Advertising Your Business On and Off Line.
Author: Kathryn Wozniak.
So you have an online business. Have you checked out the competition lately -
whew! In order to compete you need to be savvy with your advertising. You will
need to do both online advertising and off line advertising in order to have a
well rounded program. What are some of the advertising methods popular today?
Let's go over a few right now.
Consider this scenario: In your hometown
you want to open an art supply store. In that same town there are thousands of
art supply stores. In order for your business to be successful, it will have to
stand out in some way from the others. You didn't expect to not need to
advertise - did you? You didn't think that your customers would magically appear
- did you?
Ezine advertising is popular. Ezines are the magazines of the
internet. Most of them cover a particular subject matter and people subscribe to
them as they would a magazine that comes to the door. Therefore, ezine readers
are already potential customers and advertising your site in ezines that are
related to your business is almost guaranteed to help drive traffic to your site
and increase sales for your product. You should be sure when advertising in
ezines that you are not advertising along side
competitors. Ask the ezine
producer if there is a policy concerning posting competing ads. It is also a
good idea to subscribe to the ezine before making a decision about whether or
not to advertise in it. An ezine that runs fewer ads is a better choice than one
that runs many ads. You can look at the online Directory of Ezines to find
publications that are relevant to your company.
Pay-per-click programs
are an excellent way to advertise your business without taking a risk that you
have advertised in the wrong place. With pay-per-click, you can advertise you
site and only pay for those who click the link and go to your site. Another
popular pay-per program is the pay-per-lead program that allows you to only pay
for leads. Usually this means that you pay for only those who download a trail,
fill out a form or enter a sweepstakes, whatever you choose. These can be great
but they must contain the right information and keywords and can be tricky to
understand and use.
Opt-In email is a great way to advertise your
business, however it is expensive and it can be
misused very easily. Using
opt-in emails, you would submit your sales copy to the company that will in turn
email it to those on their mailing list. You should be very careful since some
of the companies that advertise their mailing lists as opt-in email service is
sometimes really SPAM. You must find a reputible company for this service. You
can use an autoresponder program to put a preloaded amount of information in the
form of articles, newsletters, training, etc. and program the autoresponder to
send one out every couple of days. The good thing about this is that your first
mailing should include yet another way for your lead to confirm that they are
indeed interested in you product. Once they say yes - you can begin sending them
the information. In this way you are not Spamming.
Reputable 'fresh'
opt-in or the now popular double opt-in leads are expensive but you are paying
for quality and for customers that are basically ready to buy so it can be a
very valuable tool. Without and effective sales copy your money and time have
been wasted.
Always put a sig file attachment to any mail you sent out
to anyone or anytime you post in a forum. This sig file is a bit like leaving
your business card behind. It should contain a quick sentence about your site
and the address. Hey - it's free advertising! So is writing articles, posting in
forums and making your own blog!
You can submit ads to ad directories,
online newspapers, and companies that will distribute your ad to hundreds of
thousands of customers. Just remember - your ad must be different than the
competition and you will need to play with it at first to get the response you
are looking for.
How about offline advertising? Well there are tons of
options there too. If your funds are limited simply print up business cards and
flyers and post them wherever you go. Get some bumper stickers made up and put
them on your car. I made my own on my computer with magnetic paper found at the
office supply store. Have some pens or a give away item made up to keep your
name in front of the customer. Advertise in local newspapers, college papers,
penny savers, any where you can think of!
Remember to treat your
business and your customers professionally. Advertise professionally and you
will gain a positive reputation and your products will also be seen as positive
so more people will buy from you - that is your goal - isn't it? Good luck.
Kathy Wozniak is a successful internet marketer, She has published many
articles on home based businesses and internet marketing.
To find the
best home based business ideas so you can work at home successfully visit:
http://www..Stay-Home-To-Work.com