Sunday, November 30, 2008

Increase Traffic With Proper Online Advertising!

By Don Bethune

It means absolutely nothing if you have the most perfect website if people don't know where to find it. There are literally millions of websites in existence today and to get your share of the traffic you need a marketing strategy.

There are numerous ways to increase your website traffic successfully, however, if you are limited on the amount of time and money that you can spend advertising your start up, there are some very specific steps that you need to take in order to maximize your time and your budget.

When you begin advertising it may be tempting to put your name anywhere you can for free; but remember, quantity is not quality. Instead of having the internet drown in your name, direct it toward your potential customers. Find sites they are likely to visit and start there. While browsers may read your advertisement on non-related sites, they are less likely to click it.

While those Calculus forum readers may be mildly interested in your collectible toy website, they are more likely to be interested in, well, math and not go check out your toys. And any baby stores would definately be a bad idea; babies don't take good care of their toys, they eat them. Advertising to the right crowd will get you more traffic and more sales.

After you get a better idea on what kind of people you want to advertise to, you need to find them. One easy way is going to one of the hundreds of websites that collect lists of people by interest. Using one of those lists will help you save money and narrow your advertising to just potential customers.

Websites that generate lists are fairly easy to find as they have a very specific purpose. A reputable mailing list website will have lists separated by purchase history, major life events, and publicly available data. Most lists carry an address guarantee. If the address is wrong, you can get your money back.

While this form of direct, targeted advertising can prove to be the most effective way to advertise online and increase traffic to your site, certain precautions need to be taken when participating in bulk emailing, due to the spam laws passed several years ago. A removal link at the bottom of each email will suffice to keep the legal requirements intact when you launch your campaign. Many times though, the amount of people requesting removal from your mailing list will be in lesser numbers than viable buyers for your product or services.

Mailing lists have proven themselves to be the quickest marketing technique to effectively increase website traffic. Advertising this way is the top method to get your name and brand to a large, specific group. It is also gives the best return on your investment. - 16035

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