What steps can you take to advertise your business if your promotion budget is limited?

This was the perfect way to reach my targeted audience and test my ads to see how good each one pulled in potential customers, without spending a fortune. And it’s basically what I already knew, but it’s nice to try and find new ways of doing things. 

Advertising is necessary to get name recognition for your business and attract customers. But, what steps can you take to advertise your business if your promotion budget is limited? 

The following methods are some of the best and cheapest ways to promote your business online. 

-Start An Ezine That's right! Start your very own ezine. 

This is an excellent way to get immediate recognition for your business without spending a dime. It's easy to start a special interest ezine on the Internet. Several free list hosting services will handle all the emailing duties and subscribers. Here's one source below: 

-Ad Swaps...

Once you have an ezine start swapping ads with other ezine owners. You will score big time if you swap ads with a major player. 

-Trade Links..trade links with similar sites. 

Your search engine rank will increase if your site links with many sites. Leading to more website visitors. 

-Search Engine Submission. 

Submit your site to the top search engines. Pay close attention to meta tags and headings to get a higher listing. Sprinkle a few keywords in your web page copy. Here's a few sources to automatically submit your website to search engines.

-Write Articles. 

Compose articles on popular topics. Submit your work to online article directories. If your articles are popular, you will get immediate free promotion, and recognition as an expert in your field. Here's a good guide to writing articles for the Internet. 

Confessions Of An Ezine Writer:

-Write An Ebook! 

Great free promo idea. Need I say more? Write an ebook on a unique topic and give it away to website visitors. Encourage them to distribute to online associates. Include links in the ebook leading to your website. 

Experiment with the methods above! And have fun learning what works for you!

READ MORE - What steps can you take to advertise your business if your promotion budget is limited?

What had caused the death of banner advertising?

This is according to the marketing experts of the internet. This is based from the fact that banners are expensive. According to studies, the number of people visiting and clicking through them are less and that the success rate is minimal. 

Chances are, people using banners would end up losing more money than the cost they have paid for them. 

The same people who were investing their money on banner business before were the first ones pulling out of this kind of advertising and turning to other sources.

There was once a time when banners were the most important forms of printing for information, educational, and advertising purposes. 

People see them everywhere during that time, big and small. Anywhere one looks, banners are displayed, showcasing different businesses and companies. Banners were put into websites in the internet age. 

These times, with graphic designs and colors that added a certain style into these things. That was before.

What people do not know about is that banner advertising is considered a dead business in the internet nowadays. 

What had caused the death of banner advertising?

Many banners are put in with so many graphics designs in them that people could not anymore understand what the banner is about. 

While incorporating more colors and graphics design made the banner look attractive enough, the essence of what is about gets lost in all these mixtures. 

Although the advertisers’ purpose of getting attention made its mark, the content is lost in the purpose. People get to admire them but after that, they tend to forget what they were admiring about. 

Designs, yes, but what else?

Graphic designs take up more of the space that could have been for the things to exemplify the banner further. Most of the time, the graphics that were used were not essential for what the banner is about. 

It should be kept in mind that the graphic designs and the banner should co-exist and not go over the other. 

People has the tendency to look more on the colors and pictures and forget what they were there for and what was it about. 

Banners should not go over with the graphics to avoid being swallowed by them.

Another reason is the long-winding details and explanations, along with all the graphics. As not all people have the patience to go through the long intervals and additional, it is better to get to the point. 

Banners are not TV commercials that need introductions and interruptions. It is best to give it to them straight on.

Did good-looking banners do more effectively than those not-so-good looking ones? 

READ MORE - What had caused the death of banner advertising?

Guide to free advertising

When I first started my internet home business, I realized that in order to make money I would have to bring visitors to my website. I didn't have a lot of extra cash laying around, and my mentality at the time was "Why would I pay for it, when I can get it for free"? So, I starting searching the internet for places that would accept an ad for my product for free. I was very happy to find literally thousands of sites willing to accept my ad.

As the weeks went by I worked hard and learned a lot. The phrase that comes to mind when I think back is, "you get what you pay for". I was placing ads on the internet every free moment I got and was getting very little results. Not being one to quite, I figured I would move on to another form of advertising or figure out what I was doing wrong with the free advertising.

As soon as I placed my ad, I would go back and look at it. I expected my ad to be at the top of the list since I had just placed it. Much to my surprise, my ad was listed down the list a little way. I realized that at the very moment that I was placing my ad, others were doing the same. And as each person placed an ad, mine moved further down the list. In my infinite wisdom... I realized that potential visitors would probably not search past the first page before choosing a product.

So then I decided that I would go into that site and place my ad every few hours. This way I knew it would always stay close to the top of the page, and hopefully be viewed by a potential customer. How right I was!!! Eventually, I had my first customer and had made my first sale on the internet! What a feeling! I was ready to take the internet by storm...

The week ran into the weekend, and I continued in the same way with my free ad campaign...and no luck. Several weeks went by were I was getting visitors and making sales through the week, and none on the weekend. Are you seeing a pattern here? I sure did. I soon discovered through statistical data that I pulled up from a search engine that the internet traffic on the weekend is super low compared to the weekdays. I also learned that the internet traffic is at its peak around the noon hour in the US.

From that day forward, I didn't waste my time advertising on the weekends. Instead, I would sit down around 11:00 a.m. every morning and run as many free ads as was humanly possible. I could just about plan each day at noon that I could get a potential customer, affiliate, sale.

I'm also a firm believer in the phrase "work smarter, not harder". It didn't take me long to figure out that I could utilize copy and paste and run the same ad in every category that it applied. I also used the back button on my browser a lot. Most of the time by using the back button, all my information was still there and I could just choose a different category.

It wasn't long before I had several paying customers and was bringing in a small monthly income from my small internet business. I often try to teach this method to my members who cannot to pay for advertising to start out with...without much luck unfortunately. Many will not sacrifice their time to this extent, or they will run one ad on the internet and expect to get up the next morning and be a millionaire.

For those of you who don't have the money to invest, you will HAVE to invest your TIME. How much is your time worth? Many are drawing 6-figure incomes from the internet within 2-5 years. The internet has made more millionaires from the average Joe than any other vessel in history. Is 2-5 years a hard pill to swallow? It shouldn't be. How many of you are going to work your nine to five job for 40-50 years and have nothing to show for it? 

Am I still running free ads? No, I'm not. I took my very first paycheck that I earned from free advertising and put it back into paid advertising. I can reach a vast number of customers with paid ads with no effort on my part at all. Instead, my time has been filled with teaching others to do as I have done, and building my own business day by day.

Not a day has gone by in the last year and a half where I have not built onto my business. I started out running free ads, then I moved on to paid ads, ppc's, email lists, enzine ads, then I built and optimized my own website, got link partners, got listed with the search engines, etc...

If you want to turn your life around and live without any financial constraints, then the internet is the place to be. All it will take is patience, persistence and the will to succeed on your part.

Best Wishes for your future success and prosperity!

READ MORE - Guide to free advertising

Five Characteristics of Highly Effective Advertising

Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales? - Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads.

Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry’s top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertising to pay for itself, and then some, in order to justify its cost.

If your ads aren’t generating the interest you want in your products and services they may be suffering from one of the five common mistakes small business owners and professional service providers make when developing and delivering their advertising.

Here is a list of five qualities common to successful small business advertising campaigns.

Zero in on Your Best Prospects

Many small business owners make the mistake of thinking bigger is better when they choose a medium in which to run their ads and opt to spend their advertising dollars to reach a larger but less focused market.

For example, if your company specializes in helping law firms reduce the cost of long, ongoing cases and you choose to run a series of full page ads in the New York Times instead of the New York Law Journal you will likely be disappointed by the response to your campaign. Despite reaching the considerably larger audience of the New York Times your would be missing the focused attention of the legal minded readership of the New York Law Journal.

Be sure to zero in on your market. You will increase the likelihood that the readers who see your ad will actually have a need for your service.

Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd

Unless your business sells a product or service that is completely unique and faces no competition your ads need to set your products or services apart from the crowd of your competitors.

If you are the owner of a pet supply company and your ads simply say, “We Sell Pet Supplies” they will be passed over along with every other bland advertisement for Fido’s food.

On the other hand, your ads will stand out and attract much more attention to your shop if you state that you sell, “King Sized Bones and Bowls for the Royalty in Your Family.” By focusing your ads on the owners of large breed dogs you distinguish yourself from the crowd of pet shops that simply sell pet supplies and make it clear to the owners of large dogs that you sell what they need.

Be sure the copy of your ads has the effect of making what you offer unique. Your highly targeted prospects will reward you by noticing the difference in your ads and buying from you.

Demonstrate Value

Another property of a highly effective advertisement is that it demonstrates the value your products and services provide. By demonstrating value in your advertisements you give your prospects a clear idea of the benefits you provide and a clear reason to buy from you. Demonstrating value can also help you set yourself apart from you competitors.

How can you change your ads to demonstrate the value you provide? What special offers can you make to set yourself apart from the pack?

Focus on client problems

Consumers buy products and services because they fill a need or solve a problem. If your ad copy does not address your prospects’ problems they will never know that you provide the solution they need.

If you are recovering from knee surgery and need to work with a physical therapist to regain your full range of motion, would you be more likely to choose a therapist who advertises his new and modern equipment or the one who advertises that she will have your knee working and feeling like new again in just three weeks?

Be sure to focus your ads on your clients’ problems. You will win more business as more and more prospects come to see you as the solution to their problem.

Require Action

The final aspect of a highly effective ad is a call to action. If you’ve done your job up until this point, your prospect has read your ad. If your ad does not finish the job and inspire your prospect to contact you for more information or visit your store or your web site, it is not worth the money you spent to have it published.

Don’t assume that your prospects know what they should do next. You need to tell them to be sure they know.

If you’ve gotten their attention, demonstrated your value and shown them that you are the solution to their problem, don’t waste your good work by neglecting to instruct them to take the next step and contact you.

If all this seems like a lot to accomplish in one advertisement, you need not worry. A well-written marketing message will take care of most of the details of writing a highly effective ad.

Do you have a marketing message you can use to consistently deliver effective ads and position your business as the solution to your client’s problems? You should.

READ MORE - Five Characteristics of Highly Effective Advertising

Do Backlink Advertising Networks Really Work?

When I first heard of backlink advertising networks, I have to admit I was more than a bit skeptical. Of course backlinks are probably the most important tool in the search engine optimization kit, but buying or acquiring backlinks in an unnatural way has always been something Google and other major search engines do not condone. I took a look at a few networks hoping to find some answers.

The first network I looked at was DigitalPoint's Coop Advertising Network (http://www.digitalpoint.com). DigitalPoint's network allows you to create either banner or text ads that will then be displayed on various websites in the network with an active backlink. Websites receive a "weight" which determines how often they appear on other sites, although it wasn't exactly clear on how a site gains weight. Further reading explained that certain factors such as Alexa Rank and number of pages showing ads may contribute to weight. It was even possible to target your ads by category. I was very impressed with the setup. So, I installed the ad network on a few websites and, sure enough, the system started to churn out backlinks.

After testing out the network, I decided to read what others were saying in their forums. Sure enough, my worst fears were realized. As I suspected, churning out links can have a negative impact on search engine rankings. Various sites complained of being completely dropped from Google or Yahoo's index. The problem, it seems, was that links were not permanent. DigitalPoint's network rotates links as you reload a page so you have no permanent backlinks. I immediately removed the links from my sites, and moved on to analyze the next network.

The next backlink advertising network I found was AdCaliber (http://www.adcaliber.com). I quickly read over their FAQ and was pleased to find that they promised permanent backlinks that only get removed when I choose. Other than that, the system seemed similar to DigitalPoint although it was a bit more flexible in ad targeting. After creating an account, I received 100 credits which I could use to bid for backlinks. Apparently, AdCaliber works on a bidding system. You bid a monthly amount of credits to obtain links on certain sites. For example, I bid 50 credits to obtain links on sites with a Google Pagerank of at least 5 and Alexa Rank of at least 500,000. Then, when an open ad slot appeared on a site matching those qualifications, the highest bidder would get the link. In my case, I would be debited 50 credits per month. I was very impressed with the system. I liked having the ability to target my ads precisely. I was also impressed with the ease of installation. With AdCaliber, you don't have to upload any files to your server. You just simply paste a short PHP code on your website. It was very simple. The only negative thing I have to say about AdCaliber is that it is much newer than DigitalPoint and its network is not as large, therefore not as many backlinks are available yet. 

To sum it all up, DigitalPoint is a very effective backlink advertising network when you are looking to acquire backlinks quickly. I would not use DigitalPoint for long term SEO, though. AdCaliber seems to be your best bet for long term SEO and seems to give you better control over your backlinks.

READ MORE - Do Backlink Advertising Networks Really Work?