Advertising is King to the Success of Your Online Business

Advertising is the most important aspect of owning a home based business. You can have the classiest looking website on the internet and the best product on the plant but if no one knows about it you're not likely to be making a profit anytime soon.

So what is the king of advertising? TRAFFIC... You need lots of eye balls looking at your site and I mean lots of them. Not everyone window shopping your site will buy, but the odds go up when you have tons of people walking by that a percentage of them are interested in what you're selling.

How to Generate Traffic

Know your target market

The first thing any savvy internet marketers need to understand is his/her market. Are you selling to a younger or older group of people? This is important when you choose your method of marketing. The younger crowd is fascinated with gadgets. The older crowd....not so much. They might prefer email over podcasting. The delivery method is important in attracting their attention.

Social media sites like MySpace and Facebook are a great place today to capture events or your x-boyfriends love life. There is serious marketing adverting going on in these arenas. So don't overlook these platforms.

Keyword Generation

Once you understand your target market you need to develop a set of keywords to use that will draw those customers to your site. Utilization of those unique keywords in your website, online ads, blog posts and article publishing is the magic that combines you and the right customer.

You can never have too many or too few keywords. The key here is balance. If you have too few you risk not reaching your target market. If you have too many you risk being considered a spammer by the search engine web crawlers. If you write like you talk you will naturally meet that balance.

The Ad

When placing the ad you should give some real thought to your audience and location. A flashing banner ad might be great on blog site but not well received on your MySpace or Facebook profile page.

When using text ads like classifieds, emails and AdWords, your headline and keyword usages is important. Your headline should be attention grabbing and should use one or more of your keywords or keyword phrases. The body should give them just enough information to entice them to want to know more by clicking on your link.

I have found it beneficial to give your customers multiply ways of contacting you. Providing your name, a website url, email address, and phone number gives them options and legitimacy to you and your product.

Know Your Budget

Your advertising budget is a part of your overall business plan. It does not matter if your budget is zero or $2,000 per month, you can advertise and get your name out there. This is important to drive traffic to your site and important to your business.

Ideally you will have some funds allotted to advertising. You will need some budget to move your business forward. You might want to use your advertising money on placing ads and banners while using your time to post to your blogs, write articles and build your relationships on the social networking sites.

The key here is to spend your money wisely. Do your research on the sites you want to place ads and direct them to the proper target group. This little bit of effort will pay huge dividends in the end.

Advertising is like a puzzle; it can be difficult or it can be easy. By following these few tips you have all the pieces to the puzzle. With the proper time and effort given to each aspect you now have the knowledge to create campaigns that drive traffic to your website.

Cindy Floyd
Colorado Creative Solutions
303-429-6333
Ask me how you can earn huge commission weekly and have fun doing it.
http://www.ThingsLookGreatIn2008.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cindy_Floyd

Newbie Affiliate Marketers Must Maintain Focus If They Want To Be Successful

One of the biggest obstacles the Newbie Affiliate Marketer must overcome is not being focused. This may sound funny at first but as you read along you will begin to understand why it is absolutely critical that you remain focused on the task at hand or you will never succeed as an affiliate marketer.

Believe me when I say this will not be as easy as it sounds. I am not just saying this as I am talking from experience. When I first started out trying to make money online as an affiliate marketer I had a very difficult time staying focused. Sometimes I would sit down at my computer and just stare at the screen because I had so many things I wanted to accomplish but I didn't know where to start. This same thing is going to happen to you if you don't have a plan and stick to it.

The problem staying focused is a result of a lot of things. Depending where you are in your new business the distractions will be different. Let's just say you're pretty new at it and I'll walk you through what I think could be a typical day or night for you.

You sit down at your computer with good intentions of designing an opt-in page so you can get your list going. But before you get started you decide to read your emails from all the lists you have subscribed to. You go through the first few quickly deleting them but now there's one that has an interesting offer. You go to the sales page and it's one of those giveaway sites that are offering a ton of ebooks and software for free. You figure you're going to need something to give away on your opt-in page to entice people to give up their name and email address so you sign up for it.

Now you are trapped in the abyss of this giveaway site. You thought you were going to just go in and download a bunch of items and leave but this is not the case. You see an ebook that you really want that will help you on designing your opt-in page so you click on the download link and to your surprise you have to subscribe to a list in order to receive it. In fact you'll find out that you will have to do this for every item you want to download.

Next you find yourself going back to your email to confirm opting in. You click on the confirmation link and now staring you in the face is a one-time offer. It's a nice offer but you decide you don't want it so you click on No Thanks. If you're lucky you don't get sent to another offer for a little less money. Now you've just finished reading a very long salesletter and you still don't have your ebook. You must go back to open another email that has the download link to get your free item.

Well now you have your ebook that you wanted but the whole process to get it took 15 minutes. There were a few more ebooks you wanted so you go through the process again but you've smartened up and go through it quickly just to get them and get out. Now you head back to reading the rest of your emails and there's another great one telling you to go watch a video for free on how to start building your list. You can't pass this up so off you go.

Yep you guessed it, another opt-in form. You watch this excellent video but it was 20 minutes long and you finally realize you're not getting anything done. You head back to your email and your best friend just sent you this message telling you to go watch this really funny video on YouTube so you do. After watching it you reply to your friend telling them how funny it was. Now you've waisted another 10 minutes.

You see how easy it is to get off course from where you started. About an hour ago you sat down to design an opt-in page and you haven't even started it yet. Believe me there are going to be a few more detours before the night is over and if you only have two hours a night alloted to your affiliate marketing business you're not going to get far.

Before you start your next night of work you need to sit down and lay out a plan and stick to it. I can just hear all the experienced affiliate marketers out there laughing out loud because they have all been in your shoes, whether they want to admit it or not is another story.

Focus, Focus, Focus.

Make Money On Autopilot with this fantastic plug-and-play system.
by Jeff Sargent http://www.TheAutopilotIncomeSystem.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Sargent

How Do I Get My Business On The Internet?

by: Ivana Katz (http://www.articlecity.com/)

This is one of the most frequently asked questions by small business owners. They are feeling the pressure from their customers and competitors, yet for many business people it is a daunting task, as they don't understand the whole process.

In fact, many people are even asking the question whether they should have a website. Whether you are a consultant, florist, designer, builder, architect or a doctor, consider the many advantages a website provides:

1. Make money - Set up an on-line store or get paid for advertising from other companies

2. Save money on advertising - Instead of paying for large ads, simply advertise your website

3. Be flexible in your message - Change the content as your business changes. No need to re-print expensive brochures.

4. Exposure to new customers - You will reach more local clients as well as interstate and global markets

5. Having more professional image - Keep up with the times and your competitors

6. Save time - Don’t spend hours on the phone, direct customers to your website

7. Keep your business open 24/7 - Provide customers information when THEY need it. If you don’t, someone else will.

So what does it really take to get your website set up?

Step 1 - Register your domain name OR not.

The big question is whether you need to register a domain name or not. The simple answer is NO, but a better answer is YES it is a good idea.

What is a domain name?

The purpose of a domain name is similar to that of a street address or telephone number. The domain name directs customers to you on the Internet. The domain by itself is not your email or web address. The domain does form the base from which these addresses are derived.

For example: Company Name: QikPhone Domain Name: qikphone.com.au Web Address: www.qikphone.com.au Email Address: sales@qikphone.com

Do I need to register a domain name to have a website?

NO, you don't need to have your own domain name. Your website can be created and hosted without it. Your website address will look something like this: www.web4business.com.au/JBCleaning OR www.ozemail.com.au/~JBCleaning

The only advantage of not registering a domain name is that you will save yourself a few dollars.

The disadvantages of NOT having your domain name include:

1. If you decide to change your Webhosting company or if that company goes out of business, you will lose your website address. Your website can be transferred to a new company, but your address will change. And that means re-printing stationery and re-doing all your advertising, notifying all your customers etc.

2. Website addresses that contain information other than your company name are long and hard to remember and do not appear as professional. Compare these two and see which one you are more likely to remember: www.ozemail.com.au/~JBCleaning OR www.JBCleaning.com.au

So it is a good idea to register a domain name, even if it is just to protect yourself for the future. Say for example, your business name is JB Cleaning and you decide not to register your domain name for now. Along comes Joe Bloggs who opens his own cleaning business and registers JBCleaning.com.au domain name. After a year you decide you want to have your own domain name, but since Joe Bloggs already owns it, you won't be able to register it. Not to mention your customers who know your business as JB Cleaning may visit his website, thinking it's your web address and instead hire Joe Bloggs Cleaning.

Step 2 - Plan your website.

Planning your website is a two part process:

(a) Decide on the website design (colour schemes, buttons, special effects etc). This is your website designer's job. However, you may have a preference for a certain colour or look. To help you choose a design, you may wish to check out other people's websites or work with your web designer's pre-set templates.

(b) The content. There are many items you may wish to include on your website. The most common ones include:

1 Product/Service Details
2. Contact Information
3. Pricing
4. Testimonials
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Response Form, such as "Join Mailing List"
7. On-line Magazine or Newsletter
8. Resources & Articles
9. Guarantee
10. Survey
11. Events Calender
12. Search My Website Form
13. Refund Policy
14. Privacy Policy
15. About Us Information
16. Site Map
17. Copyright information
18. Useful Links
19. Media Information
20. On-line store
21. News
22. Directions to Your Bricks & Mortar Premises

Step 3 - Choose a Web Hosting Company.

What is a Web hosting Company?

A webhost is a company that provides server space for your website. You can think of a web host as a commercial building. The web host provides space for your website just as a commercial building provides space for your shop or office. You can build your own building and you can host your own website, but because of the cost and expertise required it is easier to rent the space.

Which Company Should I Choose?

Webhosting companies are not created equal so you need to take a number of things into account when selecting one. A proven track record, experience and reliability form the foundation of any successful business partnership.

Some of the issues you should consider when choosing a webhosting company include:

1. Support - Does it provide comprehensive Technical Support - 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

2. Reliability - Does it have multiple large-scale links to the internet to provide a fail-safe path to your customers from anywhere in the world?

3. Security - Does it have a robust security system that minimises risk of web site intrusion?

4. State-of-the-art - Does the company utilises leading edge technology and is supported by a large-scale uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system.

5. Scalability - Does the product range and services offered allow your business to grow without impediment by making it easy to upgrade and add components to existing product levels.


Step 4 - Getting people to your site.

The marketing of your website is important if you want to draw visitors to your site. If you don't promote your website no-one will ever see it. There are a number of different ways of advertising your website. The best strategy is one, which integrates your existing promotion methods with your website.

1. Office Stationery - Including your web address and email address on your stationery is probably the easiest way to draw attention to your site. It's cost effective and gets your Internet presence out there in the market place.

2. Business Cards - When printing business cards you should include the individual's email address and main address of your website.

3. Radio Advertising - Radio Advertising should include your web address. Don't include the http://, try "Visit us on the internet at w-w-w-dot-qikphone-dot-com-dot-au". If your budget is limited, you may wish to consider community radios.

4. Email and Mail-Outs - Let your current customers know the details of your website. You can either send them an email or a letter/postcard. Keep your website's content up-to-date and they will keep coming back!

5. Print Media - Print advertising should include a generic email address for the company and include your website address. Normally positioned at the bottom right or bottom centre of your advertisement.

6. Search Engines & Directories - People looking for your website who don't know the URL are most likely to use an on-line search engine to look for your organisation or the kind of products and services you offer. There are over 300 major search engines and directories, but you should concentrate on the larger, more commonly used ones. These include: Google, Yahoo, Altavista, Anzwers, Inktomi, Infoseek, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, MSN, Dogpile, AllTheWeb etc.

7. Links from other websites - A good way to attract visitors to your site is through the use of hyperlinks placed on other sites. If you know of another site which has a list of links and you think your website would be a good addition, let the website owner know. You might also offer to provide a link from your site back to the other site. This will encourage the webmaster to include your site. You should also seek out partners for trading links including vendors, suppliers and providers of complimentary products.

8. Link Exchange - Another way to getting a link is through a system called Link Exchange, a free public service designed to help websites advertise each other. With Link Exchange, you agree to display advertising banners for other Link Exchange members and they agree to display banners for you. The System is automatic, you simply add a piece of HTML code to your web page and Link Exchange will display an advertisement for another website. The disadvantage with Link Exchange is that you don't get any control as to where your banner ad appears or the type of banner ads that will appear on your website. It is not possible to guarantee that a competitor of yours may have their banner ad displayed on your site.

9. Paid Banner Advertising/Affiliate Marketing Programs - Various sites give you the opportunity to purchase banner advertising on their site. Some sites will charge you a flat monthly fee while other sites will charge you based on the number of people who see your ad.

For more information about marketing your website read "30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget"
http://www.websites4smallbusiness.com.au/ArticlesIK30waystopromote.htm

Step 5 - Monitor your site's statistics

Your website's statistics should show who visits your website, where in the world they come from, how they are finding your site and what pages are being viewed. Knowing your customers is the first step in effective marketing. Most webhosting companies will provide access to this information free of charge.

Step 6 - Maintaining your website

It is important to update your website regularly to keep your customers interested. One of the great advantages of having a website is that you can change its content virtually overnight at minimal cost (unlike re-printing brochures and flyers).

This is just a brief overview of the process involved in getting your website up and running. In future articles we will cover each step in more detail.

For more information about getting your business on the internet you may also wish to check out:

Frequently Asked Questions About Websites
http://www.websites4smallbusiness.com.au/ArticlesIKFAQsreWebsites.htm

10 Tips for Planning an Outstanding Website
http://www.websites4smallbusiness.com.au/ArticlesIK10TipsforPlanning.htm

8 Tips for Designing a Great Website
http://www.websites4smallbusiness.com.au/ArticlesIK8TipsforDesigning.htm