Whether you are checking your email, shopping on a website or just searching for information, online ads are
everywhere! A new marketing landscape, the Internet offers a new and cheaper advertising space, as
compared to traditional spaces like print, television, radio and outdoor advertising. It’s a revolution of sorts
and small and home business owners are making the most of it.
For a home based start up, online advertising is a potent tool that can maximize visibility, drive traffic to the
company’s website, up the sales and build a solid brand in the process. Going to an expensive advertising
agency to run your campaign would most definitely burn a hole in your pocket. The good news is you don’t
have to do that. Just remember the twin mantras of focus on what you want and a strong dose of imagination;
and you’ll be on your way.
Take the guesswork out of online advertising
Online advertising is not a function of elaborate guesswork and a myriad of hits and misses. Like the
traditional offline version, online advertising must also follow some basic rules. Know what you want your
advertising to do, where to get it and what to do with it once you have it. Here are some guidelines to get you
started.
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Define your advertising objective: Shut the door, switch off the lights, take a deep breath and think why you
need to advertise. Clearly define the goals you want your advertising program to achieve. Is it generating new
leads, increasing the number of hits on your website, making your company visible in the market place or to
increase on/off -line sales? Each goal will have a different advertising path. You can only expect your program
to maximize returns, if you know for sure what you want your advertising to do.
Decide “where” you want to be seen: It makes a difference to be seen in the right places. Like in offline
advertising, the placement of your ad is very crucial to success. Advertising (Co-advertising for higher
benefits) on websites that are most relevant to your line of business would be the best place. Also consider
top Search Engines, Online Yellow pages, Service Provider directories and large sites or networks. Explore
trade –specific websites for a more focused audience.
Tailor the message for your target audience: when you want the caveman to listen, beat your chest! Craft your
message to appeal to the target audience. Your message for a visitor on a trade forum’s website would be
different from what you say to the guy clicking on your ad on a home business site. The trick here is to align
your message to the mindset of your audience. Equally important is that the message should convey the
promotional goals your advertising desires to accomplish. So if you are selling ice to an Eskimo shopping in
an Internet mall, don’t forget to mention the discount on your season sale!
Be Creative: In a marketplace teeming with new ads you can easily get clobbered on the head with run-of-the-
mill ad copy. Your most valuable asset in this crowd is your creativity, which will make your ad stand out. Be
creative not only in the copy, but also in the placement of the advertisement. An online contact lens clinic pulls
hundreds of people every day to take an eye test with a simple ad. The small 1” X 2” banner says, “ Think You
Don’t Need an Eye Test?” in the same format as you see on the reading sheet in an optometrist’s clinic, with
alphabets running vertically in a decreasing order. This is a classic example of a simple but creative idea
getting the desired results.
Add more depth to your advertisement by using rich media like HTML, DHTML, Java and layered ads. Use
animated messages doubled with pull down menus for better use of space and for expanding possibilities
of response.
Choose the advertising medium well: They say, “Well Begun is Half Done”. If you are going to spend a
sizeable amount of money on creating and placing ads, they should do more than just wiggle and pop. To
maximize response, choose the advertising medium carefully. You have several choices like banner ads,
contextual advertising, ezine advertising etc. Research and read on various formats and the factors for each
one’s success. Then decide on what format works best for your campaign. Once you have decided on the
format, it is equally important to choose the vendor. If you have decided on banner advertising, research and
list the websites that would give you the maximum exposure to the right kind of audience. Check out the
option of using advertising networks and the pay-per-click options as well. http://a1portal.com/
Once your campaign has been set in motion, take care to monitor response and be ready to change or
completely redo your copy and the advertising vehicles you use. Keep a track of the ROI (Return on
Investment) for every advertising purchase that you make. This way you can figure out which forms of
advertising are working for you and which ones aren’t.
All online advertising is aimed at inducing “action”. Every online ad that you see is built to make you act:
‘Register for a free newsletter’, ‘buy now and save dollars’, ‘get a quote on your requirements’…the list goes
on. The thing to remember here is that once the prospect has been pushed into an action, there should be
real value for him at the other end of the pop- up. Unless you can fulfill the promise your brand is making,
your online ad has been wasted.
A well-planned and well-executed advertising campaign can fuel the growth of your home business
tremendously. Use online advertising following some simple guidelines and see how it impacts your sales,
visibility and brand building, all at the same time.
Online advertising can be costly; however, there are quite a few techniques for online advertising that are
absolutely free. While there may be some upfront costs for the preparation of online advertising materials
(unless you prepare them yourself), the fact that there are no monthly fees or cost-per-click fees associated
can save you tons of precious dollars that you would normally spend on online advertising. The two most
highly productive online advertising techniques that don't cost anything are obtaining an organic search
engine listing and distributing expert articles with the rights to republish the articles. Other low-to-no cost
online advertising options include link exchanges, banner exchanges and participation in online forums.
Organic placement in the search engines is a form of online advertising that doesn't cost you anything except
perhaps the upfront costs of search engine optimization. To maintain the position in the search results, you
need to continually monitor your search engine advertising results, but most likely you can maintain the
position yourself rather than paying ongoing fees.
Participating in online forums about online advertising is an excellent way to get new ideas for your online
advertising and for new search engine optimization techniques that are effective as the search engines
change their ranking rules. Such networking activities keep you in touch with internet business gurus who
share their challenges and strategies opening up new avenues for obtaining expertise rather than relying
solely on trial and error.
Another online advertising technique that is virtually free and extremely effective is distribution of expert
articles about the industry for which you provide products or services. When using expert articles for the
purpose of online advertising, you produce articles that have valuable content and include a resource box that
directs readers to your website for more information or related products and services. This method of online
advertising is exceptional for promoting your business or for promoting affiliate products and services.
There are a couple of advantages to using expert articles for online advertising. First, other websites will
publish your article so you will benefit from their web traffic which will be driven to your website increasing
your own website traffic. Second, link popularity, the number of links from other websites to yours, is a factor
in search engine optimization that is considered by most search engines when ranking your website in their
search results. Because link relevance is also important to search engine optimization, it is best if you can
get your expert articles published on websites whose topics are related to yours.
The question then becomes, how do you get your expert articles republished? There are a couple of ways to
go about that. First, you can contact relevant websites by phone or by email with a free content offer.
Successful website operators know the value of content for their websites and if your expert articles are of a
high quality and provide beneficial information for their target audience, they will most likely be pleased to
republish them. When they publish your articles, you effectively get free online advertising. The second
technique for distributing your expert articles is to post them on free content sites or in industry-related
forums.
The Warrior Forum at warriorforum.com/forum is an online advertising related forum that has discussion
boards that are useful for networking with other online advertisers and even for building joint ventures. They
also have a free content section, called the Warrior Article Database, where you can post expert articles with
the rights to republish. There are even links to free ebooks and a free online advertising section where you
can post advertisements to be viewed by other forum members. There are a number of other forums online
including industry-specific forums as well as free content websites that will make driving traffic through the
use of free online advertising techniques easy.
