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Yahoo!, E-list, or
free promotion? Here are my results
Do you own a small or home based business? If so, the
internet is the place to be! After all, I'm sure you've picked up a magazine recently and
seen ads like this...
"Get your business in front of millions of
customers!
Advertise online and sell your products to the world!"
Hey, I'll be the first to tell you, it's true. You CAN get
your business in front of millions of customers. You CAN sell to the world and make a
great living. But, and this is a BIG BUT, you have to do it right.
For starters, you must steer clear of the big no-no's such as bulk email. Try it once and
you'll find out why. The myriad of complaints you'll get will have you deleting that $400
bulk email program before you get a chance to learn how lousy it really is. Bulk email
will damage your reputation faster than a fraud indictment in the real world. Bottom line,
don't do it.
Okay, so exactly how does one go about "reaching the world" once connected to
the internet? I thought you'd never ask...
This year alone, I've tried many online marketing methods. Hey, although there are plenty
of experts online who know it all, I consider myself to be in the "still
learning" stage. (That's right, even after 2 years of successful
online marketing. I plan to be in this stage forever -- it keeps me trying hard and my
business growing!)
Today I'd like to share the results of my recent efforts with you. Here's what I'll be
reporting on:
1. My Yahoo! banner ad.
2. A recent "Joke-A-Day" email list sponsorship.
3. My most recent article release.
Note: One important fact in online advertising is your budget. If you're like me, and
don't like to spend a lot of money on advertising, you are in luck! As you will see from
the numbers below, the best results are sometimes earned with the tiniest of budgets. So,
let's get on with it...
1. Yahoo!
In February of this year, I decided to try running a banner ad at a major search engine.
Why not go right to the top, I figured. I called Yahoo! and asked them what it would take
to get a banner ad placed at their site. It was a breeze -- all I needed was a good banner
and a minimum of a thousand bucks.
So, I spent a few hundred dollars having a couple nice rotating banners designed. Then,
after speaking with their sales rep I settled on some keyword banner advertising. The
banners ran for the entire month of February.
I was lucky enough to secure great keywords such as "home business",
"business opportunities" and "online marketing" so when someone typed
these keywords, my banner would pop up.
Cost: $1500
The results? After the campaign was over, I spoke to the sales rep and she said I had
achieved a very good click-thru rate of about 8%. That is, for every thousand times my
banner was displayed, I had about 80 people visit my site. Or, for the roughly 28,000
times my banner popped up, I achieved a total of just under 2300 visitors.
Now, since these stats were new to me, I did not have anything to compare them to. So, I
did what any business owner would do. I added up my sales and the total of new gazette
subscribers (possible future sales) this campaign brought me.
My monthly sales were up by about 7%, or $1200 -- just under the total I spent in the
campaign. I also received about 220 new gazette subscribers who reported finding me
through my Yahoo! banner. Naturally, many of these would result in sales eventually as
well.
My rating on a scale from 1 to 5: (3)
Although I would do it again, I had expected a bit more action. It certainly wasn't a
waste of money, but when I went a step further and figured out that I paid about 65 cents
per visitor I didn't rush right out and renew. My suspicion is that "branding"
would be the best type of campaign for this advertising medium. I'm a little too small for
that.
2. "Joke-A-Day" email list sponsorship.
A month earlier in January, I had tried an email list called "Joke-A-Day" at www.jokeaday.com. Their daily email goes out to about
100,000 recipients, all of who have asked to be on their list. (no spam!)
Cost: I placed the following advertisement for around $100...
-----
EVER DREAM OF OWNING YOUR OWN HOME BUSINESS?
JDD Publishing has taught thousands how to do it online - they can teach you! Recently in
publications by Inc. and PC Novice - Come see why...
http://www.bizweb2000.com
Can't get to the site? Sign up for their FREE weekly newsletter.
It's full of internet marketing help and business classifieds!
Mailto:Subscribe@JDD-Publishing.com with "Subscribe for free!"
-----
The results?
My sales for the week were up by about $300 -- well over the total I spent for the ad. I
also received just under 100 new gazette subscribers who reported finding me through my
jokeaday ad.
My rating on a scale from 1 to 5: (4)
I'll have to admit, going in I was a bit skeptical. After all, was this audience targeted
enough? The answer was YES! I have since used their advertising twice and plan to continue
advertising with them on a regular basis.
3. My most recent article release.
On March 20th I released an article to my favorite ezine publishers. The article first ran
as a "tip of the week" segment right here in my gazette. The article was called
"Delete or Investigate." It was about how to get your email messages read
instead of trashed.
Cost: Free
The results from this particular article release?
Many publishers ran the article in their ezine and a few are printing it in their real
world magazine. My website traffic for the 2 weeks following the release was up by 20% and
my sales along with it. I also received over 250 new gazette subscribers each of these two
weeks - an increase
of about 35%. Many of these new subscribers will eventually become customers!
My rating on a scale from 1 to 5: (5)
This is my favorite online marketing method. Hey, I'm cheap, remember?
As the article runs in more ezines and magazines this year, more prospects will find my
website and ezine. Therefore, it's hard to measure the exact results, but let's just say
they were cost effective -- after all, I spent ZERO dollars!
Every month I now release one article that I feel would fit in well with other
publications. Anyone can use this online marketing method. It's simple, you write a short
article about your area of expertise and send it to ezine owners who publish related
material. As a publisher myself, I'm always happy to receive submissions from authors.
I hope my results have enlightened you. I know first-hand that anyone can make a living
online, even without a big budget. All it takes is effective marketing strategies and the
willingness to try different things.
And remember, the best things in life are sometimes free -- even in the high-tech world of
cybermarketing!
* Article by Jim Daniels of
JDD Publishing. Jim's site has helped 1000's of regular folks profit online. Check out
their FREE "how-to" cybermarketing assistance, free software, business
opportunities, manuals, web services and more! Real money is being made on the net --
visit http://bizweb2000.com and get in on it... Can't
get to the web? Subscribe to their FREE, weekly BizWeb E-Gazette: mailto:subscribe4free@JDD-Publishing.com
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