Six
Ways to Promotion Success!
Author: Clifton W. Bonney
I have
been promoting websites on the NET for some time now, and
have seen many marketing strategies 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!
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 definitely DON'T mean sell your product or
service 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/t.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