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And why not?
TV pulls down billions, your local daily newspaper probably gobbles up 80% of the ad money spent in your town, and your favorite top five rated radio station practically prints money. Media earns. So why can't your website get in on the media money frenzy, too?
While Internet advertising has been a bit slow to get started (banner ad rates aren't any higher than they were in 1996), online advertising is starting to show signs of real promise.
Optimistic predictions peg online ad sales topping $23.5 billion by 2005. That is even MORE than network TV earns. To make matters even more exciting for the small business owner, there don't seem to be many mammoth corporate sites running away with all the audience. Even Yahoo, the king of web traffic, is having problems keeping Wall Street happy.
What To Expect.
Most Web Sites ads are in the form of banners. Banner rates are based on how many visitors your site gets. Just like advertising on TV or print, rates are CPM (cost per thousand visitors). The CPM rate for banners has been at $35 for years.
I would be sloppy if I didn't also mention that a great many sites discount their rates if you ask. In reality, the average CPM rate (when you ask) is well below $35. This sort of thing isn't at all unusual in the media world. I once worked for a radio station that had a published rate of $75 per commercial. Most clients got their spots for just $30. One major supermarket who had a knack for negotiation was getting the same commercials for just $12.
One way to tell if a site isn't getting any advertisers is to note how many of their banners advertise their own site. Either they aren't getting anyone to buy their banner space or the rates are so low it is more profitable to advertise the company's own products.
When you publish your ad rates, try to keep them high. It's much easier to negotiate a lower rate than to raise low rates later on. Most media profits come from higher rates. When your unique visitor count goes up, raise your rates. When an important writer regularly sends you content, raise your rates.
Here's Who Can Place Ads On Your Site.
Fortunately, there are some very large and growing ad networks that bring thousands of everyday Web Sites together. These well organized packages of sites are very attractive to advertisers. Even for big companies, they are the way to go if you want to do an ad campaign on the Net without spending a month going from site to site setting up the deal.
Make your first stop at TheAdStop.com. They include how-to advice and a host of reviewed ad networks that can get you started.
eAds.com pays from a nickle to 20 cents per click and won't accept sites get less than 100,000 impressions per month (an impression is when a visitor sees a banner).
A site that is highly focused on a specific topic of interest to a certain valuable audience will produce better results for banners. eAds will negotiate a special price for sites with banners getting more than 500 clicks per month.
BurstMedia.com has taken the specialized site concept to a lofty level. They believe highly specialized site content provides better results for advertisers. On a recent visit, Burst was featuring LongHairLovers.com, a site for women with long hair.
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Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales Consultant.
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In case you don't already know, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. And it is a vital part of any online marketers quest for success.
It means preparing your website with the 'right ingredients' for the search engines to 'like' it. If they 'like' your site you can expect to get hundreds if not thousands of free visitors from them.
In fact some research has found that at least 65% of traffic to websites comes from search engines. This is just a general figure and of course varies depending on the other marketing methods you employ, however this figure does give you an indication of how important SEO is to any online business.
OK now we'll go through the different factors which affect your sites ranking. First things first!
Choosing the right keywords Keyphrases
With most of the big 'useful' engines now operating express submission services you will want to spend your dollars wisely. Do You want:
- Highly targeted visitors?
- Very good visitor to sale ratios?
- Lots of profits?
If you answered yes to those questions, then forget about choosing the rights keywords, realize the benefit of keyphrases. This approach is likely to generate much higher click through of highly qualified visitors.
Let me explain this to you - How many people do you think search for the word music? ''A lot'' - How many results come up for music ''A lot''.
What do you think your chances of appearing near the top are, well I'll answer that one for you. SLIM TO VERY SLIM. Not to worry though because visitors who click-through to a site after searching for music are not highly targeted, you don't know if they're searching for:
- music tickets
- music lessons
- music CDs
- music related equipment
- music software
- music news
- etc., etc., etc.
It's so vague that your time and effort would be better spent on other methods.
However if a search engine visitor types in 'Special Offer Music CDs' and you have targeted that keyphrase in prominent places where search engines look on your website, you have a much better chance of appearing near the top of the pile. Also if in fact the visitor clicks through on your listing, you are much more likely to make a sale, because you have exactly what the searcher was looking to buy.
RECAP
The more complex your keywords are the more highly qualified visitors you are going to get from the search engines.
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Let us take a look in the mirror. Shall we?
Lesson One:
Take 45 minutes each day to think.
Your mind is your pathway to success. Take time out of every day to think about business concepts, cutting costs, marketing, and anything else relevant to your personal business. This should be done in an atmosphere away from the TV, radio, or any other distracting noises. The 45 minutes of thinking is meant to be done alone for a continuous period. Avoid a pencil and paper, just let your creativity flow.
Lesson Two:
Create a Wisdom Journal.
Yeah OK, so wisdom journal is not the greatest name in the world, but you get the point. You can name your journal 1967 Shelby GT500 if you would like. The point is to create something that you can use to write down all of your thoughts. If you open up my journal, you will find discourses on religion, marketing techniques, drawings of mythological characters (I am not kidding), comic strips, and much more. Make an attempt to put your train of thought onto paper, you will be surprised with what you write down and you will be even more surprised at the doors it opens for ideas.
Lesson Three:
Separate your work area.
Have you ever spilt a drink or some kind of food on your keyboard/mouse? You should never have any type of food or drink near your work area. Not just because of the damage that can be done to important documents, but because of the simple fact that you need to separate your work area from your leisure area. Never have a TV, radio, or magazine near your work area. If you look into my office, you will find a bookcase, a desk with desk supplies on it, and a computer. I work in simplicity. The more distractions there are, the less work you will get done. Stop making excuses and get that TV out of your "office", NOW!
Lesson Four:
Always wear a suite and tie when you work.
Call me old fashioned, but I firmly believe that in any business atmosphere, in any location, one should always properly dress for the occasion. I proudly admit that I have dressed up to go to work in my basement at home. It sounds ridiculous I agree, but give it a try. I dare you…
Lesson Five:
All work and no play means disaster.
About a year ago I took a two-week vacation to Clearwater Beach, Florida. I left a software package midway through development, and I was coming back to two corporate clients waiting to place their orders. I returned home with innovative ideas for our software package, and I had interesting concepts to run by my new clients. A book, a chair, and a cold drink lead to plenty of self-discoveries, many of which still make my business a lot of money today. Your mind needs to be let out, it needs freedom, and it needs variety through experiences. Your mind is what makes you unique. It is what makes you the valuable person that you are. Think of a vacation as simply a treat for your mind. Now there is some food for thought… Get it?
Take these first new steps with diligence, and you will start to see a significant increase in your work efficiency.
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