Using an Online Advertising Network to Drive Traffic

05.01.08 | Comments Off

Becoming part of an online advertising network is a pretty
powerful and cost effective way to drive traffic to your website.
Internet marketing publications or discussions rarely mention an
online advertising network as a means of marketing for the
purpose of driving traffic to websites.

It is an internet marketing method that is frequently overlooked,
but the concept of an online advertising network is certainly
something worth exploring if you want to make the most of your
marketing budget while adding a touch of efficiency to your
marketing campaign. As with any type of internet marketing, there
are advantages and disadvantages of marketing your website
through an online advertising network.

An online advertising network is a company or group of people who
sells advertising, such as banner ads and pop-under ads, for a
great number of websites. An online advertising network may be
for a specific category or type of websites, or it may network
with a variety of different types of websites where, as an
advertiser through the online advertising network, your ads will
be seen. For instance, FastClick.com (now owned by ValueClick,
Inc.) is an online advertising network that has the potential of
reaching a great number of internet users with advertisements.

The sites at which FastClick advertisements appear are not
specific in regard to categories or types of websites.
HispanoClick.com is an example of a category-specific online
advertising network because it is an online advertising network
that is focused on serving publishers from the United States,
Spain and Latin America who use the Spanish language in their
advertising or on their websites.

With an online advertising network, you generally buy advertising
in bulk, either with thousands or even millions of impressions
each month which provides your advertisements with maximum
exposure for a relatively low cost which is a definite advantage
of advertising through an online advertising network.

A disadvantage of advertising through an online advertising
network is that the impressions you pay for may not necessarily
be appearing for the benefit of a targeted market, so placing
advertisements through an online advertising network may not be
as effective as more targeted methods of advertising.

This is because in most cases an online advertising network is
not specialized or geared to a narrow target market. However,
some category specific online advertising networks may be.

Thus, choosing the right online advertising network for your
business becomes a crucial factor in whether or not your business
will benefit from participation in an online advertising network.
If your products or services are pretty general and appealing to
wide target market than advertising through a non-category
specific online advertising network may be for you.

However, if your products or services are appealing primarily to
a niche market, advertising through an online advertising network
may be a waste of your time and money unless you find an online
advertising network that actually targets your niche market. Such
online advertising networks are actually pretty rare.

If you choose to advertise through an online advertising network,
find out where your ads will be appearing and determine whether
or not the reach of the online advertising network will actually
be beneficial to your company. Some online advertising networks
are hesitant to release information about the sites on which your
advertisements will run because of confidentiality agreements
with the websites that are members in their network.

As an advertiser, you may have a problem with that. I know I do.
I am not comfortable spending big bucks on advertising through an
online advertising network if I cannot know exactly where my ads
are appearing and view them to ensure that the program offered by
an online advertising network isn’t a scam.

There are legitimate online advertising networks so you need to
exercise due process to ensure that the online advertising
network you choose actually produces results.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope,
fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing
advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing,
or a website owner who wants to make more money from your
website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your
internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

The Most Overlooked Internet Marketing Strategy

04.29.08 | Comments Off

Avoid selfishness. It causes problems everywhere, and the e-biz
world is no exception. To succeed, you must know your audience,
care about them, and go the extra mile to meet them where
they’re at.

Maybe you’re brainstorming a new website: “My website is about
me, my services, and my products.”

Maybe you don’t go around saying that explicitly, but it still
might your subconscious attitude. Most of us can identify with
the joke, “I’m not much, but I’m all I think about.”

Yes, you should think about your services and products - their
benefits and limits. Think about yourself - your own limits as
an entrepreneur. And if you want people to buy, think about
these things in terms of your prospects.

Who are they? What are they expecting? What are they
searching for? How do they perceive your products, your niche,
your approach? How might you be confusing or disappointing
them?

Our pervasive selfishness, also known as bias, is hard to
escape- a big blind spot to see around. The best way to get
around it is to survey your prospects, and, if you can, watch
their behavior around whatever you sell or do or make.

For example, I’ve been planning to write an ebook about public
speaking for six months now, but haven’t gotten to it yet. I
knew it was further down my priority list, so I put an offer on
my most popular public speaking webpages: “Answer this survey
and I’ll send you a free copy of this $25 ebook when it comes
out!” - I’ve got about 50 responses already. When it comes time
to plan the book’s contents, I’ll already know what’s most
interesting to my target market.

Likewise, I did a survey when it was time to title my first
alternative medicine book- I brainstormed about 100 of them,
chose my 10 favorites, and let my online health readers choose
their favorite. The one they preferred was the winner by far. It
wasn’t even close. It also was NOT the one I liked. See?

Maybe you’re writing copy: “I’m going to describe my offerings
in the language most natural to me.”

Sometimes that works. If they’re looking to grab them with a
particular flavor, you might use, for example, folksy language
or tech-speak. But that doesn’t always work. What if they don’t
know your jargon? What if they don’t know your favorite words
and concepts?

We get so comfortable with the words, phrases, and metaphors
from our business and social circles, we forget not everyone
knows them. You can keep your jargon if you define it.
Otherwise, translate it into everyday language. Even better,
find out what the most popular keyword equivalents are, and use
those.

Trust me as an experienced writer and public speaker. Too many
times, I’ve been surprised to reap confusion where I swear I had
sown clarity. I no longer underestimate how much my audience
will misunderstand my meaning. The burden of clarity is upon me,
not them.

Maybe you’re building a website: “I’m organizing my website
around my ideas about my business.”

That may work out just fine, but if when doesn’t, visitors get
confused, don’t find what they’re looking for, and leave without
regret. On a website that’s new to them, there are only so many
times they’ll click before they’re gone.

What you think about your offerings doesn’t matter if you don’t
know what your prospects need, what they care about, and what
their problems are…

How do your offerings meet their needs and solve their
problems? What words are in their minds when they come looking
for solutions? What referral search terms are showing up in
your web statistic logs? Are you using those terms in your
navigation?

Your prospect may have the problem you solve but not be looking
for your kind of solution, or they may not call the solution or
the problem by the same names you do. Jargon again. Find out
what they call it and how they think about it. Find out what
they actually search for, and call it that on your website.

Make a bridge between your prospects’ minds and your own, and
they’ll stream across in droves.