I have been promoting websites on the NET for some time now, and have
seen
many marketing stategies come and go.
You've seen it, Expert A(Dr. Know-It-All)
told you to go to his website for the very BEST promotion on the net.
"I''ll do everything for you" the Dr says. He must know, right? So, you
send lots of money, and wait for the traffic. Hmmm...
didn't happen. No increase in hits.
Well, it must have been Dr. Know-It-All.
I'll try Expert B, Dr. No-You-Don't. Surely HE will be better than the
last because....Yahdah...Yahdah...Yahdah!
Again, some big money sent...few results.
So, out of desperation and a huge pain in my wallet, I finally formed my
own company that I KNEW would be uncommonly useful through my trial and
error experience.
Hence...Clifton Enterprises' website called Click City was born.
All of the information in this article is available at the
City.....So................
If you are planning to keep up with what's working NOW, I suggest the
following six ways to assure success with your advertising dollars.
1. E-Zines
The most amazing and under-used tool is the POWER of the e-zine! Think
about it:
How many times have you deleted an E-Zine because you didn't have time,
or you assumed there was nothing in it for you. Wrong on both counts.
Most online magazines have subscriber bases of over one thousand, many
have more. If you place your ad in several of these @ $15-75/ad, you
have substantially increased your visibility without much output. The
more subscribers, the more people see your message. Choose e-zines with
a good base for maximum exposure, and subscribe to several at once. Read
them, decide which to advertise in, and go for it. It's very inexpensive
promotion. You'll find one at Click City-at end of article!
2. Opt-in lists
Opt-in lists have become one of the fastest growing promotional tools
available lately. There are pitfalls, however. If 20,000 people join a
list, and only 10% post their ad to YOUR email daily. Do you think
anyone is reading YOUR ad? I think NOT! What's going to happen to your
mailbox? So.....
Join several lists and send your message to thousands DAILY. There are
many free
lists with hundreds and hundreds of members, however don't expect your
message to be read. Find lists with memberships of 100-1000! You have a
better chance of being seen. I wouldn't join any list with more than
1000 members unless there were other benefits of membership.
3. Free Links and FFA Pages
Most people just submit to these, but you really need to consider owning
one or two.
Surely you have been to the Free Links Pages where you submit your URL,
and your webpage remains on the top, then scrolls off as others are
added. The scroll-off time depends on the traffic at the particular
webpage you submit to, usually 1-2 days...and yet sometimes 10 minutes.
One of my FFA pages delivers me 400-600 emails every day- people waiting
to receive my ad. Can you imagine how large my database has become, just
from one service?
4. Free and paid Classifieds
Placing Classified adds requires more than just submitting your URL. You
need to be able to create a SHORT, but exciting description of your
business/service. You only have a few seconds to GRAB your readers
before they click away to someone else's ad.
Classifieds do last longer than FFA's- sometimes as long as 3 months,
and can be edited if your program changes.
There are thousands of places to submit
your classified ad... some free and some where you must pay. Always
use a combination of both. Nothing works well by itself. Adland.com is
great and free!
For paid Classifieds, here is a good example:
http://submit.websection.com/agent.cgi?id10591 5.Replicating Websites
These will work as long as you are willing to promote them.Place your
ad, then the entire page is duplicated. The company will send you a URL
to promote, along with any other programs you are involved in. Your ad
stays on top.
6. Offline Advertising
You can not have a total promotion package without it. By offline, I
definately DON'T mean sell your product or sevice to all your relatives
and friends. Never a good thing to do! You can promote offline easily by
purchasing inexpensive items to place on your vehicle, window, or
anywhere. I have found two terrific tools that are inexpensive...
Web-Decals- Place these in your car back window-advertise while driving:
http://www.webdecal.com.cgi/100654
Id It Plates-Again for your car:
http://www.iditplates.net/new/1642/index.html
OK- follow the examples above for a COMPLETE promotion package you can
put together YOURSELF at a reasonable cost.
All of the above examples can be found at Click City... plus lots more:
http://www.fluffymoose.com/members/clifton/
About the Author
Clifton W. Bonney/BA in Communications
Publisher of The Linker Trader Digest, a weekly E-Zine for business
owners-5000
subscribers. His 20 years+ experience
in the communications field has yielded
high rewards online. Please feel free to email him with comments or
suggestions:
cliftonent@webtv.net