Credit Cards And Doorway Page
Visa and MasterCard are both trying to improve their credit card verification system to cut down on fraud. Visa said, "...while just 6 cents of every $100 spent with Visa cards as a whole is fraudulent, that number jumps to 24 cents for Web...
Domain Name Registration - Key Tips
Copyright 2005 Keith Thompson Domain name registration is a necessary, easy, and strategically important first step in establishing an online presence, whether for business or otherwise. A well-chosen domain name registration can set you up for...
Google Adwords Secrets - Tip #1
Google Adwords Secrets - Tip #1 – Disabling Advert Optimisation
Disable the automatic advert optimisation feature (set in your campaign settings) to avoid giving away valuable IP to your competitors.
Visit the following link for an...
How You Can Use Free Public Domain Content to Drive Hoards of Targeted Traffic to Your Websites
There is an interesting phenomenon on the Internet and that is free public domain content. This is content whose copyrights have long since run out, or other information like dates, figures, government forms, and tons of other information. The...
What Do Affiliate Tracking Services Do?
Some affiliate programs design their own internal software to track affiliate referrals, calculate commissions, and process payments. It is far more common, though, for programs to outsource these functions to an affiliate tracking company. Knowing...
A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting an Online Business (Part 2)
This week we continue with Part 2 of our 3-part series on how to market your online business. Part 1 is available at http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/articles/checklist1.html .
As much as we all love free stuff, an Internet business is still a business and you can reasonably expect to invest in marketing. Fortunately, online marketing can be quite affordable -- even to beginners on limited budgets. Here's a quick list of some of the more popular paid methods for small businesses.
PART 2: Effective Fee-Based Online Marketing Methods
1. Search engines. Web surfers typically use the large search engines such as Google, MSN, and AOL to find the information they want. If you can manage to get a good ranking for some of your top key phrases, you can get a steady stream of traffic. Expect to invest funds for review/submissions, and possibly even for hiring an optimization expert or for self-education. A great site to learn about search engine optimization is Search Engine Watch, http://searchenginewatch.com/ .
2. Major indexes. Yahoo [ http://yahoo.com/ ] and Open Directory [ http://www.dmoz.org/ ] are two of the best- known indexes. Both of them can significantly increase your link popularity, and provide you with additional traffic. At the time of writing, Yahoo charges an annual review fee for commercial websites. Submissions to Open Directory are currently still free.
3. Pay-per-click search engines. With these search engines, you literally pay a certain amount of money for every click they send your way. The more you bid, the higher you'll rank for your search term and the more visible your link will be. The largest and most popular PPC SE is Overture, http://www.overture.com/. A list of PPC SEs is available from http://payperclicksearchengines.com/ .
4. Ezine advertising. Although this takes a fair bit of practice and experimentation, ezine advertising is potentially one of the best and most profitable ways to promote your business online. The editor has already done the hard work of putting together a list of opt-in, interested prospects; you just take advantage of it. Search for complementary ezines at NetterWeb.com, http://www.netterweb.com/ or use the excellent Lifestyles Publishing Directory of Ezines at http://buildyourhomebiz.com/directory.html .
5. Direct email campaign from a reputable list broker. There are companies on the web that specialize in building permission-based email lists, targeted to each subscriber's area of interest. This is true 'opt-in', unlike the endless stream of spam email that implores you to purchase '30 million addresses for only $99!' True opt-in lists are not cheap by any means, but they have the potential to yield great results. Check out
http://www.postmasterdirect.com/ as an example.
6. Press releases. Your newsworthy press release could generate loads of free publicity for your business. Invest some of your marketing funds in educating yourself on how to generate publicity; an excellent source of information is Paul Hartunian's website at http://www.prprofits.com/ .
7. Advertise on a targeted website. Find complementary but non-competing sites and check their rates for advertising. Banner ads are the most common type of advertising permitted; however, they're usually not very effective. Text ads or endorsements typically perform better.
8. Mini-sites. These small sites (typically around 3 or 4 pages) are focused on selling one product. There's usually no free content; just a sales letter, perhaps a FAQ and some contact information. Mini-sites are an excellent way to get your prospect to do just one thing, whether that's order your product or sign up for your newsletter. The costs to create a mini-site would include domain name registration and hosting fees.
9. Experiment with some of the promotional services offered online. The only way to know for sure whether or not they'll work for you is to try them (and track the results). Use discretion -- be careful not to associate your business with promotion services that are nothing but 'disguised' ways to spam! Before you shell out the cash for these types of services, ask around for first-hand experiences.
10. Hold a conference. A great credibility builder is to offer a web or phone conference for your visitors. Use it to offer helpful information -- for example, you could open the conference to questions from the audience -- and generate additional interest in your product or service. Two sites that offer conference services are http://www.easyconference.com/ and http://www.bridgerentals.com/ .
Don't be afraid to invest in marketing your online business. Effective 'free' promotion is always wonderful, but there are many equally effective paid methods that can result in a great return on your investment. Be sure to track the results for each method you use; that way you'll be able to concentrate your efforts on those methods that work best for *your* business.
Stay tuned next time for a checklist on promoting your Internet business in the 'real world'!
About the Author
__________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide to building a business on a beginner's budget. It's a proven hit with beginners, for the down-to-earth style and loads of instantly useable tips! For details, visit http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html OR request a series of 10 free reports to get you started: mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com
Risk Disclosure: Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest / trade in foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading.
