With so many businesses on the web and so many different ways of
promoting your site it is easy to spend far too much on
advertising and get far too little in return. Here are some
tried and true ways of promoting your business that are simple
and relatively cheap:
1. Using Banners to Promote Your Site
Banner exchanges are about the oldest form of advertising on the
Internet, and while they won't flood your site with customers,
they can be an effective low-cost promotional tool.
How it works: Your banner runs on other sites in a banner co-op
while their banner runs on your site, simple as that.
Two of the longest running free banner exchanges are Link
Exchange at http://adnetwork.bcentral.com, and Banner Swap at
http://bannerswap.com. These are both pretty reputable and have
some good features. Of course there are many more banner
opportunites out there, and some of them are great, just use good
sense, and avoid sites with claims that sound too good to be
true.
Be smart with your banners. There are a few basic rules to
banner use.
Don't place banners at the top of your page. They take
time to load and detract from your page content. Place
banners at the bottom of your page.
Banners that tell people to "click" to get something
good far outperform other banners.
Animated banners work well only if their file size isn't
too big.
Yellow gets attention best but is hard on the eye. Blue
is the most soothing color.
2. Classified Ads
There are a ton of web sites and e-zines that print classified
ads. Most are pretty cheap, and some are even free. The trick
to an effective classified ad is to say what you need with just a
few choice words.
Follow these steps:
Write your ad in complete sentences, then cut out non-
essential words. Use action words and short phrases.
Write several versions of your classified ad then pick
the best ones.
Test your ads. Run a few of them on free sites first to
see which ones get a response. Be sure to include a code
in the ad info so you will know which ad produced the
response.
Once you find an ad that works well, keep using it.
Just because you're bored with it doesn't mean the
audience is. They don't see it nearly as often as you
do.
3.Promote Your Web Site With Direct Mail
With today's e-everything mentality, it is easy to forget the
old, tried and true ways of doing business, but don't yield to
the temptation. There are an increasing number of Internet
businesses that are returning to traditional advertising methods
and seeing some great results.
One of these great older methods is the classic sales letter sent
through the mail. It's a time-tested technique that brings
business.
You can mail your web site announcement, new product release, or
price specials to as many people as you want, and you'll never be
accused of spamming.
Check the catalog of mailing lists available from
http://www.SRDS.com/. It's a standard in the Direct Mail
industry. Look for fresh lists which are tightly targeted to your
market.
So don't get discouraged by expensive advertising campaigns. As
you can see, there are many cheap and effective ways to promote
your site. So get out there and get some business.
About the Author
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice, copywriting, and
promotional packages. See all his tips to help your business
or career at http://DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at
kevin@drnunley.com, or 801-328-9006.