5 Ways to Take Advantage of Online Advertising
March 30th, 2010
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by Ina Hikmatullah · Filed Under: Making Money Ideas
In the past few years, the most popular mantras for those looking to succeed have been centered on the power of positive thought. Fundamentally, if you know what you want and act as if you will achieve success, then you will receive it. This has been conveyed by many motivational speakers, such as Bob Proctor in the popular documentary “The Secret.” However, perhaps this philosophy is best exemplified by a more famous quote: “If you build it, (they) will come.” While you will not see ghosts of famous baseball players like Kevin Costner did in “Field of Dreams,” this is nonetheless a good mantra for those creating online businesses, blogs and websites. These sites can be a great source of residual income. It is just missing one thing: you also have to advertise! Selling yourself and your website is critical on today’s crowded internet. Here are five tips on how to effectively utilize online advertising to build your residual income.
1. Identify Your Audience and Your Competitors
Before building the advertising strategy for your online business, identify your audience. You may be surprised at who is looking at your website. If you have not already done so, install a tool such as Google Analytics to track visitors to your website. These services are mainly free and provide information about where your visitors are located geographically, how they found your site, how long they stayed and what pages they viewed. By understanding who your visitors are, you can find effective ways to best reach them. In addition, just as important as your customers is your competition. You have probably already scouted out rival websites, but take a closer look and see what makes them successful. Do they have better keywords and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) included on their site? Conduct a simple internet search to see where else they are referenced and how they advertise. You may be able to find new markets and opportunities by following their lead.
2. Target Your Advertisements
However you choose to advertise, it is likely that you will be able to choose from a widespread marketing campaign to a highly targeted niche promotion. Keep in mind that most online businesses have more success with targeted advertisements. Look for advertising opportunities on blogs and high-traffic sites that relate directly to your product or keywords. For example, if you are selling wedding favors, advertise directly on a site that caters to brides, rather than opting for a more widespread service that simply blankets all internet users.
3. Pay for Word of Mouth
Did you know that you can pay to have your products or website discussed on other blogs and review sites? Many bloggers are willing to review your products, either in exchange for a sample or for a fee. Look for sites that regularly post such reviews and contact them to see if they would be willing to review one of your products. If you have a blog or your own review website, offer to promote their site if they will promote yours. You can also post an advertisement on a job search site asking for bloggers to promote your online business in exchange for a small fee.
4. Move Up in Searches
Online businesses receive many visitors via the large search engines, such as Google. The problem is that it can take a long time for your site to become one of the top results, or even to reach the front page. Smart keyword optimization can help, but a surefire way of getting noticed is to buy ad space directly on search engine result pages. This ensures that users will see a small, descriptive link to your online business along with other top results.
5. Stay on Your Toes
The key to success in online advertising is continuing to reevaluate your advertising decisions and making changes as necessary. If it seems that one option is not working after a reasonable amount of time, do not be afraid to try a new strategy. In today’s world, the most successful online businesses generally are the most creative in terms of advertising. Try new ideas and creative solutions – they are typically inexpensive and may pay off in the long run.
