Business owners opt for internet advertising methods because there are over a billion people using the internet for various reasons. Practically one sixth of the world's population does at least part of their business online. If you have your own business, you have to decide on what internet advertising methods work for you. You need to decide on the dollar amount you can spend for marketing. Ask yourself who your products will help and what kind of people want what you are offering. what are you going to use: the expensive internet advertising methods or the no cost ones? How about a combination approach? Many people operate on a shoestring budget and know they need the low-cost option. Others will immediately choose the more expensive options, assuming price equals quality and results. They don't know that the cheaper internet advertising methods attract great benefits as well.
Here's the lowdown on internet advertising options and a comparative look at the low-cost and more expensive internet marketing methods:
The Expensive:
1. Pop-ups. Not only is this form of advertising expensive, but also has the drawback of being annoying to web surfers so that visitors often close pop-up windows without even bothering to know what they're all about. If you have a small budget, this is an internet advertising method that you can do without. Fly ads are derivatives of pop-ups which are less irksome to most visitors. They may be worth your consideration.
2. Buying leads. Because marketing to a list of inte
rested people can be very profitable, many businesses buy contact information for people who are interested in the general line of products the business offers. This can be a smart move if your lead provider is reputable and skilled with finding prospects. There are some lead generation companies who use unethical tactics including spam, so it's important to check out the company before signing up. Additionally, the cost of good leads can eat up your marketing budget rapidly unless you use your system wisely.
3. Podcasts. Broadcast is to TV as pod cast is to internet. It's one powerful internet advertising method that can work well with your marketing budget. If you're thinking results, pod casting is worth the money. Your expenses will come from getting a decent microphone, sound editing software, and buying bandwidth for customers to download your podcasts.
4. Paying the search engines. This is a simple strategy to implement. You buy ad space, and the search engine will display your ad above your customer's search results. When someone types in a keyword related to your site, some search engines will place your URL automatically in the first page of the top search results. Fixed payment for the search engine allows just that. There is also another internet advertising method: the pay-per-click system where you only pay for ads when customers click on your link. Expensive? Yes, but if we're talking about Google and Yahoo search engines here, it's worth the expense. Don't give it a second thought. However, paying for a lot of advertising on lesser known search engines may waste your resources because they don't get as much traffic.
The Low-cost and Free:
1. Blogging. This is my favorite! Get on the bandwagon and blog about your business, your experience as a business owner, and your website. Give your business some personality and get people interested in what you're doing. This is an internet advertising method that is popular both with people and the search engines, so you can attract business very successfully with this marketing method. Blogs are everywhere, and they are used by everyone from company presidents to grandparents. All you have to do is sign up for a blogging account, post and voila! You don't even need to pay! Two fine services you can try are Blogger and LiveJournal.
2. Submit to smaller search engines.
This is cheap and dependable. If you submit your site to smaller search engines, you have better chances to get bigger results. Large engines like Google often index the content of these smaller engines, and that's good for your site. Remember that the search engine giants are so vast that they can overlook your site easily, so this internet advertising method might just be the right one for you. Multiple exposures on other sites and search engines makes sure Google and MSN see you.
3. Reciprocal text links. This is not just cheap...this is virtually free! Ask someone to put a link for your site on their pages, and then you return the favor. Try writing articles, post them on article directories, and put your link in the article as part of your signature. Post in forums, putting the link to your web site in your signature file. Be creative, but please don't spam anyone.
To spend money or use our own efforts, that's always the question that stumps us whenever we're trying to accomplish something. In the field of internet advertising, just take enough time to figure out what will suit your needs. Price isn't a good way to judge quality here, and you may get better results using a combination of strategies. Go for what you want as long as there are visible results. |
