If free advertising ventures aren’t providing you with the
response that you had hoped for, maybe it’s time to
consider purchasing some advertising.
If you really want to build your business online, you must be willing to invest a portion of your profits back into your business. There are several advertising opportunities available on the Internet that will enable you to purchase targeted advertising very reasonably.
Ezine Advertising
Ezine Advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising on the Internet. Not only is it effective, but it can also be very inexpensive depending upon the size of the publication.
The key to using ezine advertising effectively is to target your audience and track your response. You must test the effectiveness of both your ad and the publication in which you’re advertising. This will enable you to determine which ads are pulling the most response and which publications are providing you with a high response rate.
When selecting an ezine to buy advertising, there are a few factors that should be taken into consideration:
1. Select an ezine that targets your potential customer. In
other words, if you were selling health products you wouldn’t
want to advertise in a “marketing” ezine. You would want to
advertise in an ezine that focuses on health.
2. The size of the publication really isn’t a factor in
determining your ad’s success. Smaller publications will
many times have a higher response rate, as they may have
a higher percentage of subscribers that actually read the
publication.
3. Before buying advertising in a publication, make sure you
subscribe to a few issues. You want to ensure that the
publication contains quality content and see how their ads
are displayed. If they’re running 15 or 20 ads each issue,
your ad’s response rate will most likely be low. Try to select
a publication that runs only a few ads each issue and places
them in the center of the publication.
4. Contact the ezine publisher to make sure that they never
run two ads for similar or the same product. This will
increase your response rate immensely.
The Directory of Ezines provides a complete online searchable database of ezines that accept advertising.This directory contains all of the information you’ll need to know to effectively place your ads. There is a $39.95 per year membership fee.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/web/jump.cgi?ID=244
If you’re looking for a low cost alternative for purchasing ezineadvertising, Ezine Ad Auction will enable you to bid on ad space in targeted ezines.
http://www.ezineadauction.com/
Pay-Per Programs
Pay-per programs include, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale.
Pay-per-click programs will enable you to advertise to your target audience and only pay for results — you pay a set amount for each visitor that is sent to your website. The most popular pay-per-click program is the pay-per-click Search Engines. You can learn more about pay-per-click
Search Engines here:
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/
Pay-per-lead programs will enable you to only pay for leads. These leads may be potential customers that fill out a registration form, enter a sweepstakes, or download a free product trial.
Pay-per-sales programs are simply affiliate programs. You pay your affiliates a set commission for each qualifying sale.
You can find a number of Pay-Per programs here:
http://www.clickaffiliate.com/
Another form of a pay-per-click program is pay-per-click banner ads. There are several companies online that will place your banner within their network and charge you a set fee for each click through.
Here’s a few to get you started:
Value Click
http://www.valueclick.com/
I-Clicks
http://www.i-clicks.net
PennyWeb
http://home.pennyweb.com/
Opt-In Email Marketing
Another powerful advertising method is opt-in email marketing. There are many Internet companies that will allow you to purchase targeted lists of individuals who have chosen to receive commercial email messages. Although this form of advertising can produce a good response, it can be rather expensive. Make sure you have fully tested your sales copy and have a good response rate prior to purchasing this
type of advertising. In addition, make sure you only deal with a reputable company, as there is a very thin line between “opt-in” and “spam.” Some of these companies may use unethical means of obtaining email addresses. The only company I can recommend is PostMasterDirect.com.
Before purchasing any “major” advertising, make sure you have fully tested your ad copy. Take your time and plan your advertising carefully for the best results. Your success depends upon it.
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
An in-depth guide to professional web site design. Visit
Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription
to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer
Internet Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net
