Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Getting Your Name Out-the Best Online Advertising

By Don Bethune

Everyone can have a website these days, but it takes talent to get a lot of traffic without spending a lot of money. It is not all about traffic, but the right kind of traffic. It all starts with a well thought out marketing strategy.

There are many cheap and effective ways to increase traffic to your start up website. If like most start ups you are short on time too, things are a bit more complicated but still very viable. In order to get the most out of your time and money you need to take some specific steps.

The best rule of thumb to successful internet advertising is to remember that quality trumps quantity any day of the week. What this means to you, is that by focusing your marketing efforts on those customers that are more likely to by your product than those who might just be passing through is a much wiser investment.

While those Calculus forum readers may be mildly interested in your collectible toy website, they are more likely to be interested in, well, math and not go check out your toys. And any baby stores would definately be a bad idea; babies don't take good care of their toys, they eat them. Advertising to the right crowd will get you more traffic and more sales.

After you get a better idea on what kind of people you want to advertise to, you need to find them. One easy way is going to one of the hundreds of websites that collect lists of people by interest. Using one of those lists will help you save money and narrow your advertising to just potential customers.

Websites that generate lists are fairly easy to find as they have a very specific purpose. A reputable mailing list website will have lists separated by purchase history, major life events, and publicly available data. Most lists carry an address guarantee. If the address is wrong, you can get your money back.

While this form of direct, targeted advertising can prove to be the most effective way to advertise online and increase traffic to your site, certain precautions need to be taken when participating in bulk emailing, due to the spam laws passed several years ago. A removal link at the bottom of each email will suffice to keep the legal requirements intact when you launch your campaign. Many times though, the amount of people requesting removal from your mailing list will be in lesser numbers than viable buyers for your product or services.

Using targeted email advertising has proven itself to be the best way to get more website traffic quickly and effectively. This form of advertising is the best way to get your name and brand in front of people that are ready and able to buy and is the best way to maximize the return on your investment. - 15254

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