Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category

Comments Off

Online Advertising – The Ideal Marketing Tool


2010
05.20

The aim of every business owner, whether he is established or an aspiring entrepreneur is to generate maximum returns from his business venture. In the current times, advertising is the most important marketing tool. The options available for consumers are innumerable and only if a brand or a product can find a place in the customers’ memory would it finally sell. And the only way of doing so is by advertising. Internet marketing advertising is gaining momentum and online advertising is one of the most effective means of getting across the USP of a company, product or a service, to consumers.

Ideally an entrepreneur should hire a service provider who specializes in creating effective online advertising campaigns. This would help you understand your marketing goals, identify the challenges in achieving these goals, establish metrics for measuring success in achieving these goals, and following that implement an effective online marketing campaign that is custom made to suit your needs. Incase you don’t intend doing so then you must make it a point to study other Internet marketing advertising campaigns. After a thorough understanding and research of existing campaigns of Internet marketing online advertising, you should take the decision and required steps towards designing an Internet marketing advertising campaign that can work effectively for your product or service. Even if you are considering free Internet advertising, you must understand the medium before creating the Internet marketing advertising plan.

Pros and cons of free advertising online
Undoubtedly with the increasing number of web users, there is a moving trend towards Internet marketing online advertising. In fact a number of websites now offer free advertising online. And of course in the quest for searching for the cheapest advertising medium there can be no better option than free Internet advertising. This option might seem like an effective online advertising method and it definitely has numerous advantages as you need not pay for the online advertising space, but there can be certain loopholes that come with free advertising on the web. One of the biggest challenges for most companies that look at branding through free web advertising is that most of the web sites that offer free advertising online are new and therefore do not attract a large number of users. Also, these websites though they offer the cheapest advertising opportunity, do not have the right kind of traffic that a company might want. This can affect the company adversely as the free Internet advertising campaign would become stale but would not work as an effective online marketing tool. At the same time, when a company opts for free internet advertising there are chances that there might be discrepancies in the ad campaign but they usually cannot hold the website responsible. This is because a site that offers free web advertising usually does not take any responsibility for the ad and capitalizes on the fact that it would attract users through the companies that it offers free internet advertising to. As a result the message conveyed through the free web advertising might actually be wrong.

Importance of a well designed ad campaign
It is extremely important that for proper Internet marketing advertising, that the ad copy is written well, and this becomes of paramount importance when an entrepreneur is considering free advertising on the web, as even the smallest error can be mis-constructed. This is the biggest risk that comes along with free website advertising.

A proper goal must be set while preparing the ad copy. The campaign should be designed keeping in mind what are the expectations from this particular ad and what the free web site advertising must accomplish. Also it is essential to set yourself apart from your competitors. In case of free web site advertising, an Internet user might be bombarded with so many different option and different companies and products that it would be difficult to retain your product. If your campaign is properly constructed only then you would be able to benefit from free web site advertising.

Weighing the different aspects
Ideally an entrepreneur should take into consideration all the advantages of free advertising on the web while also looking at the risk factor that comes along with free advertising online. You might get swayed towards opting for free advertising on the web because it holds a number of financial advantages even if you opt for any other cheapest advertising medium, but there can be a lot of trouble, and the company might generate a negative impact, if the free website advertising does not work in the intended direction. Yet at the same time the advantages of free website advertising cannot be overlooked. Thus ideally if an entrepreneur designs the campaign properly, most of the risk can be negated.

www.majorenterprise.net

Author: Carael Knight
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
car rear view camera, back up camera

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

Reaping Profits Through Advertising


2010
05.19

The consumer today is bombarded with a wide range of products and services. With the concept of globalization taking root and a firmer shape with the changing times, the options that a consumer has are unlimited and mind-boggling. And of course each entrepreneur strives to provide the best possible deal that he can for the consumer, thus making a decision becomes even tougher for the consumer. As a result, the best and the only way of dealing with this uncontrollably mushrooming competition is by devising a proper strategy on how to advertise your business. Again, with the various options available in terms of the advertising medium deciding how to advertise your business can also prove to be a difficult decision. At the same time, with the increasing accessibility of the Internet, entrepreneurs can now tap markets that were not accessible so far.

Advertising online versus classified ads
To truly capitalize on the increasing Internet usage you can opt for advertising online and can devise an effective online marketing campaign. In fact advertising online, that first started as a trend, has now to a large extent become an absolute necessity as the reach of the internet is much larger than that most of the other advertising mediums. In fact, till a few years back a classified ad was considered the best means of propagating business and increasing returns but that assumption has now altered. With the changing economic scenario and the easy accessibility of the Internet, the number of entrepreneurs advertising through a classified ad is gradually declining while advertising online is gaining popularity, across the world.

Understanding classified ads and the advantages of free classified advertising
As mentioned above, newspaper classified ads, till some time back were considered as one of the most effective means of tapping the market potential that was available. Newspaper classified ads actually help an entrepreneur to tap the local market and are thus highly targeted. More importantly, an entrepreneur needs to understand that if newspaper classified ads are designed after a thorough study of the market, they still hold a mass appeal. A number of newspapers also offer free classified advertising packages and schemes, to attract advertisers.

Free classified advertising can be a very good means of communicating with the consumer if an entrepreneur is only looking at local markets. At the same time, since a large number of companies would try taking advantage of the free classified advertising opportunity, the advertiser would have to ensure that his campaign has the potential to catch the eye of the consumer. In fact an effective classified ad, though its reach might be quite limited as compared to advertising online, still manages to generate the required response. An effective classified ad can be designed only if the advertiser truly understands the nerve of the market and also holds an understanding of the changing demands of consumers and how a classified ad can be used to cater to these. At the same time one can call a classified ad an effective classified ad only if it is highly targeted.
Increasing opportunities of free internet advertising

To capitalize on the market reach that the Internet offers and its increasing usage, advertisers are focusing on connecting to the market through advertising online. At the same time, a number of websites are now offering the opportunity of free Internet advertising. This free Internet advertising is greatly beneficial for an advertiser as it can go a long way in creating a brand recall without extensive investment. The disadvantage of free internet advertising is that because of the large number of advertisers who opt for it, the advertiser might not be able to hold the attention of the consumer for long. At the same time, the portals usually do not take any responsibility of the information communicated through the free Internet advertising; as a result the message communicated to the consumer might not be correct. One can even place a classified ad online now. In fact a number of Internet portals also offer the opportunity for free classified advertising.

The need for an online advertising company
While designing an online advertising campaign, you can also take the assistance of an online advertising company. On the basis of the experience and the understanding of the medium, an online advertising company would be able to help you design an effective online marketing campaign or even an effective classified ad. An entrepreneur faces immense competition even if he is advertising online, as a result it is imperative to design a campaign which works as an effective online marketing strategy and an online advertising company can offer numerous trips and guidelines to do so. Thus, they can help you in deciding how to advertise your business so as to reap maximum benefits.

Visit: www.majorenterprise.net/profit

Author: Carael Knight
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Beading Necklace

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

Advertising Online–How to Make Money Online By Providing Advertising


2010
05.18

There are a wide variety of advertising vehicles online. Each of these advertising vehicles has a product that works better in some industries and with some products that others.

The bottom line to selling advertising online and making money doing so is by connecting buyers of advertising with sellers of advertising.

Basically what that means is that there are a large number of individuals and companies online who want to advertise, and there are a large number of individuals or companies on the web who are willing to provide advertising space. However, the market is very large, and it is inefficient for the advertisers and the providers of space to individually meet and negotiate contracts.

So the individual or firm wishing to advertise will generally contact an advertising firm which has many contacts with companies willing to provide the advertising venue, and place advertising with many of the venues at the same time.

So to start an advertising business online, you first need to gather a collection of firms or web sites that are willing to show adverting on their web sites. These web sites are preferably high-traffic web sites, with a considerable amount of monthly traffic, or visitors.

Once you have collected the initial “stable” of advertising venues, you can begin to solicit advertising clients. These advertisers will pay a price for the advertising which is commensurate with their exposure of advertising.

So, for example, if you have contracted with 10 web sites that each receive 100,000 visitors per month, you can sell up to 1,000,000 exposures of advertising per month to each advertiser. If you have negotiated 10 advertising ’spots’ on each of the websites, then you can sell up to the equivalent of 10 advertising customers 1,000,000 exposures per month. For example, if one advertiser only buys 500,000 exposures, you can sell the additional 500,000 exposures for a total of 11 advertisers.

You will have a pricing structure that creates a spread between the amount you charge the advertiser for the exposures, and the price you have agreed to pay the high-traffic sites for showing the advertising.

So what types of advertising can you sell?

You can sell banner ads, pay-per-click impressions, sponsorship ads, pop-up or pop-under ads, or you can provide services that approximate advertising such as search engine optimization or viral marketing campaigns.

A brief synopsis of these types of advertising:

Banner ads: Banner ads are generally pictorial ads that are viewed on the high traffic web site, and contain a link back to the advertiser’s web site. These ads are generally priced per some amount of ads shown. For example, these ads might be sold in lots of 100,000 impressions each.

Pay-per-click ads: Pay-per-click ads are similar to banner ads, except they are priced by the number of visitors generated by the ads (click-throughs). Made popular by search engine giants Yahoo and Google, they are often perceived as text ads rather than pictorial, although pictorial (or even banner) ads can be sold on a pay-per-click basis.

Sponsorship ads: These are generally larger ads than banner or pay-per-click ads and may contain a considerable amount of text. These ads are generally placed in high traffic areas such as online newsletters, or ezines, or in the delivery of online books and magazines. These are generally priced by the ad and that price is generally linked to the number of readers of the publication in which the ad is placed.

Pop-up ads are ads that are designed to ‘pop-up’ into the viewers’ eyeshot as they are viewing a web page. These ads are generally priced by the impression. Pop-up ads are much less popular because of their nuisance factor, and as a result are blocked by many internet browsers, and are thus less effective today than in the early days of the internet.

Pop-under ads are generally less intrusive than pop-ups, although they utilize a similar concept. The primary difference here is that the pop-under ad does just that—it pops under the current screen so it does not interrupt the web reader. When the reader closes the current web page, they see the new pop-under screen and can view it at that time.

Search engine optimization, although not strictly advertising, works in much the same way. Search engine optimization involves maximizing a web site or associated campaign in such a way that the particular web site being optimized has a higher search engine ranking, and thus a higher probability of being visited by a search engine visitor.

Viral marketing campaigns are campaigns that utilize either advertising or current traffic visitor streams and create a viral, or logarithmic, increase in visitor traffic through primarily referral programs. These campaigns might suggest to current visitors that they let three of their friends know about the web site, and might use tell-a-friend scripts to make that easy. These campaigns also might provide easy-to-deliver electronic giveaways which tend to be given away multiple times after they are initially downloaded, thereby creating a viral effect.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide’

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

Author: Sean R Mize
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Latest trends in mobile phone

  • Share/Bookmark

Pay Per Click Success Secrets – 15 Reasons You Must Avoid for Your Success in PPC Online Advertising


2010
05.01

Within this article, you will discover common reasons why advertisers are failed in pay per click (PPC) advertising game, particularly Adwords game. With those reasons, it will help you find out how to success in this game in the future. Those reasons are significant elements for you to leverage and learn from other’s mistakes and experiences in order to success and win this Adwords game in the future.

1. Give up too quickly. Many studies reveal that most Adwords advertisers are failure because they give up too quickly. They expect to earn money quickly and easily by setting up a campaign and wait for money rolling into their bank, without any further action, in short term. They are wrong. It is not easy like that!

2. Lack of the strategy planning. It is obviously that planning is a key success factor for all kinds of business. It will help you to minimize redo and undo tasks. Also, it will help you to settle your own direction. Most Adwords advertisers should plan their strategies, budget, and their action in the PPC online advertising game, but they do not.

3. Lack of creativity. The internet marketing and PPC online advertising is an art, not pure science. All Adwords advertisers should come up with their ideas, creative and new strategies for testing their PPC advertising campaigns all the time. Otherwise, they will fail and can not win this game.

4. Lack of systematically testing system. In the internet marketing, particularly in PPC online advertising world, you must test everything in the systematic way, which you can test. In the Adwords advertising, you should test: (1) keywords (2) ad-copy (3) landing page (4) campaign management and organization and (5) other things, of which you can think. Most failed advertisers do not test in the systematic way and some of them do not test anything.

5. Lack of well-understand in the market and people. There is no doubt that the more you understand your market and people, the more opportunities to earn money on the internet you have. You have to put yourself into the customer’s shoes. You have to think like customers. Most Adwords advertisers fail to do this. They are rush to set up their PPC advertising campaigns with their mind and hope that they will generate a lot of money for them without any additional actions. They are wrong!

6. Lack of well monitor, tracking and evaluation system. In the PPC, other keys to your success are: (1) monitoring your campaigns, keywords, ad-copy and landing page (2) tracking the sales, keywords, conversion rate and cost, and (3) evaluate the high performance campaign, ad-group, keywords and landing page. Most of advertisers can not do these systematically. They wait and guess for their monitoring, tracking and evaluation!

7. Lack of consistency. This is a really important factor to your success in any kinds of business in the world. Many researches reveal that most successful entrepreneurs love what they do and they do their works consistency and continuously. On the other hand, other entrepreneurs can not achieve this. They give up and do not do their work consistency when they do not see big money and big results in short term, like weeks, months. That is another reason why they fail.

8. Lack of keyword bidding strategy. This strategy is one of the most significant strategies in the PPC online advertising. The golden rule of winning this game is to avoid the bidding war! Most new and failed advertisers have not the keyword bidding strategy. Without the bidding strategy, there is no any effectiveness at all!

9. Lack of well-organize campaign. Well, many researches reveal that managing and organizing are two of the best behaviours for advertisers to do for building their highly relevancy and successful PPC advertising campaign, particularly Adwords. With the well-organize, it is easier for advertiser to run and grow their relevancy PPC advertising campaigns.

10. Lack of niche profitable and negative keywords. The PPC online advertising is similar to the keyword auction game. With this sense, keywords will become the first critical factor for success and winning the PPC advertising game. Without niche profitable and negative keywords, you are losing your own money. This reveals that keyword research is one of the most important processes to success in PPC online advertising. Most people fail with their effective keyword research.

11. Write the poor and unattractive ad-copy. Without the attractive and eye-catching ad-copy, you can drive visitors to your landing page through PPC online advertising. Your click through rate (CTR) will be definitely low. Most advertisers are failed to write the powerful and attractive ad-copy. There are a few basic rules for writing the ad-copy in PPC online Advertising, which are to: (1) include the keywords in your title of ad-copy (2) address the benefits of your products to your ad-copy and (3) test various strategies for writing your ad-copy.

12. Drive visitors to the poor landing page with low conversion rate. The conversion rate is the best critical factor for all advertisers to concern and test heavily. Without high conversion rate, you can not turn your visitors into customers and earn big money on the internet; even you have a lot of traffic. There are many guidelines of how to build a high conversion rate landing page on the internet. However, one of the most critical factors for your landing page is “headline”. You have a several seconds to load your website and grab your visitors’ attention with your title.

13. Lack of secrets weapon software. With the appropriate software, it is easier for you to manage, monitor, track and evaluate your PPC advertising campaigns. There are many kind of secrets weapon software you must have for your own PPC online advertising if you do not want to fail: (1) keyword research tools (2) keyword bidding software (3) campaign management software (if you are running multiple campaigns in multiple search engines) (4) monitor and tracking software and (5) spy competitors software. Most advertisers do not invest on those tools. They believe that they can do everything by themselves and free tools. Many researches show that those paid tools can help advertisers a lot in term of effective researching, managing, monitoring, tracking and evalution.

14. Can not stay on top in the trend of PPC online advertising. There are many changes rapidly in the world of PPC online advertising. Most advertisers are tired of staying on top in the trend and do not want to keep updated the technology. Those are reasons why they are failed in the PPC online advertising world. Current technologies or solutions can not solve tomorrow problems in some situations!

15. Focus on only one PPC search engine. Many advertisers are only focus on one PPC search engine at a time. Obviously, if you want to drive more traffic to your website and earn huge of money on the internet and do not want to fail in PPC online advertising, it is a great idea to run multiple PPC search engines at a time. You can test keywords, ad-copy, landing page across those engines as well.

Final thoughts, if you do not want to fail in PPC online advertising, particularly in Adwords, you have to avoid those above mistakes. You have to be self-improvement, be patient, be consistency and be strategic to build, run and grow your success PPC online advertising campaigns. It requires a lot of effort and time to build super-profitable PPC advertising campaigns!

About The Author
Siripong R. or zMillionDollars is a recognized authority on the subject of building super-profitable pay per click campaigns. His website, www.iPayByClick.com, provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you’ll ever need to know about pay per click advertising. Free special reports at: www.iPayByClick.com/free-report.

Author: Siripong Roongruangsuwan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera Times

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

Advertising to Augment Returns


2010
04.29

The consumer spending patterns across the world have greatly altered in recent times. The process has been gradual yet consistent. In fact consumer awareness has increased manifold and therefore most of them now take a decision after taking into consideration all possible options available in the market. The role of advertising and the support extended by the Internet in tapping the huge market potential that exists is definitely not questionable. At the same time, advertisers are also becoming smarter as they look for various modes of free advertising to give their sales a boost without making much of an investment. This works as a means for them to tap at least a portion of the market without denting their financial situation. With the increasing accessibility of the Internet and its popularity across the world, advertising business Internet marketing is now the route to success for most entrepreneurs. In fact research suggests that Internet marketing web advertising go a great way in multiplying profits for all kinds of businesses across the world.

Well planned out advertising campaigns

Advertising business internet marketing is gradually becoming a science as the advertisers now understand the consumers mindset and plan the internet online marketing advertising business strategy accordingly. In order to sell Internet advertising, a number of websites provide the research support that would be required by entrepreneurs to plan the campaign. The main aim of all advertising campaigns is to convert raw traffic into consumers. A well planned out internet online marketing advertising business strategy can be employed to do this and the best way of strategizing is by employing experts who have an understanding of the market and consumer expectations. On the basis of this understanding, a proper campaign can be developed to take advantage of the resources and the wide consumer reach that the internet offers.

Taking advantage of the existing competition-Opting for free advertising

Most websites are now vying with each other to sell internet advertising and are looking at means of selling classified ads, and are offering competitive packages for advertisers who are considering internet marketing web advertising. And at the same time this class of entrepreneurs is steadily increasing as the advantages of Internet marketing web advertising are becoming evident. At the same time, opportunities for free advertising are also increasing. Free advertising on websites can greatly help in increased traffic and high search engine rankings. At the same time, before selecting a website for free advertising the advertiser should take into consideration the traffic that the website generates and if this traffic would be beneficial in achieving his marketing goals. It is also important to understand if this effort made for advertising business internet marketing would in anyway add to his consumer base. There are certain portals that extensively market themselves and leave no stone unturned to sell internet advertising, but it has to be the decision of the investor to decide whether or not the internet online marketing advertising business base offered by the portal would be beneficial for him or not. At the end of it, you need to understand that a portal can boost your sales not by the free advertising opportunity but by an increased visibility and credibility.

Tapping the dormant segment- Advertising based business free home opportunities

To generate a response and tap all possible segments a number of sites also offer advertising based business free home opportunities that can be made use of by specialists to promote the information selling advertising portals. These people are provided requisite information selling advertising knowledge and are given certain targets that they have to achieve. The information selling advertising knowledge can be leveraged to achieve these targets. Also there are a number of other opportunities that are brought forth for specialist looking at advertising based business free home options.

Competition arising from newspaper advertising

In the changing scenario and the increasing usage of the Internet selling newspaper advertising is gradually becoming tougher. Yet, marketing executives who specialize in selling newspaper advertising still manage to generate the advertising response that is required to for the medium. Selling classified ads has never been much of a problem, as this is an established medium that has proven its effectiveness over time. To ensure that the Internet does not take lead, a number of dailies even offer free newspaper classified advertising. For entrepreneurs who function at a local level, this free newspaper classified advertising can be much more beneficial than the free advertising offered online. And further, this free newspaper classified advertising can be used for selling classified ads and also for selling newspaper advertising.

http://www.majorenterprise.net

Author: Carael Knight
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Benefits of electric pressure cooker

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

The Art of Advertising For an Internet Broadcast Station


2010
04.28

Running an Internet broadcast station requires a financial commitment regardless of its size. There are monthly expenditures for station operation that include : Internet access, media server bandwidth, studio equipment, computer hardware, and facilities costs.

The amount of money required to run an Internet broadcast station is dependent on the size of the broadcast operation. Some of these finances can be generated from audience donations, or program subscriptions, however this approach normally does not cover all incurred expenses.

Internet based advertising content can provide a reliable source for operating income. Broadcasters can place advertising on the station website, or within the broadcast itself. (This advertising content can be in audio or video format.)

Internet based advertising has matured into a very profitable and respectable business sector. The advertising content can be broad or narrow based. Broad based advertising is well suited for high traffic, large audience broadcast stations. Niche advertising markets have also proven to be very profitable. Niche advertising combined with niche media content has been been able to out perform broad based, high traffic advertising in some instances.

There are several things to consider prior to committing a broadcast station to a particular method of advertising.

These include :

Which media format the station will be offering – audio or video content?
(Advertising can be tailored to fit specific media formats.)

What is the target audience of the Internet broadcast station?
(These demographics are based on the media content that the station broadcasts in addition to analyzing the stations web site traffic.)

Which method of advertising is best suited for the Internet broadcast station’s financial goals?
(Will this be the primary or secondary source of income for station operation?)

Broadcasters should thoroughly research and test various advertising methods before finalizing their choice for a advertising format. A time frame of sixty to ninety days should be allowed for testing different advertising formats. It is very important to document these results, as this will allow the broadcast station to choose the best suited advertising format.

A well planned and executed advertising program can provide both valuable experience and operating income to an Internet broadcast station.

Advertising content for the actual Internet broadcast

Auction advertising
Advertising can be sold through direct Internet auctions. There are several online businesses that offer online auctions.

These include ebay.com and yahoo.com

Internet audio advertising broker
There are several advertising agencies that negotiate and sell audio advertising on affiliate Internet radio stations.

These include netradiosales.com and internetradiomarketing.com.

Internet video advertising broker
There are several advertising agencies that negotiate and sell video advertising on affiliate Internet video stations.

These include brightroll.com, vitalstream.com, instream.com and dynadco.com.

Advertising content for the station website

Video clip
(Currently Beta Testing)
Monetary compensation is based on people watching web based video clips that contain advertising.

Click to call or text
(Currently Beta Testing)
Monetary compensation is based on people contacting various business partners using Google talk or Skype. The click to call or text message links are placed on web pages.

Contextual Advertising
Banner, image, text or video advertising that is placed on websites. The website content determines which advertising is presented.

These businesses provide webmaster with contextual advertising solutions:

Adsense advertising program
Yahoo advertising program
MSN advertising program

Banner Advertising Programs

Pay Per Click (PPC)
Monetary compensation is based on people clicking banner advertisements.
Banner agencies negotiate the payment per click rate with advertisers.
(Large variety of advertising sources to choose from.)

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
(This method of banner advertising is best suited for high volume traffic websites.)
Monetary compensation is based on sales of advertising units per web page.
Banner advertising is sold in units of 1000 impressions.

Affiliate program
Monetary compensation is generated by providing referral sales.
(Most web hosting companies provide some form of sales program incentive.)

Website co-branding
Monetary compensation is generated by placing branded graphics or text on websites.

Dave Childers is a freelance Internet broadcast consultant, writer and the webmaster of http://www.scvi.net, the Winamp TV / NullSoft Video information website.

Author: David Childers
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Wordpress plugin Guest Blogger

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

Advertising Works!


2010
04.17

Are you a business owner representing a product or service? What’s your point of differentiation? What separates you from your competitors? Is it quality? Is it the price? Is it the packaging? Is it placement or promotion? The bottom line is are you selling? If not, why not? The answer may lie in advertising.

They say nothing happens unless you advertise. No advertising = no sales. But many business people are leery of paid advertising because it just doesn’t seem to return the investment. There are many reasons for this–throwing out spotty advertisements, whether online or offline doesn’t work well most often and who can afford to advertise en masse regularly? People are desensitized by hyper advertising on TV, radio, Internet, junk mail, magazines, etc. People are getting smarter and tuning advertising out–people are getting tired of the Wall Street advertising mentality that has spurred so many books and college courses. As a result, big business advertising focuses on higher and higher volumes of repetitive mass advertising to beat their message into the fewer and fewer minds still receptive to this kind of junk noise. Don’t believe me? How do you REALLY feel about advertising you see or hear? Are you sick of it? So are 300 million other people. But what are the alternatives for communicating your offer?

Advertisers are very creative little sneaks who try all kinds of angles to fool you into not realizing you are being advertised at–they cloak advertisements into “infomercials” and now they cloak infomercials into looking like some PBS interview. Buzz words like “info-ads” which are designed to highlight the problems you didn’t know you had (like EzineArticles) and set forth-easy solutions to complicated problems if you only “buy now”. And you can read article after article, book after book and the bottom line remains the same–the only people making money advertising are the ones selling advertising.

And do you realize the product or service you offer really doesn’t matter when you advertise? You can take all products and services in the world and put them into two big piles: The GOOD products and the BAD products. Keep in mind that a good marketing team can sell bad products but a bad marketing team cannot sell good products. And what is the definition of a “bad product” anyway? The definition for a bad product is when people send it back because it sucks and they want their money back. If your product sells and you don’t get a return or a compliant then, for all practical purposes you have a good product. Why isn’t it selling then?

People have a tendency to blame the product if the advertising doesn’t sell it. But if you have a good product and run an ad and nothing happens how can you blame the product? The product is inert. It’s just sitting there waiting to be sold. It’s not the product fault. It’s the ADS fault. So you can simplify your life by eliminating the “product problem” mentality and wrap your mind around the fact you have an advertising problem instead. Which takes us back to the beginning of this article.

Point of differentiation–what’s the point of differentiation of a paper clip? Keep in mind that paperclips are a competitive billion-dollar industry.

Okay, here’s the bottom line to this article–if you are not having any luck advertising your product online and can’t afford mass advertising then a really SIMPLE solution is to use Off-line classified ads in newspapers. These ads are cheap ranging from $10.00 to $50.00 depending on the location of the newspaper and readerships/subscriptions. But there is no better place to spend advertising dollars if you are on a small budget. You are going to make mistakes when you advertise as you hone up your headline and hook to get people to take action and you can do very specific tests in various markets to gauge classified advertising response. Do you have a website? Take a cue from Travelocity.com, PriceLine.com and other big players on the Internet–they all advertise conventionally–on TV! Why? Internet advertising sucks. We have a business kit called “Advertising Works” which is a very carefully constructed manual on writing effective classified ads to drive people to your website. It shows you how to write ads but more importantly it shows the entire U.S. market and how classifieds can be used to drive the market to your website cheaply by reducing the amount of type in the classified advertisement so they only cost a few dollars. For example a classified ad could read as follows: ADVERTISING WORKS! http://www.smart67.com and that’s it! CHEAP AD! No phone, no hype, just a headline and a website address. The goal is to test headlines. Test, test, test! Check it out…

Copyright © 2006

James W. Hart, IV

All Rights reserved

SBS is an online information resource for people. Our focus is real estate and business and we have a number of important books, kits and Ebooks including free downloads and high quality link categories to help you get information fast. SBS has an aggressive link exchange program for anyone with a websitevisit us now by clicking this link http://www.smart67.com.

Author: Jim Hart
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Excise Tax

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

Much Ado About Advertisements


2010
04.16

When you first start out in a business, some people might tell you that you should start advertising in a local daily or a national newspaper. The advertisement need not be a full-page advertisement. The point is to advertise…to get the word out – be it small or big. When I first started out in my business, I advertised small too and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Thinking back, it didn’t even qualify as an advertising campaign because throughout the nine months that I advertised in a national daily, not a single response from the advertisements was seen! Yes, none…as in nil…yes.

Sad but true. You see, the whole thing about ‘just advertise irregardless of whether the advertisement is going to be big or small’ is a whole bunch of hogwash probably spun by the media to encourage people to advertise in their papers or magazines.

Don’t get me wrong…I am not saying that everyone have to advertise a full-page advertisement in order to effectively get the word out – this is not true either. The truth is that one must never waste financial resources to ‘just advertise’. Small advertisements rarely work because the location is ill-fitted, the size of the advertisement is too small to be read and there’s not enough information in the advertisements to encourage others to ‘act.

The whole point of advertising is to get people to respond. You want ‘WOW’, you want ‘YES’. You don’t want ‘Mmmmmm….”. Many of the important factors of successful marketing and advertising tactics are lost when the advertisement is insignificant.

THE SHOCK, SURPRISE FACTOR

Successful advertisements are usually those that either make you laugh, cry, sad, shocked or surprised. There must be an emotion attached to the advertisement. Don’t be surprised but even small advertisements with enough emotion attached to it can elicit a reaction. I repeat, it doesn’t have to be a full-page color ad. Just something big enough or strategically placed is good enough.

THE INFORMATION FACTOR

Imagine you’re looking at an advertisement of your competitor. It’s a small advertisement beside the ‘classifieds’ section with small print, black and white and literally devoid of information except for a telephone number and website. Would you be curious enough to call the number or log into the website? Would you even remember the phone number or website address from the advertisement? Probably not. You need to arouse curiosity in your target audience and this need is very evident in an advertisement. There are hundreds of advertisements in a newspaper or magazine and you’re all competing for the same attention. To elicit response or reaction, you need to give them just enough information to make them curious and not enough for them to dismiss you. That’s one of the biggest advertising secrets the world over – and this formula works for every industry.

If your advertisement is too small or too plain, it’s not going to be enough to entice your audience.

THE ‘ACT NOW’ FACTOR

You don’t have enough space to even write your web address, explain your business and also print your telephone number in the advertisement space, what more expertly written copy to encourage your audience to ACT NOW! Another industry secret if you want to call it that. an advertisement is successful when it is able to get someone to WANT to act NOW – not later, not tomorrow and definitely not next week. You want to make the target audience act as soon as they get the chance to.

Admittedly, this is one of the hardest things to do because consumers are not stupid – in fact, they are getting smarter and smarter by the day. And that is why we, business owners, have to be just as smart, if not smarter. Find a way to get to their heart and get them to acknowledge that they WANT (note: NOT NEED) to find out more about your products or services.

CONCLUSION

The above is enough to convince you that placing small insignificant advertisements every day in a local daily is not going to be good enough. In fact, most advertising and marketing experts concede that it’s a total waste of time and money. However, here’s the loophole, small advertisements work for some industries like real estate, classifieds, credit facilities and other industries that has been using this method for some time. For us, small business owners, who are new to the market and plan to penetrate it, we’ll be better off promoting ourselves elsewhere.

Marsha Maung is a freelance work at home graphic designer and copy writer. She focused on below-the-line advertising and marketing. More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com and http://www.creativejooz.com

Author: Marsha Maung
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Wordpress plugin Guest Blogger

  • Share/Bookmark
Comments Off

5 Web Features That Every Business Should Utilize Part Four: Advertising Program


2010
04.15

In the first part of this series, “5 Web Features That Every Business Should Utilize”, I mentioned what benefits you can expect to gain by implementing an advertising section inside of each of your web pages. In this article which is Part 4 of 6 we will get more in depth about these benefits. First, lets review what we learned about awards programs in our last article. This Advertising Program is:

  • A great way to capitalize on the blank space of ones website
  • Greatly over looked by the masses of small business.
  • Advertisement isn’t just for big corporations
  • A way even the smallest business can make a decent profit off of another businesses advertisement

    Now that we have a basis of the benefits of an awards program let’s move on. Instead of explaining each of these points I am going to show you the way this works and provide you with the resources to get started on your own.

    So lets first look at how this can work for anyone physically and financially.

    Lets say your office is in a strip mall. Well then you turn to the other businesses in this area and say:

    “Hello I’m So and So, I run the whatever company two stores down. I have a web site and I was wondering if you’d would like to purchase advertising space on my site.”

    Now don’t charge $150 a month if you only get ten or fifteen visitors a month. That’s just bad business. Instead be honest and charge $20 a month and $50 for a quarter (three months) for less than 2500 visitors per month. I personally only charge $50 per month and $125 per quarter. But I get between 3000 and 5000 visitors per month. Think about it, why charge exorbitant prices when you can fit two or more ads per page? With only five pages that is around $500 per month.

    Understand? Good so lets get you some resources.

    RESOURCE 1

    Outline and Copy this text. Edit to fit your website

    Advertising on http://www.yoursite.com

    The Internet is an effective medium for advertisers to present their message to potential customers in a low-cost way that enables them to reach the masses. Placing an advertisement on http://www.yoursite.com aids businesses in relaying more information about their products or services, while also providing a link to the advertisers web site.

    [Your Company] Advertising Specifications

    Internet ad sizes are set to minimize page-loading time to comply with the industry advertising creative standards. All artwork submitted must include advertiser branding (i.e. company name, product name or logo) and must be accompanied by a contact name, e-mail address and phone number. All artwork should include traffic instructions including the URL.

    Advertisement Sizes

    Box / 125×125 RGB
    Tower / 125×240 RGB
    *No Exceptions*

    Supported creative types

    Animated GIF
    GIF
    JPEG
    *No Exceptions*
    [Your Company] reserves the right to refuse any advertisement.

    Advertisement Formats

     All advertisement submissions are subject to our approval. We retain the right to pull any advertisement for any reason, including but not limited to, questionable content, broken image, broken link, or interference with our site or business.
     All advertisements must conform to the maximum file size (150×150), including all necessary images and files.
     Advertisements must not modify any elements of a user’s browser or computer settings.
     Non-user initiated ads (i.e., those that begin a video, pop-up, etc.).
     Ads must not include references to [Your Company] unless approved by [Your Company] as part of co-promotions.
     Advertisement, when clicked, must spawn a new window.
     Advertisement code must be attached to e-mail as a .txt file.

    Cancellation Policy

    Advertisement campaigns will be pulled within 72 hours of written confirmation. In the event of cancellation, advertisers will be billed on basis subject to terms of advertising contract.

    Deadlines

    Standard advertisements are due at least five full business days prior to ad start date. Animated GIF ads are due at least 10 full business days prior to ad start date and are subject to testing.

    For detailed information about our online advertising rates and policies, please contact [Your Self] at [advertising@yoursite.com ]

    RESOURCE 2

    Outline and Copy this text. Edit to fit your website

    ADVERTISING POLICIES

    Credit Policy

    Payments are due upon receipt of invoice. Invoices are released on publication date. Accounts not paid within 15 days of date of invoice are subject to a 2.5% per month late charge on the balance from due date until balance is paid in full. We do offer cash discounts.

    Cancellations

    Cancellations must be submitted in writing and received (5) five working days before the advertisement is to be published. Advertising canceled after this deadline will be billed in full.

    Copy Acceptance

    [Your Company] reserves the right to reject any advertisement regarded as objectionable in wording or appearance and may insert the word “advertisement” in any ad.

    All advertisements are accepted and published upon the representation that the advertiser is authorized to publish the entire contents and the subject matter of the advertisement. The agency and/or advertiser will indemnify and hold the publisher harmless for any loss or expense resulting in any claims or suits for defamation, libel, violation of right to privacy, plagiarism or copyright infringement.

    Frequency Discounts

    Frequency discounts are determined by combining the total number of advertisements on the [Your Company] website within the same (6) six month period. One ad counts as one ad. Contracts canceled before completion will be charged in full as if the contract was fulfilled. No rebates or refunds can be issued.

    Liability for payment

    The advertiser and its agency are jointly and severally liable for all sums due and payable to [Your Company].

    Shipping Instructions

    All correspondence, insertion orders and printing materials should be addressed to: Advertising Department, [Your Company], [Your address]., [Your city], [Your state] [Your zip code]. Local number is [Your Phone Number].

    For detailed information about our online advertising rates and policies, please contact [Your Self] at [advertising@yoursite.com ]

  • _________________________________________________________________

    Joshua M Cox, Owner and Creative Director for Business Solutions of America, has been active in the design field for over 5 years. With a background in design and business he worked his way up through the industry freelancing before launching BSA in 2001.

    In addition to his own personal experience, Mr. Cox is privileged to work with an exceptional network of talented industry professionals on a project basis in the areas of photography, illustration, website coding, and multimedia development.

    Web Site: [http://www.businessamerica.us]

    Email: jcox@businessamerica.us

    Author: Joshua M Cox
    Article Source: EzineArticles.com
    Provided by: Digital Camera News

    • Share/Bookmark
    Comments Off

    Internet Advertising: Understand the Playing Field


    2010
    04.13

    Many Websites, offering advertising solutions, will promise the world, wittingly hiding their true agenda. Internet advertising veterans are familiar with which methods work and which are offered for ulterior motives. However, this comes from experience and, in many cases, moderate expense. Advertising on the internet is still evolving. New ideas are born, and old ones die, almost daily. Because of this, novel advertisers should familiarize themselves with forms of advertising offered before pursuing the solution.

    Pixel Advertising

    This is a new craze, often referred to as, “Million Dollar Page Advertising”. To summarize, this is a Web-page displaying a large grid. Businesses can purchase pixels, or squares, of the grid. Generally, each pixel cost one dollar. Within the pixels purchased, the business can feature an image that is linked to their Website.

    The pixel advertising concept was conceived by 22-year-old, Alex Tew. He developed the original, “Million Dollar Homepage”. Alex’s creation generated Media frenzy, because the idea was simple and original. This frenzy gave lots of weight to his pixel ad solution, so much weight that Alex’s page actually did generate one million dollars. This was achieved by selling a million, one dollar pixels. The mind set for advertisers’ was, buy a lot of pixels and your ad would standout from others.

    Attempting to Mirror his success, many developers have created their own, “Million Dollar Homepage”. The problem is the frenzy is not coming. These mirrors are not original with, “Slap you in the face,” simplicity. People are not visiting the vast number of, “Million Dollar Homepages,” to see this new insane concept. Therefore, people are not seeing the ads.

    For the most part, pixel advertising will not generate sales. The primary motive, behind advertising on such a venue has evolved to increasing Search Engine recognition for a Website. Once again, this may be from the excellent recognition Alex’s page received. The motive of the business offering the solution is to get rich, period. The vast array of pages offering such a solution will not help search engines understand the premise of a Website. They lack organization and focus.

    Viral Advertising

    Often considered the most powerful form of advertising and often misunderstood. Some business professionals shy away from Viral Advertising ideas, simply because the term, “Viral”. Despite the common fear of the word, there is nothing wrong with Viral Advertising. To summarize, it simply means Advertising that will continue to spread through the Internet on its own or with little interaction.

    Viral Advertising starts with a simple product, feature, service, or idea. It is then offered to the internet community for free. Typically, the advertisement offers something to those who display it. A common example would be Googles’ Site Search. They are offering a powerful utility, to Website Developers, which allows visitors to search the displaying Website. In addition, the visitors can also search the Internet, from the Publishing Website. This could easily introduce or familiarize new users with Google. That is a very powerful Viral Advertising Campaign.

    It should be understood, there is no pure format to Viral Advertising. It’s a very broad spectrum that comes in many forms. It requires imagination and vision from the business launching the campaign. It’s simply releasing something that is desired by many and watching it spread. It can be a free program, Website Content, or a utility which improves upon a Website. Moreover, it could be something you, the reader, believes many people would want. If one should find themselves wondering, why something is being given away for free, they are probably witnessing a Viral Advertising Campaign.

    A commonly scrupulous Viral Advertising campaign is a modification to Pyramid Sales Schemes. Many developers have probably stumbled upon Internet Sites promising exponential display of any advertisement. The craze has died out a bit, but it still lurks.

    What’s really cooking here? We start with the Website offering exponential display of any Internet Sites Advertisement. Let’s call it the Mother Site. In the beginning, Mother is seeking two Websites, to display her advertisement (Typically to the effect of, “Generate 5,000 Visitors in 90 days Guaranteed). After Mother finds two Children, she starts seeking four Grand Children, to display two ads. On all four of the next Internet sites will be Mothers’ ad. The two children will be divided. Basically, Mother now has six ads and her children have two. Mother is advertising nobody. Once mother has four Grandchildren, see seeks eight great children to display three ads. On all eight, they advertise Great Grandmother. Then the tree gets divided again. The Grandparents get their ad displayed on four of the sites. The parents have their ads shown on two of the sites. This ad campaign continues to grow, as the original site finds more off-spring.

    Here is a simple numeric illustration that may help visualize what is happening:

    1 The trap.

    2 – 2: Advertise 1. (Display One Ad)

    4-4 4-4: Split 2’s, advertise 1. (Two Ads)

    8-8 8-8 8-8 8-8 Split 4’s, advertise 1 and 2. (Three Ads)

    16-16 16-16 16-16 etc… Split 8’s, Advertise 1, 2, and 4. (Four Ads)

    As you can see, this is a form of Viral Advertising. However, someone is going to get stung. When Mother starts asking people to show, “Five Advertisements,” it becomes difficult to continue the operation.

    By comparing these two examples there is one distinct variation. Google is simply administering a Viral Advertising Campaign. In the other, people are being tricked into someone’s Viral Advertising campaign, by leading them to believe, they are embarking upon Viral Advertising. However, they maybe embarking upon the end of the viral campaign for each of the previous advertisers (They could be the end of the line).

    A Viral Advertising Campaign is not something we should become a participant of, but something we should create and administrate. From this developers perspective, Viral Advertising is as simple as providing a means for visitors to add a Website to their Browser Favorites.

    Banner Advertising – Displaying Images

    This one of the oldest forms of Internet Advertising we could embark upon. At one point, banners become such a nuisance, software was developed that blocked banner-ads from being shown on Internet Browsers. Today, it’s fairly common to find this software is included with every variant to a Web Browser offered (Block Images from this Domain). If displaying a banner, it may not be wise to pay for every page view. There is a good chance many visitors to the Website will not see the banner at all.

    • Share/Bookmark