Friday, December 03, 2004
Internet Marketing and Advertising Strategy - Overview
Internet Marketing and Advertising Strategy - Overview
I have developed my strategy through necessity rather then design. It is based around free advertising methods by and large, because, at the time,I could not afford to do otherwise.
That being said, they work.
I make an income from my marketing efforts, through perseverance, perseverance and... yes you guessed it, more perseverance!
Because this strategy is mostly free, there is a cost in time; your time, to set it all up. Yes it is a pain, but it will work if you keep at it. What you must try and avoid is the desire to change everything because you don't get instant success.
This is the single most common reason for small internet business failure, in my opinion.
Tip. Depending on where you live, try and get your ads hitting the streets to coincide with late afternoon or early evening in the USA. Those in the UK (GMT) for example, might find an increase in hits and sales if they did this.
Safelists
The most important aspect of the whole thing is using Safelists. Safelists regularly get me sales. The problem is setting them up, because it is time consuming. However, if your funds are limited, it is well worth the trouble. Please review the section on Safelists elsewhere in this support system.
Surf For Credits
I think that Surf for Credit programs are much maligned. It can seem rather pointless surfing for credits, but with the right tools, it can be very rewarding, and can bring lots of exposure to your web sites. You need to get a lot of clicks to make sales or make signups, and your web sites need to be outstanding in order for them to grab the attention of other surfers in the few seconds that they are up on screen. But you will get success if you persevere.
I also study other systems to see what I can bring to my own advertising efforts, and I have noticed that a lot of very large marketing companies employ this tactic of surfing for credits as part of their own strategies, and if the big boys do it then, who is a minnow like me to argue! :o)
This form of advertising is completely free, and it gives you huge amounts of exposure. However, there is a big argument as to their effectiveness. I look at it like this. When I am using the Crazy Browser for example, I glance at every web site, probably for no more than two seconds. It's not a lot of time, but I have picked up some good stuff from surfing in this way (that's how I came across Commission Spyder, which is one of my best money spinners). So, it has worked for me!
What I would say is that it can pay to set up your own mini site to promote a product, especially if the product that you are promoting is a bit old and tired. It is the impact of the web site in that two second window that you have, which will get you sales or not.
What are Surf for Credit programs?
Email Marketing
I also use FFA pages and other leads sources. Click here to find out more.
The third part of my marketing strategy revolves around legitimate emailing. I use FFA lists for this purpose. FFA stands for 'Free For All', and the basic thinking behind it is that when you post an ad on a FFA site, you agree to receive an ad in return.
However, my strategy does not involve posting to FFA sites.
It involves hosting your own sites, so that people post to YOUR site, and then you reverse market, by sending them your ad.
It is very effective.
However, there is a drawback, which I have found to my cost.
For eighteen months or so, I used this technique very effectively.
Unfortunately, some people do not understand the nature of the agreement (or are maybe just plain malevolent, I don't know) and cried SPAM when they received an ad. This caused me untold harm and problems, and quite frankly, it knocked this form of advertising on the head for a few months, until I could find a safe way of doing it.
And now I have!
Please download the ebook which this link will take you to.
The book is free to download. It contains a genuine gem of information regarding FFA advertising, that you ignore at your peril. Basically it explains how you can send an email to ANYONE safely.
I highly recommend that you read this book.
From there I recommend that you look at my FFA section for recommended resources for leads.
