Copyright © Robbie Fanucchi
http://www.RJFanucchi.com
I was taking a road trip with my wife, cruising down highway 101 towards Monterey, California, when the sight of glowing yellow arches reminded me of my past days as a salesman in Hawaii.
My former sales manager was fond of quoting McDonald’s founder, Ray Kroc, who was renowned for claiming that he was in the real estate business, not the hamburger joint business.
What did Ray Kroc mean by this? For him, success was about strategically placing his hamburger joints. He wisely realized that if he monopolized as many highway exits across America as possible, people would flock in droves. He hit on something big. As proof, next time you’re on a road trip, count how many towering yellow arches you pass.
For Ray Kroc, success went hand in hand with visibility and location. This is certainly true with Internet Marketing. Even more so than a physical business, your Internet business lives or dies due to it’s visibility. Unlike physical establishments, people just don’t stumble accidentally across your website.
The only way to get people to your website is to make it visible. One such way is through the tried and proven method of advertising. So lets spend some time discussing various successful methods for promoting online business.
Advertising in e-zines is truly effective. These Internet magazines cover almost any topic you can think of. You can visit an online directory of e-zines and find one that deals with your particular subject. E-zine ads are effective because you are targeting an audience that is already interested in your topic. Therefore, every reader is a potential customer. Placing an ad in the right e-zine can definitely give visibility to your website.
Opt-in email is another great form of advertising your Internet business. With opt-in email you would create your own sales copy, which you in turn submit to a company that will then email it to their mailing list. Carefully seek out opt-in services with a reliable reputation. Too many of these services are nothing more than disguised SPAM. However, if you find a good opt-in company and you create an effective sales copy, you will definitely give your online business much needed visibility.
Pay-per-click programs are another good form of advertising. Google Adwords is a perfect example of this. It works by creating an ad for your Internet business. You even get to set your own bidding price. You only pay once someone clicks on your link and is taken to your site. A word of caution with this form of advertising. You need to monitor it daily. It is too easy to create an ad and forget about it. Before you know it, you’ve burned up your grocery money for the month. A good idea is to set a monthly budget; a reasonable amount you can afford. Once your bill reaches that limit, pause your campaign until the next month. Other than that, pay-per-clicks are considered to be one of the most effective ways to gain increased visibility for your business.
One trendy form of advertising is through blogs. Blogs are all the rage these days. Everybody has one. You can create a blog that pertains to your business. Blogs give you the opportunity to make your business more personable by revealing your personal experience in your field of expertise.
One way to turn your blog into a form of advertising is by placing a link to your website at the end of each post. This will definitely increase your business visibility.
Remember, McDonalds has made a fortune out of using the visibility tactic. You can make your online business just as visible as those seductive glowing yellow arches by employing some of the advertising techniques mentioned above. Remember, there is no such thing as too much visibility when it comes to your business. So budget what you can for advertising and go for it.
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