Attract Media Coverage Without Spending Advertising $$$

Advertising is expensive. PR is often low cost or free.
Try these ten tips for attracting free PR to your business. But here is a word of caution. When sending press releases to the media, remember that less is more. The journalist who encounters a press release from your company every week learn to ignore anything with your name on it.

1. Capitalize on an Anniversary
Is your business having a significant anniversary? Tenth year in business? Ten thousandth customer served? Five thousand books sold? Arrange some sort of celebration, draft a press release and contact your local media. You can never tell. You must might coverage from the local newspaper, radio or television station.

2. Donate Something
Does your networking group have draws for door prizes? Offer to donate the prize, then give something that's heavily branded with your businesses name and contact information. Similarly, find out if local charities are engaged in fund raising opportunities. Offer one of your products or services as a prize or to be auctioned.

3. Host a Special Event
Have a Singles Night, a Kid's Night, or a Senior Citizen's Night. Send a press release to your local media. A supermarket did a smashing business following a well publicized Singles Night complete with dancing in the aisles, games and contests.

4. Sponsor Something
Provide sponsorship at a trade show, a convention, a sporting event, or an arts festival. Sponsor a local kid to attend an event in another city. Sponsor a kid's sports team. Offer a scholarship to help a young person attend university. Remember to send the press release.

5. Decorate Creatively
Put up a stunning decoration or window display for the Holidays, or for spring, or fall, or in recognition of some particular event in your city. Then invite the media to take a look. The key is to have something unique or original that'll warrant pictures and video taping.

6. Write Articles
If you're in business, you're an expert on some topic. Write articles on your area of expertise. Submit them to local or national media, magazines, web sites, trade journals or other pertinent publications. Your article should not be a promotion of your business, but should inform readers about a topic of interest. Accountants might write articles on tax tips, for example, or florists could write about plant care.

7. Let Them Know You're an Expert
When newsworthy stories become available, media often look for a local expert for quotes and comments. Contact your local or national media, and let them know you are available to comment on topics within your area of expertise. Suppose your expertise is ecommerce, for example. Next time your local paper has an ecommerce-related story, they just might contact you for a comment. You (and your business) will get some excellent and cost-free publicity.

8. Get T-shirts and Go Public
Decorate t-shirts with your company's logo. Sign up your staff to participate in charity walks and other community events. Ensure that everyone wears the t-shirts.

9. Donate Something to a Local Charity
Donate books, used computers, products or services to a school or charity. In one community, local businesses attracted enormous publicity by organizing an event in which they outfitted adolescent youth from low-income families for the spring prom. Participating clothing shops, beauticians, florists, even taxi companies got in on the act and attracted enormous publicity while doing good works.

10. Publicize a New Product, Service or Research Finding
Have something new to offer? If it's at all unique in your area, write your press release and send it to media and trade journals. Even if you get mentioned in the gossip column of a trade journal, it's still good publicity!

11. Offer Something Unique
Local shops in one community worked together to hold a Men's Night and shortly before the Holidays. Males received assistance in purchasing lingerie, perfumes, jewelry and accessories for the woman in their lives. It was a new concept in the area and a big success. The media loved it.

READ MORE - Attract Media Coverage Without Spending Advertising $$$

Advertising Your Home Business on a Budget

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.
If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.

Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.

LESSON #1

It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.

As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let
this be you.

LESSON #2

All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON #3

Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign.

Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from your advertising dollars.

LESSON #4

As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.

If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:

· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television

Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:

WORD OF MOUTH

This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.

BUSINESS CARDS

You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.

Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.

PRESS RELEASES

Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.

Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print stories for special events and openings.

The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."

A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.

You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.


NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.

These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.

Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to
advertise your home business at discount rates!

IN CONCLUSION

When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.

READ MORE - Advertising Your Home Business on a Budget

Affiliate Strategies Of Pay Per Click Advertising Networks

The Untold Secret Of Pay Per Click Advertising:
An often misunderstood reality of Pay-Per-Click advertising is that many times you can't determine where you ad will be displayed once you sign-up with one of the PPC Search Engines. In the incestuous world of online advertising, companies are often simultaneously competitors and partners. This is never more true than in the case of Search Engine Advertising.

Even The Big Guys Do It:
If the Pay-Per-Click program you're using is from one of the major brands that has it's own consumer search destination site (Google, Yahoo, Lycos etc,) it's a little easier to tell where your ads will show up. However, even if you're working with the major players, your ads won't be limited to the Search Engine you signed up with. For example, Google has agreements with Lycos, Ask Jeeves, AOL, and other lesser known brands, to display ads from the Google AdWords program. Yahoo has relationships with MSN, and CNN.Com to display ads from its Overture Pay Per Click Program. Lycos owns HotBot.Com and has partnered with affiliates outside its network to increase the distribution of ads from the Lycos AdBuyer Pay Per Click program.

Distribution Strategies Of Smaller Search Engines:
Once you go beyond the major Pay Per Click Advertising programs it becomes increasingly difficult to know where your ads will appear. Most of the second tier Search Engines rely exclusively on networks of unknown sites for their distribution. FindWhat.Com, Kanoodle, Enhance and Search 123 don't operate sites that consumers use to search the web. Because of this they have developed relationships with thousands of smaller sites to display ads from customers who sign up for their Pay Per Click programs.

Affiliate Traffic Isn't Necessarily Bad:
Just because a Pay Per Click Advertising program doesn't have its own search site to drive traffic doesn't necessarily mean that the traffic is of lesser quality. Like everything else when it comes to a successful PPC Advertising campaign, the key is to track and analyze results on a daily basis. Set-up independent tracking URL's for each PPC Search Engine you are working with, or use a third party tracking tool like Atlas One Point to track how many clicks you're getting from each Search Engine, and how much of the traffic is converting into sales.

Can You Cherry Pick Affiliates?
As a rule, most Search Engines won't divulge the list of affiliates they are working with to display your ads. Even if you are able to determine which affiliate sites are converting better for you than others, the Search Engines generally won't allow you to cherry pick which affiliates will display your ad. However, some Pay Per Click Search Engines like Google allow you to opt out of their affiliate network.

Conclusion:
Driving traffic by displaying ads across a network of affiliate sites is a fact of life for Pay Per Click Search Engines. It's not necessarily bad, but it is something you need to be aware of as you analyze which PPC Search Engines to use, and which ones perform. By displaying your ad on affiliate sites your marketing message is put in front of more people who are looking for the products you sell. The downside is once you move beyond the big brands and venture into the vast mysterious world of affiliate networks, there is a chance the quality of your traffic will decline. As long as you monitor your traffic sources for volume, and conversions, and adjust your campaigns accordingly you should be able to benefit from the increased distribution affiliates provide, while maintaining the profitability metrics for your Pay Per Click Advertising campaign.

READ MORE - Affiliate Strategies Of Pay Per Click Advertising Networks

Advertising Using PPC Search Engines

Internet technology offers vast opportunities to promote your business with virtually no advertising borders, and you can find countless sources online directing you towards budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines for maximum effectiveness in the information age.

Enterprising people know all the benefits of optimizing their online advertising, and because of this fact the ‘pay-per-click’ (PPC) technique has been developed to meet the need. PPC is certainly at the cutting edge of Internet advertising today, because you ‘bid’ or budget on the exact amount you want to put into your advertising campaign, giving you the choice to state just how much you’ll pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

For instance, if you bid five cents a click, that’s how little you’ll pay for your advertising - and you’ll only have to pay that five cents each time a consumer clicks on your ad! Budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines should encompass the following integral steps of creating, optimizing and managing your advertising campaign or ‘sponsored search’ on the most widely used search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Earthlink, American Online, Ask Jeeves and CNN.com - just to name a famous few!

The most widely touted benefit of budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines is that it delivers your product information and your web site to the very consumers online who are searching for such products, be it business, science or technology-related, trips and travel, car buying, entertainment ideas or wedding planning! Your business specifically reaches those already interested in knowing more, and enthusiasts of budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines will tell you that no other advertising medium can give you that kind of bang for your advertising buck.

Other pluses of budgeting via PPC are that your ad can be targeted to regions you specify, whether you want the entire world to know, or just focus on your local area at the moment. Your ad can also be tracked towards search engines that receive the highest amount of keywords specific to the product or service on your website. Whether you have a home based business or you’ve just been appointed Director of a countrywide multi-national, your business will benefit from budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines. Seek out experts who will

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Advertising Sucks! Long Live The Web!

How much does an advert in Yellow Pages cost? How many enquiries would you expect to get back for that investment each day? 1? 10? 100?

What about an ad in the local newspaper or a trade publication? They don't come cheap. When was the last time you heard an advertising salesman say:

"If you're not happy with the volume of responses and sales you get from the ad I will give you your money back."

How many times have you heard an ad salesman say:

"I will tell you exactly how many people view your advertisement, how long they read it for and which ad they were looking at before they starting reading your ad. You can use this to work out the profile of your potential customers."

Hardly likely is it? Yet this is the kind of information that you can get your hands on via your website.

Expensive is a dirty word. Nothing is about cost - everything is about value. Having a great profile on the web can not only bring you more customers and sales but it can boost the perceived size and stature of your company.

As a business owner of course you want to see your website at the top of the search engines - everyone wants to be higher than their competitors - what value would you put on this?

Imagine placing an ad in a magazine and asking the salesperson:

"Can you guarantee me more sales? Will you give me my money back if people read the ad but don't buy my product?"

It just wouldn't happen. And yet there is a lot of scepticism surrounding the web - I come across it every single day.

"Mike, we've had our fingers burned in the past and though I like what you're saying how do I know you're not one of the cowboys?"

Ultimately nobody will ever buy anything from anybody unless buyer confidence is establsihed - no matter what is being sold. And the only way to establish buyer confidence is to develop a lasting relationship built on trust, two-way communication and transparency of information.

I don't believe that website marketing is, or should be, a black art. I don't believe that copywriting or accounting are black arts. They are all just things that, if you want done right, you need to get the professionals in to do.

READ MORE - Advertising Sucks! Long Live The Web!

Making Money With Adsense

Advertising revenue and Google Adsense go hand-in-hand.

The Internet has regained a lot of credibility since its fall from grace at the end of the 90’s.

This means more businesses are spending more money to get customers via the Internet. And it’s possible for you to cash in on those millions of dollars.

Google has an advertising program, involving four parties:

• Google
• Customers paying for the ads – through the Adwords program
• Visitors clicking on the ads – on search engine results pages and websites
• Website owners running the ads on their websites – through the Adsense program. These are the people making money from ad revenue.

For an example, look no further than the page you are on at the moment. Notice down the right hand side of the page and also in the top left of this article there are groups of ‘Ads by Google’ (if can’t see them its because either you are not in the US or not reading this article on my website).

Google has developed technology that automatically senses what the theme of the page is and then displays ads that are suited to the theme. This way the visitor will see advertisements likely to be of interest.

The Adwords customer (the advertiser trying to sell a product or service etc using these ads) is billed every time a visitor clicks. The amount depends on the cost of the ad, which is basically determined by advertising demand.

Revenue from that billing is split between Google and the owner of the website where the visitor clicked. If the ad costs the advertiser 50 cents per click, Google gets 25 cents and the website owner running the ads gets 25 cents.

If you were to click one of the Adsense ads you see on this page I’d get 50%.

Google Adsense is not the only program you can use to place ads on your site. Companies like Searchfeed offer similar programs but Adsense is where the money is.

There are a few key elements to successfully earning revenue from Google Adsense:

• Create website pages to rank well in the search engines. No visitors =no clicks=no revenue
• Strategically position your Adsense ads to attract the most clicks.
• Target keywords that have a high click price, thereby earning more per click.
• Make sure the words you target have enough searches per month to be worth the effort of creating a webpage.
• Make your site a valuable resource so visitors return.

Some more advanced strategies include:

• Create a valuable newsletter that visitors want to receive. Publish each issue on a webpage with Adsense and notify subscribers by mail with a link to the page (this method also minimizes risk of your email being filtered).
• Target less competitive keywords for your search engine rankings but direct the traffic (legitimately) to pages with more competitive keywords because the Adsense ads will pay more per click.
• When choosing Adsense ad design (you can choose color and format) avoid designs that are obviously ads. The less they look like ads the better.

READ MORE - Making Money With Adsense

Advertising On A Budget - Using Print To Drive Traffic Online

I decided to try something a little different and illustrate the marketing challenges of a small business. I'm using one of my clients, PrescottWeddings.

PrescottWeddings is an online resource guide for couples planning their weddings. Along with a ton of information for brides and grooms, the site includes a resource guide where local businesses can advertise their products and services.

We launched PrescottWeddings in November 2001. Like many start-up businesses, PWC didn't have much money for marketing. Yet we had two major challenges (three counting the limited budget):

1. PrescottWeddings had to attract two kinds of target markets to the site -- advertisers and couples -- essentially at the same time. And if that wasn't bad enough, we had to appeal to each group even though one was dependent on the other -- advertisers wanted brides and grooms logging onto the site, and brides and grooms wanted a complete resource center.

2. Several bridal print publications had come and gone in Prescott -- and had burned their advertisers while racing out of town. Businesses were understandably hesitant about sinking their money into another bridal venture.

Armed with those challenges, we went to work. Now, just over two years later, PrescottWeddings enjoys well over 40,000 hits a month and has increased its advertising base by over 600%. On top of that, PrescottWeddings is well on its way to establishing a reliable brand in not just Prescott but throughout Yavapai County.

So how did we do it? A great Web site with great content plus three main marketing strategies:

1. Using print to drive traffic online
2. Thinking small
3. Frequency, frequency, frequency

I'll cover number two and three in the next two articles. Today we'll talk about number one: Using print to drive traffic online.

The cornerstone of PrescottWeddings marketing program has been print advertising, more specifically monthly advertising in the local newspaper. Print advertising is an excellent choice for many businesses -- from small to large. In fact, it's not uncommon for small and medium-sized businesses to build their advertising program around print.

The strength of print advertising is its flexibility. Print publications come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can appeal to a broad readership or a narrow one. They can be published every day or once a year. This variety gives you a lot of flexibility in fitting print advertising into your campaigns.

You can also track print to a certain extent (coupons in newspapers for example). Print is physical, allowing your customers to carry something around with them.

However, print's weakness is also its strength. It's a visual medium only, so it requires more effort and interaction from your audience to make an impact (they need to stop and read it).

In the case of PrescottWeddings, we chose monthly advertising in the local paper as the foundation of our marketing program. We decided upon the local newspaper because it has the broadest reach. Prescott isn't big enough to have its own evening television news, so the newspaper is the best vehicle for local news.

If you live in a big city, the local newspaper may not be practical because of cost. In that case, you may want to try a niche newspaper or magazine, like a business or lifestyle journal, or maybe a regionalized newspaper. In Phoenix for instance, the Arizona Republic is the main newspaper, but all the cities around Phoenix, like Scottsdale and Tempe, also have their own papers.

Because PrescottWeddings is a Web site, there's an assumption we should be using only online methods to advertise. Online methods are good, and PrescottWeddings does use them, but they only take you so far. Print is a part of the "real world" -- something you can touch and pick up, not virtual like a Web site. Print has also been around a lot longer, and carries more trust with it. We found by using print, some of that trust and "real world" essence rubbed off, making PrescottWeddings seem less anonymous and more like a "bricks and mortar" business (a business with a store front).

Also, since we were trying to drive local traffic to the site, it made sense to advertise locally rather than attracting people from all over the world. But even with our local advertising, we still have a substantial number of visitors from around the state, including Phoenix and Tucson, as well as all over the globe.

The point of our marketing program was to advertise regularly so we could both build the PrescottWeddings brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Yet it was essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could. More on that and how we "thought small" in the next article.

READ MORE - Advertising On A Budget - Using Print To Drive Traffic Online

Advertising Methods: Understanding & Implementing Key

Being the Public Relations' Director for a major, online holistic journal, I often find myself brainstorming new and creative ways of marketing, and making our site not only visitor/client-friendly, but informative and entertaining as well. While we offer a broad array of alternative healing arts' schools, I wanted to explain exactly how successful marketing can lead to maximum, effective exposure.

After a little research, I discovered quite a few interesting things about how advertising works. The Nielsen ratings are a classic example of how marketing techniques are applied. In the United States, Nielsen Media Research provides audience estimates for all national program sources. For example, during 'Sweeps' week, Nielsen Media Research mails out diaries to certain households across the country. The diaries are collected and processed at the end of each time period. In addition, Nielsen provides many other data services to display viewing records of television, cable and other multimedia programming. These viewing data reflect what, when and how often programs are watched. So, in essence, commercial advertising agencies depend on Nielsen ratings on what commercials to air, and how to design commercials to be 'eye candy' to the masses.

The Coca-Cola company made a powerful move in its Christmas advertising campaign by integrating Santa Claus in their marketing plans. So powerful, in fact, that because of its commercials depicting Santa drinking Coca-Cola from a bottle, spawned consumers to take more and more bottles of Coca-Cola home with them!

In an even more elaborate move, Toyota Motor Sales recently cornered the online market with being the only car Ad to sponsor Ebay!

During the 1980s, Ms. Clara Peller was recruited to commercialize Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" Slogan in televisions ads everywhere.

But what does this have to do with marketing essentials? Technically, the viewing and listening public - whether it be Radio, Cable TV, or the Internet - are diverse information and entertainment seekers. As consumers, we want a broad selection, we demand diversity, we expect 'eye candy.' Thus, while most advertising agencies can only produce and eccentuate the positive of products and/or services, it all boils down to viewer-ability.

Clients demand results - and they want them to reflect their choice in advertising. As both a consumer and marketing specialist, a skilled advertising firm is able to fully comprehend the fundamentals of developing successful strategies in commercial promotion of products and services.

So how does a good advertising firm produce positive results in a productive marketing campaign? Below are a few, finer points in proven 'viewer-ability' marketing strategies:

1. Research & Development - analysis of current marketing and advertising campaigns
2. Strategic Planning and Implementation
3. Media Buys - buying media at discounted rates and pass savings onto clients
4. Copywriting Services
5. Video Production - Informational and Corporate
6. Public Relations
7. Website Development and Promotion
8. Direct Mail/Email Campaigns
9. Electronic/Print Advertising
10. Brochure & Graphic Design
11. Telemarketing Consultation
12. Market Research

The prime question one should ask himself (or his organization) is 'What do I want to accomplish?' Experienced ad agencies will review and analyze what is and isn't working through review of revenue streams and competition. Specific recommendations are then made on how to target particular audiences - much like that of the Nielsen Media Research.

Since the conceptual design and implementation of the World Wide Web, advertising has taken on a dramatically new persepective, and is steadily climbing to popular ranks liken to mainstream media. Undeniably, many Americans are virtually living in the 'net.' Aside from being a vital tool for student research projects, the Internet has become a vast and ever-expanding media outlet for entertainment, information, work and direct-advertising system. By integrating all points of a strategic marketing campaign, electronic advertising agencies are able to assist clients with interactive ad campaigns that help promote exposure to clients (services and/or products).

Realistically, whether we're selling products or services, we have to realize that exposure (or eye-candy) is what gains attention. In the field of advertising, we personally know that we, as consumers, are smart shoppers. We watch, listen, learn and investigate.

Before we even decide to invest in a product or service, we have a pretty good idea of what we want. For example, if I am interested in attending a particular school, I will research the area for schools that meet my criteria. Hypothetically speaking, let's say there are 5 acupuncture institutions in one state - 2 are listed, 3 are not. Automatically, my choice of prospective schools has been narrowed down to just two. Now, of the 2 educational organizations, one is 60 miles away and one is just 10 minutes up the street. Okay, my option became a bit closer, but what does school A offer that school B doesn't? Or visa vi? This is where successful marketing plans come into action. Understandably, clients must want to achieve specific goals, so viewer-ability is a crucial component in becoming the deciding factor for potential consumers.

Exposure is the key element to promoting products and/or services. The unique aspect of Internet advertising is that 1) it's less expensive, 2.) it reaches individuals one-on-one, 3) it gains worldwide exposure. With the boom of Internet advertising, people are able to attain information at their fingertips - literally.

Television commercials convey consumer information to the viewing public. We might see a Land Cruiser ad, but that doesn't mean we're going to go run out and buy one right then. BUT, the notion has been planted in our heads to take a deeper look at Toyota vehicles. The same applies to Internet advertising, but there's a slightly unique difference: Because the Internet is interactive, we can invest our money and time instantly should we choose to do so. But like many wise shoppers, we selectively peruse our viewable options - But the notion has been planted in our minds for further review.

How Do You Sell Yourself? Below is a list of questions one should ask:

1. Necessity: What is it about my product ( or service) that makes it essential to consumers?
2. Consumerability: What sets my product (or service) aside from other competitors?
3. Communication: Do I inform my potential consumers with detailed accuracy?
4. Location: What makes my location attractive?
5. Amenities: Do I have any to offer?
6. Accessibility: Is my product (or service) easily accessible and within reach?
7. Catch-Phrase: Do I have a memorable slogan? (e.g., Wendy's "Where's the Beef?")
8. Presentation: Is my product (or service) being presented in its best light? Can I improve its viewer-ability?
9. Affordabilty: Is my product (or service) affordable? Are financing or other loan options available to consumers?
10. Extra: Do I offer any special tools (e.g., workshops, guides, etc.) that enhance my products and/or services?

Overall, marketing your services and/or products boils down to proficient exposure. The better the presentation, the more likely consumers will be receptive. Clients who work closely with their advertising firms will attain prolific results. If something is not adequately working, it is important to review deficiencies and redefine how to better improve upon ourselves to attract more productive exposure. (See: How Do You Sell Yourself above)

Advertising methods, if understood and implemented properly, are the vital foundation to abundant and powerful, commercial exposure. Knowing, or Knowledge, is still ultimately the key to success; and the key to goal achievements.

READ MORE - Advertising Methods: Understanding & Implementing Key

Advertising Made Easy

How You Can Make Advertising Pay Big Dividends. McGraw Hill once commissioned an extensive study to determine what marketing weapons make a company famous in it’s market or community.

The study went on to show that advertising created more product, service, or brand awareness than all other marketing weapons combined.

The fact is, we know that Coke is “The Real Thing” because Coke advertises, not because it has good salespeople or does great direct mail.

Advertising stays in front of your prospects when you can’t be there. While a handful of salespeople can only be in front of perhaps a hundred or so prospects per month, advertising can reach thousands of potential buyers each and every month, week, or day.

Studies also show that advertising inspires confidence from your current clients. When current clients see your ad, it reinforces their belief in you.

It makes them feel like they made the right decision to be your client. But advertising can also waste money if you don’t use it properly.

To avoid wasting money, keep these three tips in mind. Don’t spend money on an advertising vehicle if the majority of its listeners/viewer/readers will never buy your type of product or services.

For example, let’s say that you own a commercial real estate company or a business bank. In both cases, you are only interested in business people.

Broad-reaching television or radio stations or general-interest daily newspapers base their rates on how many consumers they reach.

An examination of their audiences may easily show you that a high percentage of their listeners or readers are not business people, yet you will have to pay to reach all of them.

Conversely, there are more specialized advertising vehicles that target a far greater percentage of your potential buyers.

A business radio program or a business publication will offer you an audience comprised mostly of your potential buyers.

If you do advertise, do not expect that a single ad, or even a few ads, constitute effective advertising. Effective advertising needs to be consistent and steady.

However: If you don’t have the budget to take a full advertising schedule, I often recommend that my clients buy one, well placed ad in the ideal magazine and then use that piece for years sometimes with a banner that says: “As Seen In Industry Today.”

This ad then works very hard for you as a direct mail piece, promo piece, or even a hand out at a trade show.

Don’t spread your advertising too thin. Some years ago, a corporate training company launched its services by buying a few spots per week on seven different radio stations.

Since it was not on any one station long enough to give its message a chance to take root, the advertising was a total failure.

The company should have taken its entire budget and sunk it into one or (at the most) two primary vehicles. Each advertising vehicle has a loyal audience.

You are far better off having a heavy schedule in one vehicle, where you have a chance to break through the clutter and get noticed, than to take a few spots in a half-dozen vehicles in which you get lost in the commercial clutter.

Today, repetition and concentration are the keys to successful advertising.

Another important point along the lines of advertising smart is that cable TV today can virtually change your life in a week. I know a fellow who has an electronic repair business.

He would fix VCR’s, TV’s, Toasters, etc… and he also would come to your home to hook up your entire entertainment system if you needed him to do that. The name of the business was Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service.

First, on my advice, he took an insert in the newspaper. (An “insert” is a flyer that is printed separately and “inserted” into the newspaper as a loose piece of paper).

This is generally a very good way to go with B2B in a trade journal or B2C in a newspaper.

These are good because they fall out of the magazine or newspaper onto your desk or kitchen table and they are less expensive to buy than printing your ad right in the vehicle of choice.

When I ran magazines and newspapers, we discouraged them because we NEEDED ads in the magazine/newspaper, but when we had a client we were going to lose over lack of response, we ALWAYS recommended the insert because they almost always worked.

So Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service took the newspaper insert in the local newspaper and bought, specifically, the major neighborhoods where he felt they have more time than money.

That’s the other beauty of newspaper inserts is that you can generally buy a small piece of the circulation to test the idea or to concentrate geographically. This worked for months for Mr. Tim, as people kept the insert around until they needed him.

But one of the people that spotted that insert was the local cable salesperson who told him he could make him famous. Mr. Tim thought TV would be WAY too expensive, but, as it turns out, in some markets, you can buy just a neighborhood. You can buy by zip code.

So for $200 per week, Mr. Tim was on TV like 60 times per week, spread all over 50 different cable channels.

It was amazing. You’d be watching re-runs of Seinfeld and there would come this Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service ad and his phone would ring. It worked great.

Then one day he walks into a bike shop and someone recognized him from his TV ad. He was becoming famous from this mere $200 per week.

Not for everyone, but if you sell B2C, look into local cable and concentrate with a lot of spots.

Every business action requires some kind of cost justification. Does the effort justify the cost? Company X advertised its professional educational materials.

When it seemed as though the advertising was not working, the company was going to cancel its ad campaign.

Then it discovered a startling correlation between its advertising and its direct-mail efforts: Its direct-mail response went up by 30% in the months it advertised to the same audience.

This is typical. The more penetration you can get to the same audience, the better the possibility that you will get noticed.

In the ’90s, getting noticed is everything. In today’s commercial clutter, you get noticed only by continually reaching the same potential customer with a consistent theme, message, look, and feel.

If you advertise in a print medium (magazine, newspaper, etc.), you will find that most publications will rent you their mailing lists.

This means you can direct mail to the same audience to which you are advertising! This is a very smart usage of marketing dollars.

Look at the lifetime value. If you have an inexpensive product, your advertising has to deliver a high number of leads, or every lead has to turn into a repeat customer.

For example, say your average customer spends $25 with you. If you are spending $1,000 per month on advertising, you will need to attract 40 new customers per month to break even on the ad, not counting any of your other costs, such as product costs and overhead.

If those customers are one-time buyers, then you have to find a way to make your advertising more effective or less expensive. If they become regular buyers, then you can accept lower response rates.

The key here is to look at the “lifetime value” of a customer. A customer who spends $25 a month and comes to your store only once is only worth $25 to you.

But if you can get that customer to be a repeat customer, then that customer is worth $300 a year, or $1,500 over five years!

Most business people do not understand the power of advertising; they do not realize that each new $25 customer is potentially a $1,500 customer!

Advertising brings in the customers, but it is your job to keep them buying from you.

Advertising promotes word-of-mouth

Often, a loyal customer will see your ad while with a friend or business associate. Your customer will show your ad to the friend and say, “Hey Joe, now this is a really great company/product/service.”

Joe will come into your business, and you will ask him how he heard of you. He will say that his friend referred him and never think to mention that it was your advertising that prompted the friend to open his mouth in the first place.

I headed up a Neilson study that tracked hundreds of ads and the response rate each ad generated. Each month, a computer printout listed the ads and how much response each had generated. The first printout came and it looked like this:

    * X Company…………22 responses
    * Y Company……...….20 responses
    * Z Company………….23 responses
    * K Company………..223 responses
    * J Company……….….26 responses

In the midst of all the other ads generating responses in the low 20’s, one ad was generated more than 200 responses!

Turning to the ad, we expected to find some totally new or unique offer, product or service.

Instead, we found that the product advertised was nearly identical in price and features to four or five other products in the same publication.

Thus, it wasn’t the product that made the response jump so significantly, it was the ad! After a year of tracking the highest response generating ads, we learned that, for the most part, the ads that pulled the greatest response followed four primary rules:

Rule No 1: Is it distinctive? You must design advertising that is so distinctive looking (or sounding, if you’re on the radio) that it pops out of the clutter.

In print, the first goal of high-response-oriented advertising is that it be visually distinctive. On radio, the audio must be distinctive. Naturally, TV has both visual and audio possibilities.

I ran a TV spot advertising a free seminar I’m doing with Jay Abraham. Among other images we used in the spot, I put a shot of me throwing a double side kick (I have 23 years of karate training) to the head of a business owner (we’re both in suits).

What’s the point of that? One point. It makes you want to find out “what the heck is going on there?” Today, 70% of TV watchers are muting out the commercials.

But if you see something really intriguing, you will UN-mute just to see what the heck is happening there.

There’s a spot running right now where this kid sprays his mother with a squirt gun and she pulls the hose out of the sink and nails the kid with it.

I saw that spot several times and it finally got my goat. I wanted to see what they were advertising.

So make your ad distinctive. Something that makes it STAND OUT.

Rule No. 2: Tell me what you want to tell me. If you page through a magazine, you will quickly notice that you do not read the ads that make it difficult for you to figure out what they are selling.

“Clever” is only better if it is “super clever.” Clever headlines that do not tell you what they are trying to sell are simply not effective.

Most ads in most publications today don’t have headlines that tell you what they are trying to sell. In the information age, don’t hint around; say what you want to say, right in the headline.

A good headline follows these four criteria:

    * It tells you what the product or service is.
    * It starts with the word you or your (not always, but mostly).
    * It contains a benefit to the reader. Most companies brag about themselves, rather than talk about the benefit to the reader (prospect).
      High-response-oriented advertising focuses like a laser beam on the benefit to the customer.
    * It makes the consumer want to read on.

The headline is the ad for the ad. If the headline isn’t good, no one will read the rest of the ad. Responses to ads have jumped ten fold by simply changing the headlines.

Rule No. 3: The body copy should…

Be curiosity driven, unfolding the story you want to tell.

By highly benefit oriented. So many ads talk about features, when it is benefits that motivate buying.

Give you a reason to take action now! Can you offer something for free that will help you engage the potential customer?

Rule No. 4: Ask for the order. Too many ads do not give explicit instructions as to what action you would like the customer to take: “Order today and save,” or “Call us today and receive this free….”. You must always ask for the order!

READ MORE - Advertising Made Easy

Advertising Ideas for office cleaning business

Even if you have built an ultra efficient state-of-the-art home office, polished your image with the finest of Armani suits, equipped yourself with the newest cell phone, PDA and laptop, and drafted the most exemplaryof business plans, you are not going to go anywhere in the business world without some entities to do business with.

"how to secure cleaning contracts"

Establishing your clientele can be the most time consuming and intellectually challenging part of the office cleaning business or any other business. There are many issues and approaches to consider, and like many other challenges in life, there is no one single way to go about it. Everyone will have their own methods for acquiring business that will work well for them, but most businesspeople will agree that taking a multi-tiered or multi-pronged approach is the best way to go about it. That is, don’t “put all your eggs in one basket”, so to speak, when approaching the cleaning business advertising issue. To be successful, you will need to do “a little bit of this” and a “little bit of that” as they say.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Although it can be costly in some forms, advertising is perhaps the most common form of marketing and self-promotion. Television ads and full-page spreads in mainstream publications will most likely be out of your reach (unless Donald Trump is funding your consultancy), but there are plenty of other more affordable options out there. Like we have mentioned before, it is all about getting more “bang for your buck”, so it will be in your best interest to maximize on your advertising dollar. Advertising in local magazines or the local newspaper can be cost effective when addressing certain demographics. Purchasing a short prime time spot on the radio is another method, but costs several orders of magnitude more than print to get across its message. When done properly, radio can be an awesome advertising vehicle, I also call this "The next step in advertising".

Perhaps the most significant “bang for your buck” outlet for your advertising dollar is the web. Web sites are very affordable (even free if you know what you are doing). A web site is an excellent method of advertising because you can attract many entities on a global scale (a little search engine optimization can garner 1000s of page views a day) and you can reach the widest audience possible (potentially, anyone with an internet connection). Be sure to print up a healthy portion of business card and in addition to land-line telephone, mobile phone and fax numbers make sure the URL (uniform resource locator) for your web site is displayed prominently on the front of the card.

READ MORE - Advertising Ideas for office cleaning business

Advertising effectively on the net is FREE

That's right. The most effective way of advertising your business on the net is FREE and mostly ignored. And yet it's so easy to see why it is so effective. We just need to ask ourselves two simple questions.

Question 1- What do most people use the internet for?

Answer - For email and to seek information to solve problems.

Question 2 - How do you get information from the net?

Answer - I go directly to certain web sites or I use a search engine like Yahoo or Google.

So shouldn't it be obvious that a free article on the net that mentions your business after providing valuable information free will be seen by hundreds of thousands of your eager prospects over time?

The biggest marketing mistake that many businesses have made and continue to make over the internet is treating this new medium as if it were just an extension or advancement of the last new medium to change the marketing world, namely Television. In Television, advertising is king. And therefore many assumed that the internet was the next big thing in conventional advertising with predictably disastrous results.

The internet is primarily an information medium. So is it any wonder that people get so upset when somebody tries to interrupt their search for information with an advertisement?

Being an information medium, it stands to reason that you will only attract attention by providing information - free, valuable information.

So the most effective way to advertise on the net is to give away free information of a very specific nature. The free information will of course have something to do with your product or service. But it should be written in such an interesting way and should focus on solving a problem or need of your potential clientele that it will be of great value without them having to purchase your product immediately.

For example, somebody selling anti-glare gadgets for computers or headache medication or whatever service or product that deals with the problem of headaches, can post the following useful free information;

1) An article about the different types of headaches caused by sitting in front of a computer the whole day.

2) He can post yet another article hinged on a case study of a headache that refused to go away despite medication etc.

3) How a deadly type of headache feels like e.g caused by a developing brain tumour etc.

In all the articles, no direct reference should be made to the product or service except in the resource box right at the end which should have your web-site, email and any other contact information.

An article on the web is a very powerful advertising tool that will do more for you than any conventional advertising or email list. Firstly you are guaranteed that many of your target market or people who may be interested in your product or service will read your article and the name of your business. Most so-called advertisements on the net, never get read at all, even by the people targeted - they get deleted long before.

Secondly, you create a very favorable image of a knowledgeable and competent person or business and you do this instantly. Offline this is rather difficult to do even over a longer period of time. In fact articles can't even be posted as easily as they can on the net. For example it will be virtually impossible for any newspaper or magazine with a decent readership to find the space for any of the suggested headache articles above.

There are various ways one can post articles on the net. You can do it on your web site or you can do it at a wide range of different sites. Actually the idea here is to get it posted in as many different places as you possibly can (remember it's an advertisment.)

The real power of the internet is in its' ability to reach a colossal number of people within a very short time, who are interested in the subject at hand.

Most of the people you reach may not be in the market for your offering right now, but they will have heard of you and will already have a very favourable image of you.

Some of the people who will benefit from your information will be in the market for your product and will request for more information, visit your web-site and so on - still they will not buy immediately. A fraction of these people may buy from you one day in the future. They may also like you enough to tell others about you.

The last group of people may end up being a very tiny decimal fraction of the total but these are the people who will become your customers shortly after benefiting from your FREE information. Still there will be a steady and constant flow of these wonderful people who put money in your bank account, as your articles get posted in newer web sites all the time.

Can you sincerely think of another marketing weapon on the web that even comes close to this one in terms of effectiveness?

READ MORE - Advertising effectively on the net is FREE

16 Methods for Getting Free Advertising

1. Place copies of your circular on bulletin boards throughout your community, such as in coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, barber shops, etc. Concentrate of Fridays and Saturdays when shopping increases.

2. Check with local newspapers. Before going to press, many smaller newspapers have space left that needs filling.. Your ad may be just the right size to occupy this unfilled space and they will run it free.

3. Place your circulars on windshields of parked autos, Youngsters will be happy to do this for you for a dollar or two. Check first with city ordinances to see if this is permitted in your locality.

4. Leave sales literature on doorsteps of homes & businesses in your area. Do this on weekends in residential areas; weekdays for businesses.

5. Have your best pulling 1 inch or 2 inch ad made into a rubber stamp. Stamp this on envelopes of all of your outgoing mail.. Check rubber stamp dealer's ads in current mail order publications for price information.

6. When you have envelopes printed with your return address, have them also print your best ad directly beneath your address. It costs noting additional to have this printed on the front of your envelopes.

7. If you publish a mail order magazine, newspaper, adsheet, etc., contact other publishers, If your circulation is equal to theirs, many will be happy to exchange an equal amount of ad space with you.

8. Many publishers will give you free adspace for mailing a few copies of their publication. Simply write to them and ask if they will give you a free 1 inch ad in exchange for mailing 50 to 100 copies of their pub.

9. Write informative articles for mail order trade publication. Most publishers will give you free ad space for the use of your article.

10. Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc. This saving is the same as getting one ad free of charge.

11. Some publishers offer a free classified ad with your first display ad. Watch for such specials. Use the free ad and pocket the savings.

12. When starting a new publication, many publishers will offer reduced ad rates to help fill space. Watch for ads regarding such offers.

13. In your ads, request a SASE. Then insert some of your other offers in regular outgoing mail. This is the same as getting free advertising.

14. Become a mailer. Get your printer's lowest price for printing circulars on both sides of the sheet. Contact other dealers and state you will print and mail their circulars for this price with no conflicting ads on the back. Then print your circulars on the reverse and distribute them with your outgoing mail. There is no extra cost for postage and envelopes, and your side of the circular is paid for by your customers.

15. Offer a free commission circulars. Print one of your regular offers on one side; a commission offer on the reverse, leaving space where the mailer can rubber stamp his name & address, Your offer gets a free ride.

16. If you use a postage meter machine, use the ad space directly left of stamp imprint for a free message.

READ MORE - 16 Methods for Getting Free Advertising

Advertising Approach For The First-time Webmaster

For the first time internet entrepreneur [newbie] the best ways to promote your website at first instance are :

1. Express inclusion of your website for the usual 12 months offered by most of the major search engines. You can choose express inclusion for askjeeves, inktomi, altavista,msn etc but keep in mind to have your site submitted to the local index of your region.

For example if you reside in Toronto, Canada and you are submitting for express inclusion in the DMOZ or Canada.com search engine/directory you must ensure that your site is indexed in the Toronto's business and economy directory. Get your site in the local index first things first.

If your submission listing includes the regional version of the DMOZ directory then thats good enough to go.

One point to note is that many of the major search engines and directories actually inter-relate that is they search across each other's database therefore submitting to only one major engine or directory will satisfice for the Internet Marketing beginner.

2. Next, the most overlooked approach for the first-time website owner is the maximisation of the benefit of offline marketing methods.

Promote your website in exactly the same way you would have promoted a normal business by telling everyone about it.

Word of mouth is still the best way to promote a new business.

Put your motto and logo along with your url address on everything from a pin to an anchor. From stationery, pens, letterheads, postcards, flyers,posters, in your usual email, the list goes on...

You may consider placing classified ads in the local newspapers.

Run other programs such as sponsoring quizzes, prize competitions, trivia and other participating programs with your website address. You might ask readers to submit the answer to a quiz by visiting you website. Anything that gets the local community to know that your website exists. You can do it !!

FACT : You have to make it local before you go global.

Most start-up webmasters usually make the mistake on concentrating on those numerous ways to promote their site and become confused on deciding what works best. What works best can only be determined by careful evaluation of each and every advertising scheme in use on the web today :


   1. Publisher/advertisers programs

   2. Banner exchanges

   3. Exit ads

   4. Pay-Per-Click

   5. Link Exchanges

   6. Search engine blasting

   7. FFa, classified ad posting

   8. Rotator pages

   9. JavaScript based pop-ups etc

   10.Express submit to search engines

   11.Search Engine Optimisation

   12.Adwords by Google

   13. Others


Its interesting to note that no seller of the above services except for Google and the other search engine services has ever took the time to evaluate your website to decide whether or not your site is most suitable to fit the advertising package they are offering.

The best approach is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Not everything out there works for everybody in every instant. Test your website across every platform say 10000 visitor package each and assess the outcome one by one.

Some will work better than others but the ones returning the higher rate of response doesn't necessarily mean they are the most profitable unless they each cost exactly the same per 1000 visitor.

What I had recommended in the first two paragraphs above should work best for the first-timer and is the most prudent approach.

Be careful when trying to find the best way of advertising, Don't be caught up in the Internet Marketing clutter out there as every you come in contact with will tell you the advertising method they sell is the best.

Ignore whatever testimony you see written on these webpages, use these services under a trial based approach before you order that 100000 package or start paying that monthly subscription.

Any method you are interested in should be test and proven in quality. Careful tjought and consideration should be given in order to plan, make decisions and control your business operating expenses.

What works for seasoned campaigners of Internet Marketing does'nt necessary works in the same way for the starter.

Your website is unique just like your fingerprint and its now your duty to determine the most economic,effective and efficient approach in promoting it.

READ MORE - Advertising Approach For The First-time Webmaster

The Key to Success - Advertising

You have got a great idea, and your website is now complete. You are ready to open for business but where are your customers? Simple – you are going to have to go out and get them. It sounds easy, but advertising can be a pitfall that can cripple many e-businesses.

There are several methods of advertising on the Internet. Some are free, some are low cost, while others are insanely expensive. The first thing you will need to look at is how much you are willing to pay for traffic, and how far your advertising dollar can go.

One of the most effective, and cheapest, methods of advertising is through e-zines. There are thousands, if not millions of e-zines published every single day. The best way to approach e-zines for advertising is to join a couple that fit your product profile and that you find interesting. Most e-zines offer incentives to new businesses signing up, and will even run your ad for free just for subscribing. You can find many e-zines that offer ads for as little as a dollar. It is a fantastic way to reach thousands of people who are already interested in your type of business.

In fact, you can utilize e-zines to promote your product for free, if you can write an informative article. E-zines are desperate for content, and will often offer to publish your article in exchange for a link back to your site. If you go this route, make sure that your article is informative and not just a sales pitch. For example, if your e-business deals with making money from home, an article about how working from home decreases stress would be very well received. You can rely more on making a good impression with the article and a simple link back, than a hard sell that might not even make into print.

Link exchanges are another free alternative to costly advertising. Be prepared to get lost in the shuffle if you choose a popular site. The best way to make use of this method is by running your own link exchange from your site and offering a free posting in exchange for a link back to your site.

Targeted advertising is by far the best way to bring in traffic to your website. By using targeted key words, your customers are not just stumbling into your website. Half the work is already done by the key words. You just need to supply the information. Google Ad Words can be used very effectively as well as other targeted key word companies. Most of these operate on a pay per click basis, so you will need to research your key words and supply the best possible words to ensure a good cost-to-click ratio.

Press releases are a great way to get the word out about your site and possibly create media buzz. While this method is more expensive than the above methods, it has the potential to bring in substantial traffic. Before sending out your release, make sure that it is formatted correctly and contains a powerful first paragraph. News editors are inundated daily and you do not want to get lost in the shuffle.

When writing your press release, it is important to make it news worthy, instead of a plain announcement. Using our example above, if a recent study is released about stress management and working from home, it would be a perfect time to send out a press release that mentions the study and your business. Be prepared to receive phone calls and answer questions if your release is a hit.

You don't necessarily have to wait for an event to happen to send out your release. If all else fails, get creative! There are many ways to tie in your business to current events, all you need is a little imagination.

We have covered just a couple of ways to effectively advertise your new or existing e-business. The best advice is to start wisely, plan your advertising budget accordingly and get the word out as effectively as possible.

READ MORE - The Key to Success - Advertising

13 Free or Cheap Effective Advertising Methods

Advertising is the life blood of any business, no matter how big or how small. No advertising usually means no business. Large companies have an almost unlimited source of advertising dollars. Small business owners on the other hand, are limited in the amount of money they have for advertising. So, the problem is how to make ones advertising dollar get the most bang for the buck. It's not enough to advertise. Your advertising must be effective. So, once you have a website or an ad to advertise, check out the following ways to advertise for little or no cost.

1. Advertising coop- Many businesses, especially work at home businesses, offer advertising coops. They will send people to your business for a fee. Usually the fee is relatively small. This is nice because you already know that these people have at least some interest in your business. Although they may not spend a penny with you, you at least get the exposure.

2. Website-The age of the internet has expanded the possibility of owning your own business to an almost unlimited number of people. It also has expanded the advertising audience to a tremendous amount of new people, world wide, who otherwise you would never have been able to reach. Although websites will cost you to get hosted, you can advertise it many ways for free. Things like link exchanges and article submissions allow you to get exposure to your website with no cost except for you time. And as we will see in a moment, your website can be advertised many other ways for free. The advantage of a website is that it centralizes all your business and products into one central location. It gives you somewhere to send people so that you don't have to do as much selling because you let your website do the selling for you.

3. Answering Machine-Change the message on your answering machine to reflect the fact that you are now in business for yourself. You could say something like," Hello. You have reached the home office of John Doe of My Business.com….." That way when you call that person back, they may ask you about your business and thus the door is open to discussing your business.

4. Put a sign in your front yard or in the yard of a friend or relative with your name and website address on it. This is a good way for your neighbors to find out about your new business as well as any people that ride by your house.

5. Place a magnetic sign or bumper sticker on your car. Now, when you are riding down the road, sitting at a stop sign, or leaving your car parked at the mall or grocery store, you are getting free advertising.

6. Wear your ad-Place your website on a sweatshirt, tee-shirt, or a hat. So, when you are out in public, people will see you ad and again it will open up the door to discussing your new business.

7. Flyers-There are many places that will allow you to place a flyer about your business. Businesses like grocery stores, libraries, laundromats, hair salons and others will let you place a free ad on their public bulletin board.

8. Business cards-Don't leave home without them. You never now when the chance to hand one out will happen. You may see an old friend, meet someone looking to get out of the 9-5 rut or who is in need of a new opportunity.

9. Free Classifieds-Use the internet and the many free classified ads on it to advertise your business. A search using "free classifieds" will give you an almost limitless number of places to submit your website and ad.

10.Ezines or electronic magazines are also a good place to advertise your business. Some charge a fee for placing your ad in the best location, some let you advertise for free. Again a web search will allow you find numerous ezines to place you ad in.

11.Place your web address in your e-mail signature.

12.Place a flyer or business card in your out going mail.

13.Word of Mouth-The least expensive form of advertising and maybe the most effective way to advertise your business is word of mouth. Simply tell those you come in contact with that you are in business for yourself. They will tell others and they will tell others and it can go on and on. Sooner or later someone will take a look at what you are doing.

Obviously, there are many more ways to advertise your business for little or no money. The point is you don't have to have the big bucks to successfully advertise you business or product. There are many people who have started and become extremely successful in their business on a shoe string advertising budget. There is hope for the small business owner. All you need is a website or add, a little creativity, a little time, and you too can advertise your way to success without going to the poor house.

READ MORE - 13 Free or Cheap Effective Advertising Methods

Making Money With Adsense

Advertising revenue and Google Adsense go hand-in-hand.

The Internet has regained a lot of credibility since its fall from grace at the end of the 90’s.

This means more businesses are spending more money to get customers via the Internet. And it’s possible for you to cash in on those millions of dollars.

Google has an advertising program, involving four parties:

• Google
• Customers paying for the ads – through the Adwords program
• Visitors clicking on the ads – on search engine results pages and websites
• Website owners running the ads on their websites – through the Adsense program. These are the people making money from ad revenue.

For an example, look no further than the page you are on at the moment. Notice down the right hand side of the page and also in the top left of this article there are groups of ‘Ads by Google’ (if can’t see them its because either you are not in the US or not reading this article on my website).

Google has developed technology that automatically senses what the theme of the page is and then displays ads that are suited to the theme. This way the visitor will see advertisements likely to be of interest.

The Adwords customer (the advertiser trying to sell a product or service etc using these ads) is billed every time a visitor clicks. The amount depends on the cost of the ad, which is basically determined by advertising demand.

Revenue from that billing is split between Google and the owner of the website where the visitor clicked. If the ad costs the advertiser 50 cents per click, Google gets 25 cents and the website owner running the ads gets 25 cents.

If you were to click one of the Adsense ads you see on this page I’d get 50%.

Google Adsense is not the only program you can use to place ads on your site. Companies like Searchfeed offer similar programs but Adsense is where the money is.

There are a few key elements to successfully earning revenue from Google Adsense:

• Create website pages to rank well in the search engines. No visitors =no clicks=no revenue
• Strategically position your Adsense ads to attract the most clicks.
• Target keywords that have a high click price, thereby earning more per click.
• Make sure the words you target have enough searches per month to be worth the effort of creating a webpage.
• Make your site a valuable resource so visitors return.

Some more advanced strategies include:

• Create a valuable newsletter that visitors want to receive. Publish each issue on a webpage with Adsense and notify subscribers by mail with a link to the page (this method also minimizes risk of your email being filtered).
• Target less competitive keywords for your search engine rankings but direct the traffic (legitimately) to pages with more competitive keywords because the Adsense ads will pay more per click.
• When choosing Adsense ad design (you can choose color and format) avoid designs that are obviously ads. The less they look like ads the better.

READ MORE - Making Money With Adsense

80 Percent of All Advertising Is Wasted Due To This Common Mistake

You're flipping through this publication as you wait for your latte, when suddenly you decide to stop and read an ad. What made you stop? I'll bet it was an attention grabbing headline.

It is a scientifically proven fact that 5 times as many people read headlines as read the body copy of an ad. So with the headline, an advertiser has spent about 80% of their advertising dollar. It doesn't take a genius to realize then the headline is the most important part of any ad.

Yet, most small business advertising is wasted for lack of an effective headline or, worse yet, no headline at all. Don't make this same mistake.

The headline is the first thing that your reader or prospect sees when they open your letter, browse a magazine, or flip your postcard. In that moment, (about 3 seconds) your reader decides whether or not to read any farther.

So first and foremost, any advertisement you produce must have a headline and your headline must grab your reader's attention immediately. If you don't grab them by the throat and hold them right away, you never will.

Writing powerful headlines takes some hard work but it can be done if you follow some simple guidelines.

1. Your headline should give the reader a reason to stop and read now instead of later – a carefully chosen word or two can create urgency

2. Your headline should communicate something the reader considers valuable – they need to be able to justify the time spent reader your ad

3. Your headline should scream how you might offer something that is unique or at least interesting

4. Your headline should point to something very specific for the reader – use facts and how to's

Using these points as a guide to create your headlines allows you to create headlines that hook your reader quickly, offers them a benefit they want, and gives them a reason to read on.

Never use boring, conventional or overused statements and never use a headline to trick your reader into looking on.

Attention Getting Power Words for Your Headlines

Look at powerful headlines and you will see that many contain one or more of the following words that sell.

Discover Easy Free New Proven Save Results Introducing

At Last Guarantee Bargain Easy Quick Sale Why How To

Just Arrived Now Announcing

Start of by writing some headlines that clearly communicate your promise, benefit or USP. Then look for ways to make them even more powerful by adding a power word or two and checking if they contain at least 3 of the guidelines provided above.

READ MORE - 80 Percent of All Advertising Is Wasted Due To This Common Mistake

A lunchtime lesson on print advertising

I promise you'll be able to finish this article before you finish the first half of your PBJ. Are you sitting down? Good. Because I have some startling news for you.

Print ads are here to stay. That's right. Those dusty, musty, fusty old relics of the century past are still with us. And despite the ubiquity of commercials on radio and TV; despite the onslaught of banners, pop-ups and all manner of intrusive online ads; newspapers and magazines are, and always will be, a mainstay forum for mainstream advertising.

There's something about the readiness, the handiness, the heft and feel of a magazine or a newspaper that appeals to the nature of human beings. Yes, flat screens that glow with vivid colors are attractive. Especially when they're displaying something we specifically asked to see.

But as we page through a magazine or a newspaper while enjoying our lunch or riding a commuter train, we don't mind at all if a surprising or intelligent or just plain appealing ad – even one in black and white – suddenly grabs our attention. We expect it. We secretly look for it. We even welcome it as a break from all the dull gray type we've been slogging through. Why? Because – let's face it – a really good ad is a delight to behold.

Is this the kind of ad your target audience is seeing? Do your ads stop them and make them smile…think…take in your message and make a mental note to look closer at your product or service? Maybe even go to your website for the kind of information that could lead to a sale?

Think carefully about this. If your ad doesn't stand apart, doesn't attract, appeal or grab; if it doesn't delight in some way, the readers you want to capture and bring into your world will simply turn the page and plow on through the dull stuff . . . until they bump into your competitor's delightfully different ad. And then they'll stop – and, unfortunately for you – pay attention to the message.

So take a close look at your company's ads. Do they stand out from the crowd of other ads? Are they different from your competitor's ads in a powerful and relevant way? And most important, do they convey your core message in an engaging, persuasive and delightful manner?

If so, let them run and run, because they're bound to bring you business.

If not, better change your approach soon. Before the competition eats your lunch.

READ MORE - A lunchtime lesson on print advertising