Advertising Strategies
After your website is up and running, now what? Sure, you have products and/or services to sell (or maybe you're just sticking to Affiliate Strategies and earning commissions for selling other people's products ), but what else can you do to bring in MORE MONEY from your site? Advertising, of course! Advertising ensures traffic to your site (if they don't know about you, they can't can buy!).
Advertising can be both an expense and an income. When you pay someone else to promote your website business, that's a necessary expense (as long as it works!). When someone pays YOU to promote their products/services, you make the money. Let's break down those two ideas even more...
Advertising Expense: If you have ever used Google's search engine, you have seen AdWords advertisements at the top and along the sides, usually called "Sponsored Links." If you sign up for a Google AdWords account, your ads will appear just like that, but only to people who enter keyphrases or keywords that are relevant to your website's products and services. Google AdWords also allows an ad for your website to appear on other people's websites. Each time someone clicks on your ad, they are taken straight to your website and in exchange, Google charges a per-click price that ranges from pennies to dollars. When you set up your AdWords account, you will know the per-click price in advance and can set a budget. Yahoo and other search engines offer similar services. Research pay-per-click programs thoroughly to decide which one(s) are best for the products and services you want to promote.
Advertising Income: You can MAKE money on Google AdWords by allowing ads for other people's websites and products to appear on your site. You earn based on the number of "click-throughs" on the ad. This practicing is commonly known as monetizing your site. Join the Google AdSense program to learn how much you can earn and how simple it is. After you're signed up, other people's ads appear on your site automatically. Google chooses which ads appear and when. It's a no-brainer for you!
By joining Affiliate Programs you can add banners and links to your site and earn a commission for each sale or referral. Click on the Affiliate Strategies link in the menu bar to the left for a detailed explanation of how to generate an excellent income through affiliate programs.
You can also promote your website business in print. Ads in magazines, newspapers-- even your church or kids' school newsletter -- can draw attention to your website and that's the goal! An often overlooked method of print advertising (that is also CHEAP) is having a business card. Your business card doesn't even need to include your name or phone number (unless you want it to). The 3x2 inch size is perfect for advertising just your website and the products and services you are selling and promoting. Hand out cards to everyone you know and tack up on community bulletin boards that are made for this purpose-- at the grocery store, gym, coin laundries, trade shows-- anywhere your buyers will see it.
Free Advertising:
A number of websites out there that allow you to advertising your products and services for FREE. They need good content to attract visitors, so by offering you the opportunity to advertise for free, their content grows, which in turn attracts more visitors. Some sites even allow photos, which is even better. So take advantage of the opportunity to get your products and website mentioned for free out in cyberspace. Some of those free sites are: ClassifiedAds.com, AdlandPro.com, Classifiedsforfree.com, epage.com, USFreeAds.com. And of course, utilize word-of-mouth advertising-- YOUR OWN! Tell everyone about your new business!
