Pay Per Click Search Engines, Are They Effective?

WHAT ARE THE PAY PER CLICK SEARCH ENGINES?

Pay per click search engines, also known as "pay for placement", "pay per position" or "pay for ranking" search engines, are one of the most effective ways of attracting targeted traffic to your website.There are many pay per click search engines to choose from, like:

* www dot overture dot com
* www dot fidwhat dot com
* www dot 7search dot com
* www dot goclick dot com
* www dot xuppa dot com
* www dot kanoodle dot com
* etc.

You can find more than 300 at www dot payperclicksearchengines dot com

PPC ADVANTAGES

Pay per click search engines enable you to choose the place where you want o appear in the search engine listing, the more you bid the higher you will appear in the search rankings for that particular keyword. If you pay more than any one else, your ad will be placed at the top of the list.

You only have to pay when someone clicks on your listing and connects to your site, meaning that you don't need to pay to get listed, you only pay for the clicks or click through.

Pay per click search engines are risk free and a cheaper alternative than paying to get listed in the big directories and search engines, where you have to pay for being listed, with no clicks guaranteed.

On may PPC search engines you can buy traffic for as little as 1 cent or 2 cents per click. (As you can imagine, very popular terms cost much more than others)

HOW DO PPC SEARCH ENGINES WORK?

First, to list your site, you have to choose the keywords that refer to your product

Then you must decide how much are you going to pay (you can pay a different amount for each keyword that you chose)If you want to know how much is people paying for a certain position, you will find that most of the PPC search engines list the bid price in the results pagesBut not everything is paid on PPC search engines, because they combine paid listings with unpaid listings to ensure that the searcher will find sufficient results on any given search. Unpaid listings are usually provided by another search engines such as Google, Inktome and others.

THE PAY PER CLICK PROGRAMS RISKS

Beware of the PPC search engines that offer money or incentives to click. You may get many not genuine clicks, that aren't really interested in your offer.

Sometimes the Pay Per Click Search Engine artificially inflates the click-through count for which they should be paid, so you need to have some way to verify the amount of visitors the click through program is providing you.

Be careful of what you pay for. There are three similar but different programs: "Pay Per Click" (is what we are talking about), "Pay Per Sale" where payment is offered to a referrer if the referrer user makes a purchase at the target site, and "Pay Per Lead", where the payment if offered to the referrer if the referrer user shows some demonstrable interest (like answering a solicitation e-mail

GUIDE TO THE BEST USE OF PPC's

* Keywords with a very broad meaning are much expensive than others, the term "books" will be much expensive than "e-books", and "e-books" will cost you more than "children mystery e-books", so work the low-cost niche terms.Not so popular niche phrases are often available for pennies.Use your imagination and you will come up with hundreds of low cost search phrases that target your potential customers.To look for this particular phrases you can use Overture's "search term suggestion tool" where you simple have to enter a keyword and it will suggest you dozens of similar search terms, and their popularity (the times that they where searched for in the previous months.)

* Do not enter in a "bid war" with your competitors. Set a bid cap based on the value you give to your visitors and stick to it. Try to be among the first 20 bids, be on the 10 first if you can, but there's no need to be the first for every keyword position that you buy.

* Be sure to qualify your click thru encouraging only the right people to click over your offer. Hundreds of qualified people is better than thousand of random people. Encouraging clicks with misleading offers will only make spend lots of money in people that will get out of your site as soon as they see its content.

* Do not dump all the clickers on your home page. Create many dedicated landing pages and direct people to a web page that shows exactly what they are looking for. Try to capture their attention immediately with an offer that talks about the advertised offer.

* Test your results. You should test your adverts title, your adverts description and your landing page content. And the way of testing them is changing only one of them at a time, then you will be able to identify the cause of your improvements.

* Try with different PPC search engines. Overture is the biggest, but for some terms it might be much expensier than others. And some PPC search engines that are very cheap might not give you enough click thrus

* Do not think that all your keywords are equally good. Some will prove to be far more effective than others in attracting the right targeted traffic that you need.The PPC search engines will provide you with statistics for the click through of every keyword that you bet.

If you would like to read a more detailed explanation about how much you should bid to maximize your bidding results, and how should you bid to bid for success, you can read my e-book "How to sell on the Web" that you can find at my web site.

And if you would like to completely automate the statistic control of your bidding, the best thing you can use is the "Site Build It" program, you can download the FREE and complete "Site Build It" action guide from here: newsletter dot easy-home-business dot com/sbi-ag.exe

Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

About the Author:
Dr. Roberto Bonomi is a successful e-book writer that shares his home business experience at: http://www.easy-home-business.com And you can post free your own articles, or find free articles for your web site or ezine at http://articles.drbonomi.com.
This article was posted on November 22, 2006
Article Source: articlecity

What You Should Know About Postcards

Here are some of the salient facts about postcard printing and mailing:

1. Repeat postcard mailing is not throwing cash. One big shot is not enough. It needs continuous boost, continuous mailings. The reason is – one big launch cannot make your business neither can it change it.

2. The best price may not be the best catch. The old maxim – ‘you get what you pay for’ is not always applicable. The cheapest may not be the best choice and the most expensive may not be the most in quality. Ask around and determine which postcard printing and mailing services are the best. After that you will have a good view of what printing company to choose if ever you need quality results.

3. Postcard is better than those enclosed in an envelope. You may be asking why. Well, this is because the customers can readily see your message. Thus, it can work quickly compared to other marketing materials. And even if the customers throw it away after one reading, the truth remains that the message has circulated. Isn’t it a darn fast way to market products and services?

4. Promote singly. There are a lot of companies that overdue the marketing edge of postcards. They tend to sell different products and offer several services in one postcard design. They seem to juggle them all that the customers will eventually lose focus. I you want quality maketing and worthy retention, market one item or service at a time.

5. Effective postcard printing and mailing can be the be-all and end-all marketing tool. Great amount of bucks is spent on marketing and advertising, but mind you, inexpensive postcards which are product of efficient and well-planned strategy can glow a company. And I mean no other marketing media involve.

Wow your potential customers and wow your business as well. The next time you want to earn traffic to your websites or generate more sales, try the enigmatic charm of postcards. you will not regret the moving change…

About the Author:
Maricon Williams
Please visit Postcard Printing Company site at www.rushpostcardprinting.com/post-card-printing-and-mailing.html for comments and inquiries regarding this article.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Is It Really This Easy To Get Free Advertising?

One of the best ways to get free advertising is to simply write articles and give them away. It's a foreign concept to those new to online business, but you'll be impressed with the results.

1. Why Should You Write Articles?
Newsletter and Website owners are desperate for content. As someone who owns a Website and publishes a newsletter, I can vouch for this. Every day, I search article lists, looking for quality information that will help my readers. And, every article I use from these resources gets published with the author's information and a link to their site.

2. Why Give The Articles Away?
How much would you pay to include your ad in a newsletter or popular website? Anywhere from $5 to $80 depending on the newsletter or site. Wouldn't you prefer to have your ad placed for free? It's easy to see the financial reward. Look at the bottom of this article. Right there, plain as day, you can see a resource box with my website included, so you have proof that this method works.

3. How do you write an article?
Take another look at the article that you're reading right now. It's short. It's simple. I'm not a Literary Genius. I'm just being me.

Start by picking something you know about, or a problem that you can solve, and start writing. Personally, I enjoy shorter articles more than longer ones, so don't feel you have to write a novel in order to get noticed. Some of the best articles are "Top 10 ..." or "15 Ways to ..." Just do it!

4. What should you include in the Author Bio?
This can be the hardest part of writing articles. Spend time on your resource box. Make it catchy. Show your personality or expertise. Your Name - this shouldn't be too hard. Something interesting about you or your business - what is unique or special about your service or products? Your website link - Don't forget this one! Special offer - Mention a freebie or special offer if you have one. Don't use this area to *sell*. Just grab interest so they'll come to your site or sign up for your newsletter.

5. Who Wants Your Article?
After you've proof-read your article several times and spell-checked it, submit it to a few places on this list of places to submit your article. (link to http://www.showmomthemoney.com/MarketingTips/Submit-Articles-Here.htm or list of choice)

May you have lots and lots of free advertising!

About the Author:
Nicole Dean is the owner of http://www.showmomthemoney.com - helping moms achieve success working from home. If you want to increase your web traffic, don't miss Nicole's free tutorial at http://www.webtrafficbasics.com
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Advertising your Internet Home Business

Free Advertising:

There are thousands of free advertising resources available online and there are also lots of web sites that offer reciprocal linking, which basically means that you put a link to their site on your Internet home business website and they will put a link to your site on theirs.

Be wary of websites that offer to "blast your ad to millions of sites", as this is basically spamming and a major no-no for advertising an Internet home business, especially if you are an affiliate for some company. It is a sure way to lose your position in any company and you could also lose your hard earned commissions.

Submitting articles to Article Directories is probably one of the most effective ways of getting free advertising for your Internet home business and the benefits are long term free advertising and being recognised as an authority on the subject of your choice. It can be very time consuming submitting articles to individual sites so if you can afford it I would recommend that you purchase some article submission software which will automate a great deal of the work for you, or subscribe to a service that does it for you.

Take advantage of your email programs and set up a signature with your link to be added to all outgoing emails as another free way to advertise your Internet home business. Another great way to use signatures is through forum posting where you add your signature with your links when you set up your profile, and every time you create a post or reply to one you signature will be added to the posts. This is very effective for long term free advertising as your posts will be available for however long the forum stays online.

There are lots of free advertising websites but I have found the vast majority of them to be a waste of time and effort, and a lot of them insist that you accept emails from other members with their offers as a part of your membership. Consequently your inbox can be flooded with unwanted offers and promotions creating more unnecessary work for you having to scan through your mailbox for your personal email.

Surfing for credits is another way to get free advertising but this is also time consuming and basically hard work. I would suggest using Avant Browser for tabbed browsing if you do decide to use this method as you can have multiple windows opened tiled horizontally, simultaneously clocking up quite a lot of credits at five to ten times the speed of Internet Explorer for example.

Start Your Own Blog:

Set up a blog with links to your Internet home business ... blogging has become one of the most popular forms of advertising online and there are free blog resources available that will allow you to set up your blog for free. [blogspot.com is my favourite] The trick to blogging successfully is to add some content on a daily basis to attract search spiders from Google and other search engines, and this is another good way to get listed free with search engines for your Internet home business. To really maximise your blogs potential for free advertising every time you add a post to it make sure to ping it using pingomatic.com. What this does is notify a bunch of blog listing services about your blog and they will send spiders over to your blog to index the content and link it to their networks!

Pay Per Click:

Google Adwords and Yahoo are probably two of the most effective ways of advertising your products and your Internet home business where you set your maximum budget and you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad ... hence the term PPC [Pay Per Click].

Some Internet home businesses have built their fortunes entirely with PPC but you can also lose a lot of money if your campaign and your click through rate are not effective. So again you should do some research by surfing the Internet and taking notes of campaigns that look good to you and use Overtures free keyword research tool from Yahoo to check successful keywords. Overtures will prove to be very effective and save you lots of time with this research.

Yahoo and Google operate completely differently in this area where the objective is to have your campaign displayed nearest to the number one spot as possible. Google rewards you here for how effective your campaign is worded and how relevant the keywords are, where Yahoo gives the top positions to the highest bidder.

Ezines And Newsletters:

Ezines and newsletters are another extremely cost effective and beneficial way to advertise your Internet home business and for as little as a few dollars your campaign will reach an audience of thousands. There are also countless ezines and newsletters that offer free advertising for your Internet home business

Targeted Solo Ads have been my favourite and have always been a good investment for me; usually paying dividends many times over once the email is constructed properly. Most publications ask you to format you ad with between fifty and sixty characters per line to make for an easier read on the eyes, and they all have differing lengths and amounts of words you can use so you should always check their individual rules for submitting ads before composing anything and wasting more precious time. Use bullets and numbering to highlight the benefits of your offer and I usually only use the hyperlink twice throughout the ad. Finish it off with your name and your email address or the hyperlink to your promotion.

Another effective method are classified ads that are displayed in the paid advertising sections of publications and are published repeatedly for however long you choose to pay for. The advantage to this is that readers will see your ads in consecutive issues of the ezines and newsletters and you will gain credibility with them giving you a better chance of them clicking on your links and becoming customers. Classified ads are usually about five or six line ads so you really need to devise a thought provoking campaign to grab readers' attention and get them to click on your links for your Internet home business.

This article may be reprinted as long as the by line and authors details and all links in it are included.

About the Author:
Denis Menton is an Internet marketer who has helped many newcomers to Internet marketing to start an Internet home business.
Authors recommendation for an Internet home business> http://tinyurl.com/pzpqy
Take advantage of his insights and experiences by subscribing to his informative course on Internet and Email Marketing at: 129003-2@inforeply.com
Visit his blog > http://bargainprices4all.blogspot.com
Posted: 03-11-2006
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Methods to promote the website (2006 version)

Many friends have conclude the methods,but with the passage of time,a lot of new approaches.Often these new approaches,in actual operation have more remarkable achievements.Many applications currently web2.0 very fiery,but search engines on web2.0 elements,more friendly. web2.0 elements used to promote their sites.Of course,I want to integrate my predecessors and on the means to promote web2.0 way to do something in conclusion:

1:SEO.In fact,we should consider the establishment of the website at the same time,the proven effective for several things.URL alphabet,simple straightforward headlines division title "and his" meta-appropriate,functional RSS subscription,rich website linked to the website map,labels, the most important thing is not to do evil.After they finish,submit to the search engines.

2.RSS.Use RSS in addition to enriching website connected,users will have a subscription.Then there are several RSS polymerization sites,the search included so fast.For example RSS.bokee.com,feedss.com.Users interested in the content of the site through subscription,we can increase the traffic,and users can also increase the viscosity.

3.Cyber Digest.This method is very good,very effective.Some cyber digest can give your website often bring considerable traffic.

4.Link exchange.It is imperative to promote the website.

5.E-MAIL.It is a good way to promote.Many of the website's success,to a great extent,depend on the promotion of the way.

6.Advertising.That,we need to spend a lot of money,but the recommended method is more economical to promote their advertising,so basically the same expenditure.Website traffic has also been promoted.

7.Rich conten.Users rely on the word-of-mouth marketing legend,it is actually very effective.

Recommendation:Join the key social search engine.Search engine traffic to the website is huge.However,the search engine has its own personality.Want to use search engines to have a great traffic or require a lot of ability.Of course,we can choose a new social search,such as:deyeb.Actual effect!Web2.0 combination of many elements such sites,but he is a social search engine,users will be the message.Promotion of the content, it is easy to achieve the ultimate goal of such websites.Methods (There are many similar websites, you can find themselves):

1.Download Tools Bar
2.Promote their own to the collection and search results through tools bar.
3.Also in the "group" and an "encyclopedia" to promote your information.And the effects of promotional skills.Not blindly made advertisements,were shut out.Rich content carrying the promotion, is the best way.

Actually,the most important thing is to do a rich content,the most important thing is to promote the prudent choice is not connected,Quality is important.Combining a variety of marketing methods,the best result is a search engine marketing and Internet advertising.Other methods have certain effects.However,However,it is desirable to attract target customers,or more of the traffic is useless.

About the Author:
James Yaqins own http://www.kersearch.com,this is a free articles search engine and directory for search engine marketing.See more articles on the search engine marketing,please click http://www.kersearch.com
Added: 24 Oct 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/40247.html

How To Buy Bad Advertising

I have had an e-mail from a gentleman with something on his mind. Since what is irking him may be of general interest, he has been good enough to allow me to dissertate on it right here. As a matter of fact, it's of a touch more than general interest, because his is exactly the kind of account that the freelances among us earn our bread and butter from. So it could be a lesson learned.

The gentleman in question is the advertising manager of a Midlands engineering company with a total promotional budget of around £300,000. Of this, some £200,000 is spent through an ad agency. Up to a couple of years ago, our friend had been using a local agency which, he says, 'gave us excellent service; but their output of ideas and their general standard of creative work left a lot to be desired'.

Accordingly, not without a good deal of heart-searching, he moved the account to a medium-sized, up-and-coming London agency with a strong and growing reputation for creative originality. Has everything turned out fine? Not particularly. He is not getting the same kind of 'we'll be around in five minutes for the brief and have some scribbles ready for you in the morning' service that the previous people gave him. Nor has his present agency exactly set the Thames on fire with its standard of work.

Yet, he says (and here's the nub of it) they are doing some outstanding work for other clients of theirs. Therefore, is his appropriation too small for them to bother about? Has he jumped from provincial frying pan into metropolitan fire? "In all fairness to them," he ends, "ours is a rather difficult account which presents special problems."

Well, let's take the service angle first. If someone lives on your doorstep, and if your business represents a sizeable slice of his turnover, obviously he is going to hop around to you quicker and jump to your wishes more smartly than someone who is 200 miles away and to whom your billing is relative peanuts. This argument is sustainable despite the convenience of instant communication via e-mail and intranet because, generally speaking, clients do like to see on a regular basis the people who are working for them. It's something of an anachronism, but it's true. After all, an e-mail can't take you out to lunch or allow you to win on the squash court - if you see what I mean.

Something else. Practically any given agency will feed to practically any potential client a yard-and-a-half of eyeshine about all its accounts, large or small, getting an equal slice of the service cake. But, let's be sensible, the smaller a client is, the bigger the pinch of salt he needs to take this with. The point is too obvious to be laboured.

And now for his second point. Although 'ours is a difficult account which presents special problems' is a familiar cry, it is seldom as true as it is cracked up to be. Everyone thinks his business is unusual and complicated. In advertising terms it rarely is.

What this guy should really be asking is why the agency concerned is producing second-rate work for him, yet is doing first-rate work for others. Either he is not getting his fair whack of their creative talent, in which case a little determined hell-raising in the right quarter will work wonders. Or he is not allowing the agency to live up to its capabilities. I don't know which it is, of course; but if I had to bet blind, I would put my money on the latter.

So here's the moral to this sorry story. All advertising, when you really come down to basics, is in the hands of people called copywriters and designers. This applies whether the people in question work for agencies or for themselves as freelances. There generally ain't no difference in work standard or commitment. I know for sure that the sad experience of my correspondent is by no means a singular one. It is being repeated daily up and down the country. It therefore follows that what these hundreds, possibly thousands, of ad managers really need is nothing more than a good, local freelance writing/design team which knows a thing or two about client service.

A freelance team, unlike an agency, has minimal overhead; and its fees will, or should, reflect this. And because a freelance team works for itself, it will almost certainly be hungrier and therefore more conscientious than its agency counterparts.

Were I the ad manager of a company, I would choose a freelance team rather than a local agency every time. Likewise, were I the ad manager of a company with a modest budget, I would steer very clear of big-ambition metropolitan agencies. And when it came down to it, I would far prefer to have lunch or play squash with my nubile secretary than with some hairy artist.

END

About the Author:
Pat Quinn is an award-winning UK copywriter who also operates a search engine optimization service. Because it’s all in the writing! Here: www.search-engine-mechanics.co.uk
Article Submitted On: November 14, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

It’s Not Funny Unless it Sells

We've all encountered humor in advertising. TV ads showing smart dogs fetching their owners a beer. Radio spots with aliens purifying our drinking water. Print ads with famous people wearing milk mustaches. Many use dry wit. Others are just plain silly. A few are in bad taste. And some, heaven forbid, aren't even funny.

Humor has its place

Does humor really work in advertising? Is it okay to get a few laughs when talking about your product or service? Does humor sell? There are no absolutes, no easy answers. What we do know is that, as in real life, humor has its place. In advertising, that place must always be clearly defined and understood. For humor used indiscriminately can be a disaster—for your product, your image and your sales. And that's not funny.

Making human contact

The object of humor is to make human contact and break the boredom barrier. This invisible barrier goes up the second your audience is exposed to any advertising. It's the result of tens of thousands of ads that confront us every year. For the human brain, it’s a matter of survival. It simply shuts out what it sees or hears and says, “I know a sales pitch is coming, I’ve been bored to death before, I’m tuning out.” Humor is one way to get through. Used correctly, humor leads your audience to a common ground of understanding. A feeling of "we're all in this together." Just like a speaker who starts with a humorous anecdote to ‘break the ice,’ using a funny situation or character can make your audience more receptive as you segue into your selling message.

Tread lightly and cautiously

By the same token, an off-color joke or inappropriate comment about the audience or any individual member can be an instant turnoff and shoot that barrier right back up—maybe even permanently. The same holds true for humor that leaves a negative impression about your product or service. I remember hearing about one ad for a burial service with the headline: “We’re the last ones to let you down.” Sales didn’t exactly jump through the roof. Most professional comedians know that the best humor is broad and even handed, reflecting universal truths or situations that apply to us all. They set up a character we can all identify with, then put that character through actions we may have experienced. A comedian once gave me an example of what's funny and what isn't. "A guy slipping on a banana peel isn't funny. A guy trying not to slip on a banana peel, now that can be funny.”

It’s not easy being funny, especially in print

Being funny in TV or even radio isn’t easy, but it’s even harder in print. There’s no motion, no special effects, no silly animal tricks or goofy character antics—just a static visual and headline. Print is one medium where creative writers really have to work hard for the right result: humor that sells. For, in just one snapshot, you've got to establish the character, set up the situation, and payoff the punch line. It's like a comic strip with only one frame. It can be done, but it's not easy. And once you've broken the boredom barrier, there's still lots of work to be done.

Once the laughing stops, there’s still that pesky product to sell

Too many advertisers forget that the object of any ad, funny or not, is to get people to try the product being advertised. It's okay for your audience to respond with, ''That’s a funny ad" as long as they also come away with, "That’s a great product!" Humor should accent or showcase your product's identity or key features, not bury them in a laugh. Some really funny ads suffer from "generic identity." Your audience loves the ad, but confuses your product with your competitor's. Not funny.

One final thing to keep in mind about humor: it's not for amateurs. As any professional comedian will tell you, being funny is serious business. So even if you fancy yourself a master joke teller and life of the party, you should still leave creating funny ads to the pros.

About the Author:
Alex Kecskes is a former ad agency Copy Chief who has created effective copy and concepts for a wide range of ad agencies, Fortune 500 companies and startups. As owner of ak creativeworks, Alex provides brand names, as well as strategic copy for brochures, mailers, multimedia, articles, newsletters, PR and web content. He has published articles in a variety of publications about health, business and technology--this includes copy for over 130 different products and services. He has won such national awards as the Andy, Belding and One Show. For more information and samples, please visit: www.akcreativeworks.com
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Large Format Posters The Dawn Of The New Advertising Era

The present advertising realm calls for a more challenging way of promotional scheme that was not effectively achieve with the use of conventional advertising media. Present business scenario demands for better forms of advertising materials and what could be better than a large format poster. A large format poster is a great attention grabber since it is humongous unlike its standard size poster counterparts.

And with the application of full color printing in producing large format posters the result will definitely stand out and would be notice by a great number of potential customers. The vivid colors of prints will entice customers to purchase the products and services endorsed in the large format poster. But such effects can only be achieved if and only if a competent large format poster company is chosen to do the conceptualization as well as actual printing of the large format poster. Remember that the very essence of advertising is to grab attention and to persuade customers to act in accordance to the desired effect of the advertisement. A failure on the part of the large format poster to grab attention as well as encourage sale is an evidence of poor market appeal of the created large format poster and such will entail low sales revenue for the business.

Then there is also the right time for placing up of advertising materials. In business timing is everything that is why there is also a need to study the purchasing behaviors of customers because that will guide businesses unto the type of advertising scheme to implement. A large format printing company that has a reputable track record for excellence and a reliable quick turnaround printing time is also best to hire for any promotional venture. Likewise, such types of printing companies are also known to make use of the latest printing technology and machineries in order for them to render exemplary printing services. The latest in printing technology are employed to heed the ever increasing demands for effective advertising tools.

The use of large format posters varies in terms of the advertising campaign that a business has in mind. Nevertheless, large format posters are commonly employed in events like exhibits, trade shows and many other activities where large format posters are applicable. In addition, proper planning when it comes to the implementation of advertising scheme is crucial for success. A successful advertising scheme is a gate way to numerous opportunities for growing business.

About the Author:
Jinky C. Mesias is a lover of simple things and of nature. She spends most of her time reading and writing poetry. For comments and suggestions about the article kindly visit: http://www.largeformatposters.com/services/Offset-Poster-Printing.html
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Getting the Right Help When Buying Advertising

No matter how big or how small your business may be you will always have to advertise to get customers in the door. A rare business might be able to operate on word of mouth alone, but that is a rarity indeed. For the most part, buying advertising should be something that is part of your monthly budget, and even when things are ticking over rather well you should still advertise. You can never have too much exposure, and you always need to attract new customers.

When you first start buying advertising, you probably have to start small, though there is not rule that says you have to. Many start buying advertising in local newspapers and they may try to snag a few cheap radio spots. The more you have in your budget for advertising, the more spots or ads you can take out. Those who neglect to put aside any money for advertising are the ones who tend to end up going out of business rather quickly, so give it all you can.

If you have more in your budget, you should think about buying advertising on television. There is a huge difference buying advertising on network television and buying time from your local cable network. My cable provider is Time Warner, and I always see ads telling consumers they can buy ad time for a low price through them, and you may find your local cable provider can offer you this as well.

The most important part of buying advertising is knowing where to place it. If you have a garden supply shop, you will want to get spots on related cable channels like HGTV or the like. If you have something that everyone uses, such as a new grocery store, you can advertise almost anywhere you want. If you are buying advertising for a new daycare, you may want to advertise in the daytime hours. Moms thinking about going back to work are more likely to see your ad at this time than in the evening hours, though really, both are not bad ideas.

If you are buying advertising for television, but you don't know what or where you want to put your ads for the best results, you should ask for assistance. Those you buy your advertising from should be able to help you place your ad in the most effective place you can afford with your advertising budget. It's not as hard as you may think, and there is always someone out there who can help you out if you need them.

About the Author:
John Wellington
BusinessResourceJournal provides readers with the latest news on business & other finance related issues.
Posted: 02-12-2006
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

5 Easy Ways To Turn Visitors on Your Site Into Customers

Turn visitors into customers

The sole purpose of a website is to sell. Thus no matter how much traffic your website gets and how impressive its rankings are, it all comes to a naught if your sales numbers are not as positive. In fact, this is the most serious ailment that most e-commerce sites suffer from – the matter of conversions.

Conversions are about turning visitors into buyers. The process is not simple and there are numerous factors affecting the outcome. In fact, the e-commerce scenario is fast changing and you need to be in tune with the latest developments to remain competitive.

An e-commerce website is not just an online catalog. There is more to it than efficient shopping carts and secure payment gateways. Buying decisions, whether online or offline, are regulated by extra-rational factors. So the important question to ask is whether you're set up evokes the desire and the trust in visitors required to complete an online transaction.

If you wish to improve your site's conversion rate, here are a few tips –

1. Distinguish your offerings

If you are the only one selling what you are, you have it easy. But if you are not, then you have to create a distinct identity for your business. Give the visitors a convincing reason to choose you over your competitors. Your marketing campaigns have to emphasis this aspect too.

2. Target your traffic

When it comes to traffic, huger numbers might be impressive but not necessarily effective. While most of the sites hover around a conversion rate of 3 – 4%, a conversion rate of around 8% is not very unusual. In fact, the best of e-commerce websites have a figure as high as 18%. It's up to you to decide which figures are for you.

But if you are looking for high conversion rates, then advertise accordingly. Your advertisement should be very specific to your offering. Broad keywords get you bigger traffic but result in lower conversion rates too.

3. Get the content that converts

The copy on your website has to speak business, it has to tell the visitor clearly and categorically what you are selling and how it's different from other similar products in the market. Emphasis the benefits of buying from you. The visitor is in a hurry and has numerous other options. Show the carrots to him blatantly; let it not be a puzzle for him.

If you are using landing pages, then make sure that they have attractive product descriptions, pictures and very prominent 'call to action' buttons. Compare your product with those of others; there is nothing more convincing than fair comparisons.

4. Gain the prospect's faith

When you walk into a superstore, you already have a fair idea about the store's reputation, customer service and availability of goods. Successful e-commerce websites function on the same principles. You read about them in forums, shopping comparison websites; get impressed with their website's design and content, hassle free navigation, easy loading etc. They will have a toll free number to call on, probably live support, customer testimonials, and real address on the Contact Us page. If you have any news items or press releases have a separate section for them too.

5. Assure & Secure

Online business is not new for many. But most of your visitors might have compunctions about online transaction. These are the fears that your privacy policy should allay. Assure your visitors that the personal information that they share is totally secure, tell them emphatically that the privacy policy statement is important to you.

Another major concern in online transactions is security of payments. Therefore, use a payment gateway that is widely trusted and evokes faith. This is reason why Verisign is one of the most well known signs in the online world.

E-commerce is an elaborate subject and this article does not cover all aspects of it. However, these are the bedrocks without which an e-business can't prosper.

About the Author:
Caren Jacob makes it easy to provide ways which would gradually increase your site conversion rate.To recieve your free part-mini course visit the web design london
Added: 07 Oct 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/38641.html

A Statistical Approach To Increasing Your Website Visitors

By now your website is listed in the search engines and you are looking at bringing more targetted traffic into your website. People who are specifically interested in what you have to offer. By understanding estimated click percentages on search engine pages, and by targetting the correct keywords, which we will also look at, we can set a strategy to target a certain number of visitors per month.

The estimated click percentage is the percentage of people who click on your website when they see it on the search engine listing after they have typed in a specific keyword or keyword phrase. If you type in a keyword, and your website appears on page one , above the fold (what is visible on the screen without scrolling down) then we would expect approximately 3.5% of people to click on your link. This figure is based on my own calculations, Using your statistics and reporting packages, you may get a more accurate figure.

We are going to use Yahoo as our search engine of choice since we can then use their keyword suggestion tool to give us a good idea of number of searches. If you use google then multiply the figures by two and if you want to use MSN then divide the figures by two. As a rough estimate!

Use the Yahoo keyword tool to provide a list of targetted keywords which will bring people into your website. Now, an important point to note here. Be realistic. If you are in the web design business for example, you will probably not be able to get on page one of yahoo for the keyword phrase web design. But, you may be able to get on page one for a more targetted keyword such as using your location e.g. 'web design milton keynes' or 'affordable website design uk'.

So what do we do now? We build our website page, knowing all we know about search engine optimisation and put some unique content on that page relevant to your business and relevant to 'afforable website design uk'. 250 or so words should suffice, may be an image also. Add this into your sitemap using the the keyword phrase as the anchor text and you are ready to go. One of the most common complaints I get about website content is that nobody has time to do it. The reality is that if you want your website to succeed you have to ensure that your website has enough content. Plan it in, and make it a regular exercise. You can also pay other people to do it if you like, but I would put money on it that somewhere in your cupboards you have loads of literature you can use which is copyrighted to you. When you are distributing article content or exchanging links, we now have another keyword to target.

So this is where the statistics come in. That keyword phrase 'affordable website design uk' was searched 432 times in Yahoo UK, in the month I looked. So I can predict that it will take a small while to get that site in the first page using our other search engine optimisation techniques (you should realise by now that getting into the first page takes more than just one article, there are lots of things your webmaster must do, the point is it is a lot easier with lower searched traffic, particularly in Yahoo and MSN). I can also predict that it will bring 15 people a month into my site for that page, based on my calculation of 3.5% of people clicking on our website if it is on the first page of 432 searches.

Now put your strategic planning cap on. In a one years time, if you do on average two articles a week, which should take you no longer than half an hour each, that is 100 articles. And for each article we get approximately 15 people coming into our site specifically targetting our keywords, we have 1500 targetted visitors per month. Yahoo! indeed.

Now what has happened here. We have to be determined, we have to be consistent and we have to understand that as you add each article and maybe also use it for article distribution, your website will be growing full of content related to your products. Keyword rich and search engine and visitor friendly.

This article is aimed at you the website owner, and you need to understand that this is possible and the figures mentioned are estimates, but I would suggest underestimated, if you use this method consistently, alongside your other Internet marketing strategies, your traffic will grow exponentially.

About the Author:
Neil MacLeod runs http://www.web-studio.co.uk, an affordable web design business in Buckinghamshire, providing web site and web marketing services . Neil has been building websites since 1999 and is a founding member of the IT and Web Network.
This article was posted on November 23, 2006
Article Source: articlecity