10 Ways to Advertise Online (And Where You Can Get Started)

Most business owners fully understand that not advertising is the surest way to kill your business.

However they are also bombarded by so much information and so many choices they quickly lose track of what options are available to them.

There are a number of cheap and easy online advertising options available to you.

 1. Ezine Advertising

Ezine advertising is one of the best ways to reach your future customers because it is often inexpensive and flexible as well as offering you the option to match the ezine audience with your product and ad. It also often offers a double benefit--your initial ad plus longevity in the ezine archives.

 2. Text Links

This simple tool is often overlooked by many. It is simply one of the least expensive and yet most powerful advertising option available. You can often buy text links for under $10 and the link will not only promote the specific site or page you choose but also connect it with the specific key words that will benefit you the most.

Text links also provide a double bonus. You can attract immediate traffic from the host site as well as achieve better search engine ranking which will further increase traffic.

 3. Pay Per Click Advertising

Just like it sounds pay per click advertising is simply paying for specifically targeted traffic. You can monitor and control these advertising programs very closely and tweak your ad copy and the key words that you are sponsoring. This can be a very expensive option but doesn't have to be if you plan carefully and watch closely.

 4. Email Marketing

Despite ever-increasing vigilant attempts to stop spam, we all know that email marketing is still alive and well. While it is foolish in the extreme to risk your business, web host, or internet connection, by sending out spam you can still use email marketing as a way to reach out and touch your customers and your future customers.

You just need to make sure that no one receives mail except the people who ask for it. People are still willing to sign up for mailing lists--especially if you have something to offer them in return for sharing their email address. Sponsor a contest; give away an article, ebook, or tutorial; or offer a discount and you will have people sign up willingly.

Then if you don't abuse the mailing list you will have the opportunity to reach them again and again!

5. Banner Ads

Banner ads have a bad reputation. In part because of the proliferation of banner farms that killed all the banner swap programs (or at least made them completely ineffectual). Also we all have memories of those hideous banners flashing across the top of so many web sites.

Banners have come along way since then and a cleverly designed banner can be a real asset to any advertising campaign. Also don't forget that you don't have to use one of those big giant banners that span the width of the screen. You can use smaller simple ads that can fit easily into the sidebar or special box on a web site so they can suit the design and work more effectively.

It is also important that you pay close attention to what sites you will choose for displaying your banner. IE. A site about web development for your web hosting service ad or a site about parenting for your ad promoting your potty training book.

Many text link and pay per click advertising vendors also offer the option of banner ads. Similarly many ezine and newsletter publishers sell space on their sites.

 Sell Your Knowledge

These next five advertising methods are all free or relatively inexpensive because you are trading something of value -- your knowledge and expertise -- in return for advertising.

 6. Publish a Newsletter

Creating your own regular newsletter or ezine offers you all the advantages of ezine advertising and email marketing offered above.

7. Publish a Blog and RSS Feed

While publishing a newsletter or ezine isn't that difficult it is much easier to create a blog and make its content available via RSS feed. This can offer you the benefits of regularly updated material for your web site which will be attractive to visitors and search engines alike. It will also help establish you as an expert in your field.

I personally like using WordPress on your own site but many web hosts now offer blogging services and there are many free blogging sites around where you can create a blog on their site.

 8. Write Articles

Take some of the material you have generated for your newsletter and/or blog and share it with others. Make it available in one of the many free content directories available on the web. This not only helps to establish your credibility but the contact info you provide in your resource box (which will run every time someone else publishes your material) will bring in both direct traffic as well as search engine attention.

9. Create an Ebook

Once you have enough material generated from your newsletter and blog then you can package it into a convenient Ebook and give it away. Make sure to collect names and email addresses and offer a coupon or discount to bring people back to your site!

10. Post in Forums

If you have the time you should start your own forum but even if you only have a few minutes a week to spare for this effort then it can be well worth the effort. Don't offer blatant spam posts but find a forum where you have something to offer. Make sure that you include an appropriate url and description for your forum signature and you will attract the double benefit of traffic and search engine attention!

No successful advertising campaign embraces one single method of advertising and no single method of advertising works for everyone. Advertising cannot be treated as a one-size-fits all proposition. However you know what your business needs and can offer--mix and match methods and make sure to track your results--to optimize your choices.

3 Key Questions You Need Ask About Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is exciting, challenging, and confusing. It can make or break your internet business career and yet many people who depend on internet marketing don't have a full grasp of the essentials involved in internet marketing.

In fact, many internet entrepreneurs waste a great deal of time, energy, and momentum because they do not fully understand internet marketing. Don't let this lack of understanding undermine your income potential.

In order for you to better understand internet marketing and its impact on your internet business you must know the answers to these three key questions:

1. What Is Internet Marketing?
2. What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?
3. What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

What Is Internet Marketing?

Marketing is actually rather simple. Marketing is communication about an idea, product, service, or organization. Marketing therefore encompasses advertising, promotion and sales as well as the various techniques and forms of communication used to advertise, promote and sell.

Marketing is broader than simple advertising or promotion in that it includes researching the market to learn what consumers want and then setting out to meet their needs with the appropriate product, price, and distribution method. Marketing includes market research, deciding on products and prices, advertising promoting distributing and selling.

Marketing also covers all the activities involved in moving products and services from the source to the end user including making customers aware of products and services, attracting new customers to a product or service, keeping existing customers interested in a product or service, and building and maintaining a customer base for a product or service.

Internet marketing includes these same activities but also pulls in various internet tools including web sites, email, ezines, banner advertising, blogging, RSS, text links, search engine optimization, affiliates, autoresponders, and other ecommerce applications.
   
What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?

The range of expenses for internet marketing is huge. There are a number of promotional and marketing ventures that can cost you nothing or only pennies a day while other advertising efforts can cost you thousands a day.

It is important to consider your goals -- both long-term and short-term -- as well as how much each prospective customer is worth to you. This will help you determine a workable budget for your internet marketing campaign.

Many internet promotions are free, you can set up a web site and/or blog for $250 a year, and you can buy text links for $10 a month. You could easily spend $25-50 a day for advertising but there are many cheaper ad options available.

The best program is to start small and cheap and slowly build as you test and learn what is successful for your market and product. There is no perfect acvertising solution that works wonders for everyone. Each marketer and each product has a different formula.

What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing offers more benefits than many traditional marketing mediums. The very nature of web sites and blogs is that they continue working to promote and market your product long after your initial marketing effort is over. Similarly many advertising efforts, such as ezines, newsletters, banners, and text links also continue to increase in power over time.

Email marketing can be a tremendous surge in contacts and sales and offers the ability to personalize your message as well as reach a targeted audience so your chance for sales goes up exponentially.

The other tremendous benefit of internet marketing is that it offers convenience and immediate satisfaction. Your potential customer sees your marketing message when it is convenient for them -- and often when they are seeking information about your specific topic. Then you offer them the ability to act on that interest right then. They can locate your product and buy in the time it would take to watch a commercial on television or turn a page in the newspaper. That is the power of internet marketing.

Now that you have the answers to these three key questions, you are ready to begin your own internet marketing campaign -- and succeed with your internet venture.

10 Easy Steps For Getting Video On Your Business Website

I'm often asked, "I have no video training but I want to put video on my website to help promote my products and services what can I do?" Well the answer is simple. If you can shoot a home movie you can put a video clip on your website. Now the first thing is to not be scared of the camera. A good sales person needs to be able to speak clearly and present their product in a manner that everyone can understand and enjoy. So with that in mind turn on your camera, cell phone, or whatever video capturing tool you have and begin shooting. But here are a few tips for making your shoot successful and getting it up on your website.

1. Speak clearly, and so that everyone watching can understand what your saying and what your product is about.

2. Make sure you have enough light so that you and your product can be seen. But be aware that you can also have to much light. So the best thing to do is to test your video and the area your going to be shot in. Make sure you look natural.

3. A microphone is important and you need to be heard. If your using a mini-dv camera you can easily get a microphone that can attach from the camera to your clothing. Use make sure you can't see the wire that connects the mic and the camera during your video.

4. Have FUN! No one wants to see a sour face on camera. So make sure you are having fun and that you SMILE. The better you come across on camera the more people would want to buy your product or services.

5. Don't use big words in your video presentation. Keep it short sweet and simple.

6. Once you've finished your recording, watch it. Make sure it's what you want and something that you'll feel proud to have on your website.

7. Now get the clip to your computer. Your camera will have instructions on how to upload the footage. Now you can get fancy and use one of the high end video editing products. But those take a long time to learn. So if your on a PC use Windows MovieMaker and if your on a Mac use IMove and edit your clip to your licking. Don't use to make crazy effects keep it about you and your product.

8. Now once your clip is edited you need to output it to a web file. If your on a PC then output the file to a WMV. And if your on a MAC then output your clip to a .MOV file.

9. Upload it! If you don't have server space then use http://Video.Google.com or http://Youtube.com. You can easily upload your video to these services. Not only will you have the code to embed the file to your website but you will also allow others to see your video and your product who haven't been to your site yet. It will be as easy as CUT and PASTE to an HTML page.

10. Promote your video clip. Include links to your clip in your weekly newsletters. Send your clip to your friends, family, and business associates. Let them see the work you've done and ask them to pass it on to other friends. Son you'll notice that you have a ton of visitors watching your video and more traffic to your website.

Learn how to to make your fortune on-line and successfully run your digital marketing campaigns 

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10 Steps to Getting Paid for Your Marketing Materials

How many times have you heard the same sound bites come out of your mouth to your clients, prospects, and audiences, almost boring yourself to tears in the process? Imagine generating money directly from those sound bites, from those pearls of wisdom that effortlessly trip off your tongue. Yes, it is completely possible, and here’s how to do it.

1. Capture those tidbits of information as soon as they come to mind. Jot them down in a notebook or get them into a Word document. They can be in a raw format, with just enough information to jog your thinking about what you mean. There will be time to refine them later.

2. Let a couple weeks go by, allowing most of the information to surface in your thoughts. It rarely happens by declaring two hours on a Thursday afternoon to sit at your computer to think of it all.

3. Refine and organize the tips. Divide them into categories and edit the text. Use a writing style similar to what you are reading here.

4. Be sure to include your contact details so readers can easily reach you. Add a brief section about your background so people will know your qualifications for presenting the information.

5. Hire a graphic designer to make the words look good on the page. Your completed product will be a tips booklet measuring about 3 ½ inches by 8 ½ inches when printed. The designer will create their part of the finished product as a PDF file.

6. Send the PDF file from your graphic designer to a printing company. Do an initial print run of 1,000 copies.

7. Think about who can benefit from using your booklet to promote their own product, service, or cause. Send them a sample of your booklet and a cover letter describing some of the ways they can increase their sales or further their cause by using your booklet as a promotional tool.

8. Consider corporations, associations, publications, and any other group that seems appropriate for the topic of your booklet. Reach out to as many of them as you can, on whatever budget of time and money you have available to you.

9. Realize that every time one of the large-quantity buyers sends out your booklet to promote their own product, service, or cause, they are also marketing your business. Your contact information in the booklet allows the reader to reach you directly.

10. Enjoy the expansion of your customer base and your checking account. You are now reaching a larger audience than you are likely to do single-handedly, thanks to the large-quantity buyers of your booklet. And you have been paid by your buyers to reach those new people.

Those sound bites you have been saying for years are now reaching far beyond your current clients, helping your buyers, their clients, and your own business. It doesn’t get a lot better than getting paid for your marketing materials.



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3 Simple Steps to Killer Headlines

The headline is undoubtedly the most crucial factor of the sales copy. You could have the best sales copy ever written but a poorly written and not thought out headline will almost single handedly ruin your business.The following points should insure your headline is quality and will force to read on.

1. Ultra Specific

You need to be as specific as possible. For example. Instead of "how an ebook author make thousands every month",change it too "how an ebook author makes $2,678.85 every month".Its more specific and a lot more believable.

2. Keep it unique and original

You really need to come up with your own original headline.For example im sick of seeing this headline. "Finally,the simple way to get free to your site. Its this word "finally",its been totally overused.

3. Keep the urgency

This really forces the reader to view the sales page further.Give the headline a sense of urgency. For example, giving a special offer for reading on,deadline dates or total amounts available.

This techniques have personally been proven by myself, they work some better than other, the key is to keep tweaking and testing with the above points always in mind.

I use these tips in the headlines I create. I ALWAYS MAKE SURE MY HEADLINES GRAB THE ATTENTION. My website ebookprofitmaker.com currently has a conversion rate of 3.3% and 76% of my vistors read past the headline.

How to Choose a Great Copywriter

No two copywriters are the same.  So how do you know you're getting the best writer for the job?  Unless you know what to look for, choosing your copywriter can be a bit of a lottery.

The truth is, copywriters range from the great to the not-so-great.  Just like any other profession, there are high flyers, under-achievers, rogue traders and young pretenders.  And even if you bag a top banana for your project, who's to say they'll gel with you?  Or your product?  Your style?  Your chosen media?

The answer, of course, is research.  Knowing what you want and sniffing it out is wiser than saying yes to the first person with a ready typing finger.  But remember, a copywriter is someone who can - and should - do more than write.  Their greatest asset is curiosity.

Copywriters want to know the ins and outs of every little thing.  They're fascinated by human nature, knowing how to capitalise on motivations and get inside the consumer’s head.  A good copywriter will research your market inside out, then look at you critically through your customer's eyes.  It's their curiosity - not their way with words - that finally helps them see your business in a whole new light.

Whatever your project, this is the first quality to look for in your copywriter.  Curiosity is the key to persuasion.  And persuasion is the only reason copywriters exist in the first place!

So, your copywriter needs a way with words - fairly obvious!  And they have to tick the curiosity box.  But you still need to whittle down the field and find the one you can spark off.  

Try asking yourself a few of these questions when you're weighing up a candidate:


Who's doing the talking?  Are they listening to you or talking about themselves?

How quickly have they grasped your business?  Not just your products, but also your marketplace?

Can they write passionately?  About anything?  Even the dullest product?  If they get you excited about sprocket valves, hire them on the spot!

Have they worked in your industry and chosen media?  If not, does their other work show they have a grip on your marketplace?


When you’ve chosen a suitable copywriter, you'll know you've made the right choice when you start offering feedback.  Professional copywriters thrive on constructive criticism - it’s a surefire way of knowing they’re heading in the right direction.  That doesn't mean they'll roll over and accept any changes you make, but they will keep an open mind and listen to every point of view.

When you offer feedback, however, you should see it as a two-way street.  You may have to let go of some of your preconceptions.  Great copywriters can realise why your current marketing isn’t working, and won't shirk from telling you.  They'll be cruel to be kind.

But for now, these small measures should protect you against hiring the wrong person.  Of course there's no guarantee - creativity by its very nature demands that element of uncertainty.

But if hiring a copywriter really is a lottery, you should be pretty close to scooping five numbers plus the bonus ball...