Internet Marketing Strategies Part Eight:
Purchasing Advertising
By Shelley Lowery
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/t.cgi?l=doe
If you're looking for a low cost alternative for
purchasing ezine advertising, 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.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter -
Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
http://www.ebookstarter.com 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
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