How To Advertise Your Online Business
Copyright © Andrew Jones
http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com

Traffic to your web site is absolutely essential to the short-term and long-term success of your internet home business. The challenge is to get the greatest amount of traffic at the cheapest price possible. The aim is to get a good return on your investment (ROI), and at the end of the day, make a profit. So let’s look at some of the most common ways to advertise your online business, both paid and free methods.

Email is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise, as you can really target the market that you’re after. You simply place your ad with an ezine (newsletter) owner (make sure it’s relevant to your market) and your ad goes before everyone on that owner’s list. You can either go with a classified type ad (very cheap but less effective) or with a solo ad (more expensive but better results). The solo ad is emailed to the list all by itself, so this has more chance of being seen and acted on. Just allow for the fact that some of your email advertising won’t work. You need to experiment with different sales copy and different ezines to find the best combination, so a reasonable budget is required for this to get the best results.

Adwords are the ads that come up beside the search results depending on the keywords that are entered. You’re only charged for your ad each time someone clicks on it. This can cost a few cents each time up to a much higher price, depending on the bidding price for the particular keywords. Obviously this can really target your market, but it can be tricky for the inexperienced. If you get a lot of clicks on your ad, at a high price per click, and your sales page does not convert well, than you could be up for a lot of money. I’d suggest getting Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords and studying that before you start… could save you a lot of time and money.

Traffic exchanges such as Traffic Swarm, Instant Buzz and TS25 are free methods (although you can upgrade to a pro membership and gain more benefits) and are quite effective considering that they are free. Admittedly, most people that click on your ad are doing so to build up their advertising credits but if your sales page is effective, you will pull in a few sales from this.

Articles are the absolute best method of promoting your online business. You write good informative content that helps your readers, submit these to as many article directories as possible, and these will tend to spread all over the internet in no time at all. Have the link to your web site at the bottom in the author’s resource box, and not only will potential leads be clicking on this, but all these links are pointing back to your site, slowly increasing your back links and page rank. Definitely have a go at writing your own articles, as this has your own “voice”, is free, and shows YOU as the expert. But if you can’t write your own then the other option is to hire an article writing service to write them just for you (this cost will add up though).

Blogging is second to articles in my opinion. Set up your own blog (blogspot is a good, free way to get started), post your own articles to it, or add other relevant content to it. If you post to it regularly, you will eventually have quite a readership that loyally keep coming back to your blog to pick up the latest news, tips and information. Have your links on the blog so that leads will be pointed towards your web sites, and this will also give you one way links to your site to increase your back links and ranking with the search engines.

Also, submitting your URL to the Link Directories and reciprocal linking with other webmasters will increase your back links. This all helps to increase your page rank, and this in turn will increase your traffic for free.

Leads are obviously very important, but if you only have one shot at them, you will waste a lot of your advertising dollars. Try to point all your leads to a lead capture page first to get their details. That way you can follow up with them and develop a relationship. Research shows that people need exposure to your product up to 7 times before the buying decision is finally made. If you don’t have their details, you can’t follow up and you will lose sales.

Good sales copy in your ads and sales pages is vital, so invest time and money learning how to do this properly (lots of good books and courses available on this). Track your ads, keep testing and tweaking and measure the results. Ads that work – invest more money into them. Ads that don’t work – dump them.

And finally, keep taking action on a consistent basis. Allow time for your advertising to take effect and build momentum. Advertising is an INVESTMENT in your online business, NOT an expense, if done properly.


About the Author:
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Andrew Jones has been a business owner for the
past 10 years, and is now an Internet Marketer and
Plug-In Profit Site owner. To find the best home
based business ideas and opportunities so you can
work at home visit:
http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com
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How To Start Out In An Online Business
Copyright © Andrew Jones
http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com

Probably the hardest time for the new online business entrepreneur is the crucial starting out period. One minute you feel excited, ready to take on the internet world, and make millions of dollars in the process… and next minute you’re utterly disappointed at the results (or lack of) as reality starts to hit home. It’s really confusing in the beginning with all the information and sales hype being thrown at you and it’s very easy to lose motivation and want to give up.

My story is no doubt the same or very similar to most other “newbies”. I was broke, and desperate for extra income, security and a better way of life. I started checking out the internet and looking at different work at home businesses for quite a few months. Finally, I decided to dive in and purchase an opportunity/program/system that promised the world, but it gave very little support and sent me further into debt.

Disappointed, I found another opportunity that seemed genuine and the answer to my prayers. But that was an even bigger flop than the first product. I was starting to believe that there was no hope, until I “stumbled” across the third system. Somehow, I just knew that this one was different. Great products with multiple-income streams, a real person, a real phone number, most of the set-up stages done for you, the best training and support system around, and they even “told it like it is”. That is, that the business requires persistence, hard work and time to be successful. At last, honesty.

First step for you is to decide and formulate some goals for your internet home business. Do you want to build this into a part time or full time business? Are you looking for an extra income, say $500 to $1,000 per month or do you want to build this to $20,000 per month? No matter what you decide, just realise that this is a real business and not a hobby. It doesn’t matter if it’s a part time, on the side business. You treat it like a real business that’s operated on a smaller scale. Work is required, as is persistence, good systems, and an investment of time and money

Next step is to work out your budget. I’m talking about budgeting your money as well as your time. We live in a busy world with lots of commitments such as work, partners, kids, friends and sports/hobbies. You probably feel like you just don’t have any spare time to run an online business as well. If you really care about your future you will MAKE the time. Sit down with pen and paper and jot down all the usual activities that make up your day. Now write down 2 hours (at least) beside “internet business” and then allocate times next to all the other activities. If you normally watch TV at night, I’m sure you could forgo that. TV is not that important in the “big-picture” scheme of things. Also, if you normally have 9 hours sleep per night, try having just 7 or 8 hours instead. You’d be surprised how easy this is once you get into the routine. And you actually feel more refreshed and energised because you’re getting more done and achieving your goals.

As for money, just work out what you can afford each month and stick to it. But be flexible enough to change it as the need arises, especially as the business grows. Don’t get side-tracked and over spend on the next best thing, as tempting as that is.

Next, you’ll need to set up some simple systems to keep things running smoothly and easily. I suggest you have a filing system for all your paperwork, invoices, receipts, etc. Set up a computer database that lists all the programs, memberships, and subscriptions that you belong to and include username, passwords, whether they have a monthly fee or once-off fee, and any other relevant info. You’ll also need to keep a track of all income and expenses for tax purposes and to monitor the progress of the business. This can be done with a simple spreadsheet or more complex programs like Quicken or MYOB Accounting.

Now it’s time to work out a marketing plan. The sky is the limit with this, so I won’t go into great detail here. What I can say is, learn as much as you can from forums (Warrior Forum is one of the best) which offer loads of great tips and advice for free. Initially focus on free methods of advertising: writing and submitting articles; submitting your URL to search engines and link directories; free classifieds; Traffic Swarm; Instant Buzz; and set-up your own blog and add content regularly.

And finally… focus on what you are doing. Just do one job at a time and do it well. Get your business running smoothly and profitably before you add more products and services or branch out to other niches. Don’t get “sucked-in” by all the hype and promises of quick easy wealth and jump from program to program. Be patient, consistent, and persistent, take massive action and never ever give up. Results will come.

About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com
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