By Tom Worsley
If you want to make money online with a work from home business then you are going to need lots of good targeted traffic to your web site and or affiliate links. One way to get good targeted traffic is to pay for it. I know you were hoping to do this business of yours without spending a dime right? Well if that’s what you are thinking you better keep working for someone else and forget about working from home with your own internet business.
I have been paying for traffic ever since I started my online business over 4 years ago and one of the best sources of targeted traffic is through pay per click search engines (PPC) or pay for placement search alternatives like Google adwords or Yahoo Sponsor Listings, formerly Overture.com .
Google adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Listings are the kings of pay per placement search engines. They are also the most expensive but you will get the most targeted traffic from them. If you cannot get a free listing in the top 10 on their main search results under the sponsored listings then you may want to consider pay per placement. Sponsored listings usually appear at the top above regular listings on Yahoo, and down the right side of the page at Google.
If Google and Yahoo are too rich for your liking then try some of the smaller PPC search engines like 7Search, Findwhat and or Kanoodle. I have put together a web page with links to these PPC search engines at the following web page.
CLICK HERE-----> http://bigmoolla.com/ppc.html
The key to good PPC advertising is to find cheap key words under .50 cents per click that will land you in the top 5 positions. There is no need to be number 1. A number 5 placement may cost you a few cents per click less and you will likely get the same traffic or in some cases even more than a number 1 spot. Try to pick as many key words as you can that are directly related to your product or service.
If you are advertising a work from home internet business try breaking down what I just typed. Work from home, home internet business, internet business, work from home business, home business. YOU GET THE PICTURE.
If you want to advertise a product like multivitamins try keywords like vitamins, supplements, vitamin supplements, health supplements, diet supplements, multivitamins. YOU GET THE PICTURE.
If you don’t have your own web site and only an affiliate link you may have to get a redirect URL from someone like http://tinyurl.com . Most of the PPC engines will not allow you to use an affiliate link. But you can get a tinyurl for free and have it re-direct to your affiliate link. If your affiliate program allows you to key code for testing purposes like SFI does then you can get several tinyurls and direct them to a different key code. That way you can actually test your PPC ad campaign to see which key words are working the best for you. This is important if you want to reduce your advertising dollars without sacrificing traffic to your web site. (We all want to do this right?)
PPC is only one advertising method that you should be taking advantage of, but it’s an important one so give it a try if you have not already. It may just change the way you do business and effect how much money you make with your work from home internet business.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Friday, 16 July 2010
Advertising On A Budget -- Using Print To Drive Traffic Online
By Michele Pariza Wacek
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.com.
PWC 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 PWC 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. PWC 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, PWC enjoys well over 40,000 hits a month and has increased its advertising base by over 600%. On top of that, PWC 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 PWC's 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 PWC, 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 PWC is a Web site, there's an assumption we should be using only online methods to advertise. Online methods are good, and PWC 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 PWC 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.
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.com.
PWC 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 PWC 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. PWC 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, PWC enjoys well over 40,000 hits a month and has increased its advertising base by over 600%. On top of that, PWC 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 PWC's 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 PWC, 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 PWC is a Web site, there's an assumption we should be using only online methods to advertise. Online methods are good, and PWC 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 PWC 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.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
16th Annual Bioneers Conference Marin Center, San Rafael
By Dawn Van Zant
The Nation’s Premier Solutions-Centered Summit
Addressing Innovative Strategies for Restoring the Earth and People
Before Anyone Knew Katrina Would Strike, Bioneers Programmed:
Bill McKibben on Global Warming and the Transition to Renewable Energy
Diane Wilson on Ending Chemical Contamination of the Gulf Coast
Dr. Bernice Reagon on Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement for Environmental Justice
It was only a matter of when, not if, our country would have to face these profound crises of both environmental degradation and social injustice. Since 1990, the Bioneers conference has been at the forefront of highlighting a plethora of practical and visionary solutions. See why well over 3,000 annually attend the Bioneers conference, and why this year another 6,000 more people will be attending local live Beaming Bioneers satellite conferences across the US and Canada.
The Bioneers Conference 2005 presents a dazzling array of leading figures across all fields and disciplines including Andy Lipkis (nationally recognized urban restoration in Los Angeles), Michael Ableman (ecological and community-based farming), Janine Benyus (biomimicry for applying nature’s operating instructions to technology), Van Jones (social justice and green jobs), and Jodie Evans (co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace). Over 150 visionary speakers, 15 plenary sessions, 50 panels and ample networking. Learn more about the conference and how to attend at www.bioneers.org
Among the other highlights at Bioneers 2005:
Bold Precaution: The Precautionary Principle Gains Traction
The wellspring of a new political agenda, the Precautionary Principle grows from renewed respect for the natural world, the wealth we all hold, and our collective responsibilities. Carolyn Raffensperger, a leader in seeding the Precautionary Principle in the U.S., describes remarkable successes in applying this “better safe than sorry” approach to governments, companies, and communities.
Fast Food, Slow Food: From Addiction to Health
Is the contemporary American diet leading to literal addiction, permanent neurochemical changes in individuals and a major public health crisis? What alternatives are emerging? With Margaret Adamek, founder and director of the Sugar Project, and Esther Cook, resident chef at Berkley’s Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School.
The Nation’s Premier Solutions-Centered Summit
Addressing Innovative Strategies for Restoring the Earth and People
Before Anyone Knew Katrina Would Strike, Bioneers Programmed:
Bill McKibben on Global Warming and the Transition to Renewable Energy
Diane Wilson on Ending Chemical Contamination of the Gulf Coast
Dr. Bernice Reagon on Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement for Environmental Justice
It was only a matter of when, not if, our country would have to face these profound crises of both environmental degradation and social injustice. Since 1990, the Bioneers conference has been at the forefront of highlighting a plethora of practical and visionary solutions. See why well over 3,000 annually attend the Bioneers conference, and why this year another 6,000 more people will be attending local live Beaming Bioneers satellite conferences across the US and Canada.
The Bioneers Conference 2005 presents a dazzling array of leading figures across all fields and disciplines including Andy Lipkis (nationally recognized urban restoration in Los Angeles), Michael Ableman (ecological and community-based farming), Janine Benyus (biomimicry for applying nature’s operating instructions to technology), Van Jones (social justice and green jobs), and Jodie Evans (co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace). Over 150 visionary speakers, 15 plenary sessions, 50 panels and ample networking. Learn more about the conference and how to attend at www.bioneers.org
Among the other highlights at Bioneers 2005:
Bold Precaution: The Precautionary Principle Gains Traction
The wellspring of a new political agenda, the Precautionary Principle grows from renewed respect for the natural world, the wealth we all hold, and our collective responsibilities. Carolyn Raffensperger, a leader in seeding the Precautionary Principle in the U.S., describes remarkable successes in applying this “better safe than sorry” approach to governments, companies, and communities.
Fast Food, Slow Food: From Addiction to Health
Is the contemporary American diet leading to literal addiction, permanent neurochemical changes in individuals and a major public health crisis? What alternatives are emerging? With Margaret Adamek, founder and director of the Sugar Project, and Esther Cook, resident chef at Berkley’s Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School.
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