, Ablewise, Myspace, You Tube, Adpost, Squidoo, Backpage, Ideamarketers and more.
Today however, I will teach you a technique that I use to find free advertising sites that haven’t been so beat up with overuse. In essence, I’m going to show you how to fish for free advertising vehicles that will give you a constant stream of fresh, new advertising venues with less competition.
This is so simple it will blow your mind…which is, of course, true of many of the most successful techniques. By the way, I found many of my favorite ad sites this way!
Let’s start by typing in “Business Opportunity” into Google Search or any search engine you prefer. You can use the keywords that you currently use to promote your business (i.e. “make money online”, “Home Based Business”, etc.). You can even do a search for the keyword of the opportunity you represent like “EDC Gold” “PWF” or “1Step System”, etc.
Then I look for optimized search results that appear on the left side of the page (not the pay per click part of the page). As I go down the page, I look for ads that are part of forums or ad sites. You’ll find several ads on the top three pages that are ad-posting on third party sites offering advertising vs. company owned or opportunity sites that just talk about their product, service or opportunity. Many of these sites offer free or low cost advertising. And best of all, Google has found these sites and elevated their index (so they appear on pages 1-3 of the search results), even in highly competitive areas where popular keywords are used.
You’ll find more quality sites than you know what to do with, just with the use of a few keywords.
Next, place your ads on several of these sites. To maximize your response, make sure your ad is keyword dense (lots of keywords repeated throughout the text of the ad). If you do, not only will you benefit from the traffic that advertising site produces, but you’ll also benefit from the very high listing on Google and other search engines, which will boost your traffic by possibly hundred fold.
Frankly, most sources, especially from popular teachers that have training sites, are useless. These free advertising sites may have been great sources when the teachers found them, but after thousands of their pupils started advertising on them as well, (often promoting the same opportunity) they’re pretty much useless.
The free advertising sites on how2succeedonline.net are much fresher since I am constantly searching for new ones that have enough traffic to deliver good results like CraigsList, Ablewise, Myspace, You Tube, Adpost, Squidoo, Backpage, Ideamarketers and more.
Today however, I will teach you a technique that I use to find free advertising sites that haven’t been so beat up with overuse. In essence, I’m going to show you how to fish for free advertising vehicles that will give you a constant stream of fresh, new advertising venues with less competition.
This is so simple it will blow your mind…which is, of course, true of many of the most successful techniques. By the way, I found many of my favorite ad sites this way!
Let’s start by typing in “Business Opportunity” into Google Search or any search engine you prefer. You can use the keywords that you currently use to promote your business (i.e. “make money online”, “Home Based Business”, etc.). You can even do a search for the keyword of the opportunity you represent like “EDC Gold” “PWF” or “1Step System”, etc.
Then I look for optimized search results that appear on the left side of the page (not the pay per click part of the page). As I go down the page, I look for ads that are part of forums or ad sites. You’ll find several ads on the top three pages that are ad-posting on third party sites offering advertising vs. company owned or opportunity sites that just talk about their product, service or opportunity. Many of these sites offer free or low cost advertising. And best of all, Google has found these sites and elevated their index (so they appear on pages 1-3 of the search results), even in highly competitive areas where popular keywords are used.
You’ll find more quality sites than you know what to do with, just with the use of a few keywords.
Next, place your ads on several of these sites. To maximize your response, make sure your ad is keyword dense (lots of keywords repeated throughout the text of the ad). If you do, not only will you benefit from the traffic that advertising site produces, but you’ll also benefit from the very high listing on Google and other search engines, which will boost your traffic by possibly hundred fold.
Advertising Your Internet Business
Every Internet Business will need traffic in order to survive. If people do not know the existence of your website, you cannot expect to sell any product/service to them. Therefore, you need to advertise your website using various methods in order to bring in more traffic.
There are a few ways to advertise your Internet Business. I will talk about paid advertising first. On the Internet, you will remember seeing ads that are displayed on some websites. Those are banners ads. You can pay a company who offers advertising services and have your ads be placed on the Internet. The ads will advertise your product/service that you are offering. Once people click on the ads, they will be brought to your website. Or you can buy keywords to list ads, where each ad will cost from a few cents to a few dollars, e.g. is Google Adwords. Usually buying of keywords to list ads will bring targeted traffic to your site. For example, if someone searches a term "Golf" and you have bought the keyword ad from Google, your keyword ad may stand a chance to appear on the search results listing. For more information, check out www.google.com/ads/
You can also advertise using traditional advertising channels such as placing your website URL on flyers, brochures, business cards, books, TV ads, etc.
Now I will touch on free advertising. Using free advertising channels may take more time to deliver the desired results but they can definitely help you save a good tons of money if you do it correctly. Some of the channels are as followed:
a. Classified site, where you can post free classified ads on the website to promote your Internet Business.
b. Forums, post actively on forums that are related to your products/services that you are offering, and place your website URL in your signature.
c. Cross linking between sites, by placing your website URL on other sites. In return, you will need to place their urls on your own website.
d. Submit articles to article submission sites. This will boost your credibility as an established writer. It can increase traffic to you site as readers will click on your website URL in your articles.
e. Give away freebies such as e-books, and include your website URL in the freebies.
f. Word of Mouth, by physically promoting your Internet Business between people. This will automatically happen if people think that your Internet Business provides values for them.
There are a few ways to advertise your Internet Business. I will talk about paid advertising first. On the Internet, you will remember seeing ads that are displayed on some websites. Those are banners ads. You can pay a company who offers advertising services and have your ads be placed on the Internet. The ads will advertise your product/service that you are offering. Once people click on the ads, they will be brought to your website. Or you can buy keywords to list ads, where each ad will cost from a few cents to a few dollars, e.g. is Google Adwords. Usually buying of keywords to list ads will bring targeted traffic to your site. For example, if someone searches a term "Golf" and you have bought the keyword ad from Google, your keyword ad may stand a chance to appear on the search results listing. For more information, check out www.google.com/ads/
You can also advertise using traditional advertising channels such as placing your website URL on flyers, brochures, business cards, books, TV ads, etc.
Now I will touch on free advertising. Using free advertising channels may take more time to deliver the desired results but they can definitely help you save a good tons of money if you do it correctly. Some of the channels are as followed:
a. Classified site, where you can post free classified ads on the website to promote your Internet Business.
b. Forums, post actively on forums that are related to your products/services that you are offering, and place your website URL in your signature.
c. Cross linking between sites, by placing your website URL on other sites. In return, you will need to place their urls on your own website.
d. Submit articles to article submission sites. This will boost your credibility as an established writer. It can increase traffic to you site as readers will click on your website URL in your articles.
e. Give away freebies such as e-books, and include your website URL in the freebies.
f. Word of Mouth, by physically promoting your Internet Business between people. This will automatically happen if people think that your Internet Business provides values for them.
Why Free Internet Advertising Can Work For Your Business
When you first start your own business at home you are faced with the obstacle of how to promote it. If you don't have one you're going to need a website and you're going to need traffic coming to it. If money is an obstacle then you are going to need to find ways to promote your business for free. In this article we want to talk about free Internet advertising, and how you can do that to get traffic for your new business website.
The first thing to understand about marketing on the Internet is that if you do not have to have money to drive traffic to your website you're going to have to make up for that by investing time. This is one of the great things about the Internet, however. Anybody regardless of their present income status can start their own business at home and make it profitable by doing just a few different types of free advertising methods.
When we talk about getting traffic to a website we're talking about a visitor and a potential paying customer. Once they are on your site they can make a purchase therefore earning you a commission on that sale. So it only stands to reason that the more visitors that you have coming to your site the more opportunities you have to make a sale.
One effective method that has worked over the years and is continuing to work is known as article marketing. When you do article marketing you target a primary keyword and write your article around it. You then submit those articles to article directories where they are published online for other people to view.
The first thing to understand about marketing on the Internet is that if you do not have to have money to drive traffic to your website you're going to have to make up for that by investing time. This is one of the great things about the Internet, however. Anybody regardless of their present income status can start their own business at home and make it profitable by doing just a few different types of free advertising methods.
When we talk about getting traffic to a website we're talking about a visitor and a potential paying customer. Once they are on your site they can make a purchase therefore earning you a commission on that sale. So it only stands to reason that the more visitors that you have coming to your site the more opportunities you have to make a sale.
One effective method that has worked over the years and is continuing to work is known as article marketing. When you do article marketing you target a primary keyword and write your article around it. You then submit those articles to article directories where they are published online for other people to view.
Read Before Jumping Into Advertising
If you’re a business owner for a long time now, your operating routine would probably include having a marketing campaign that would amply introduce your products and services to your target audience.
Okay. So before you do that, you’d probably be scouring for new mediums just so you can convey your message to your clients and prospects. And because you are always working on a limited budget, you’re probably always thinking of ways to maximize your exposure but limit your spending as well.
Every business owner and marketer knows that in order for you to work on your budget, you need to be creative and resourceful to be able to get your word out to your target market. It’s all about your profit margin actually. You would want to reach out to as many clients as you can, with less the expense of doing your marketing campaign, and still have a remarkable increase in your sales.
So how do you go about accomplishing such a feat?
Expert marketers would tell you one thing – before you start advertising, you must do your homework first. This means that you have to spend time and effort in trying to put together an ad that is suitable not only for your business, but most importantly, to the needs of your target market. It just goes to show that carefully preparing your ad for your target market can get you the increase in sales you need to enhance your profit margin.
It’s like going back to school again so you can be prepared to provide your target clients with the right message – no, the right advertising tool, even your business card printing pieces, that would work wonders on your target market.
Okay. So before you do that, you’d probably be scouring for new mediums just so you can convey your message to your clients and prospects. And because you are always working on a limited budget, you’re probably always thinking of ways to maximize your exposure but limit your spending as well.
Every business owner and marketer knows that in order for you to work on your budget, you need to be creative and resourceful to be able to get your word out to your target market. It’s all about your profit margin actually. You would want to reach out to as many clients as you can, with less the expense of doing your marketing campaign, and still have a remarkable increase in your sales.
So how do you go about accomplishing such a feat?
Expert marketers would tell you one thing – before you start advertising, you must do your homework first. This means that you have to spend time and effort in trying to put together an ad that is suitable not only for your business, but most importantly, to the needs of your target market. It just goes to show that carefully preparing your ad for your target market can get you the increase in sales you need to enhance your profit margin.
It’s like going back to school again so you can be prepared to provide your target clients with the right message – no, the right advertising tool, even your business card printing pieces, that would work wonders on your target market.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Choose Pixel Advertising Sites Wisely
A new form of Internet advertising has exploded and it is receiving a lot of response lately - pixel advertising. Essentially, it is where people purchase a set of pixels on the homepage of a Web site, inserting their company logo that links back to their own site. Potentially, the end result can be increased Web site traffic to both the pixel site and the advertisers placing their images there.
As a potential advertiser seeking unique online exposure and increased traffic for your Web site, use precautions before spending your money on just any pixel advertising Web site.
Don’t be impulsive with your advertising dollars. Do some comparison shopping online first. Take a few moments to browse different pixel sites, read the content on their sites about their company and what makes them unique among other pixel ad sites. Compare their pricing, the sizes of pixel ads available, the placement of your ad on their homepage, and the length of time your ad will be placed on their Web site.
Choose pixel advertising sites devoted to a charitable or worth while cause…Alex Tew, a UK college student, started MillionDollarHomepage.com (the first known pixel advertising site) so he could save enough money to go to college. There are others like him out there whose primary goal is to use pixel advertising as a way to donate to a charity or help others who are less fortunate. Sites like BannerCanvas.com by owner Chad King were started to raise money to help tear down his mother’s old dilapidated trailer and build her a brand new house on the same property. These sites are definitely worth checking out first.
Seek out pixel ad sites whose owners already believe in natural search engine optimization, and are paying an SEO company for natural and ethical search engine optimization. How can you tell without directly asking? While it may not be the best indicator, one method is to look for keywords in the META titles, META descriptions and META keyword tags on many pages of the Web site. Look for those same keywords throughout the content on the site.
Find pixel advertising sites who will genuinely keep its word on leaving your ad on their Web site for the 5 or 10 years as promised. Many of these new pixel sites popping up everywhere will no longer be around one year from now, because they will have taken everybody’s money and stopped paying for their domain and hosting fees. You do not want to advertise on a fly-by-night-take-your-money-and-run type of pixel site.
As a potential advertiser seeking unique online exposure and increased traffic for your Web site, use precautions before spending your money on just any pixel advertising Web site.
Don’t be impulsive with your advertising dollars. Do some comparison shopping online first. Take a few moments to browse different pixel sites, read the content on their sites about their company and what makes them unique among other pixel ad sites. Compare their pricing, the sizes of pixel ads available, the placement of your ad on their homepage, and the length of time your ad will be placed on their Web site.
Choose pixel advertising sites devoted to a charitable or worth while cause…Alex Tew, a UK college student, started MillionDollarHomepage.com (the first known pixel advertising site) so he could save enough money to go to college. There are others like him out there whose primary goal is to use pixel advertising as a way to donate to a charity or help others who are less fortunate. Sites like BannerCanvas.com by owner Chad King were started to raise money to help tear down his mother’s old dilapidated trailer and build her a brand new house on the same property. These sites are definitely worth checking out first.
Seek out pixel ad sites whose owners already believe in natural search engine optimization, and are paying an SEO company for natural and ethical search engine optimization. How can you tell without directly asking? While it may not be the best indicator, one method is to look for keywords in the META titles, META descriptions and META keyword tags on many pages of the Web site. Look for those same keywords throughout the content on the site.
Find pixel advertising sites who will genuinely keep its word on leaving your ad on their Web site for the 5 or 10 years as promised. Many of these new pixel sites popping up everywhere will no longer be around one year from now, because they will have taken everybody’s money and stopped paying for their domain and hosting fees. You do not want to advertise on a fly-by-night-take-your-money-and-run type of pixel site.
Direct Mail Advertising
Direct mail advertising is a marketing technique you will likely use in your virtual IT business. Because this type of advertising can be expensive, it is best to know the ins and outs before you begin.
Direct Mail Advertising Tips
It typically takes at least three to five pieces of direct mail advertising before you get a response, and sometimes a lot more! To improve your response rate, you should be using a highly targeted direct mail advertising list.
To obtain a highly targeted direct mail advertising list, rent one that has some common element: industry, occupation, etc...
Once you have a highly targeted list, write a headline for your direct mail advertising that hits the target audience's hot buttons. With a good headline and good copy there’s no reason why you can't up the standard 1% response rate into the 3% - 5% range.
To find out what your target audience would be most interested in, poll some of them. There is no point sending out direct mail advertising if your offer is not appealing.
Use postcards for your direct mail advertising rather than letters. You can get them out the door faster, there is less copy to write, you'll save money on the printing, you'll save money on the postage, and you can mail more often and more pieces.
Set up a system to track and measure every single inquiry on the mailer. This way you can determine if the inquiries are coming after the first, second, third, etc.. piece of direct mail advertising received.
Use a two-step sales process. Get them first to raise their hand by making an inquiry and then you take over and do a more rigorous qualification after that.
Make your direct mail advertising date-sensitive. This forces a response sooner rather than later.
Direct Mail Advertising Tips
It typically takes at least three to five pieces of direct mail advertising before you get a response, and sometimes a lot more! To improve your response rate, you should be using a highly targeted direct mail advertising list.
To obtain a highly targeted direct mail advertising list, rent one that has some common element: industry, occupation, etc...
Once you have a highly targeted list, write a headline for your direct mail advertising that hits the target audience's hot buttons. With a good headline and good copy there’s no reason why you can't up the standard 1% response rate into the 3% - 5% range.
To find out what your target audience would be most interested in, poll some of them. There is no point sending out direct mail advertising if your offer is not appealing.
Use postcards for your direct mail advertising rather than letters. You can get them out the door faster, there is less copy to write, you'll save money on the printing, you'll save money on the postage, and you can mail more often and more pieces.
Set up a system to track and measure every single inquiry on the mailer. This way you can determine if the inquiries are coming after the first, second, third, etc.. piece of direct mail advertising received.
Use a two-step sales process. Get them first to raise their hand by making an inquiry and then you take over and do a more rigorous qualification after that.
Make your direct mail advertising date-sensitive. This forces a response sooner rather than later.
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