Blog your way to profits
why your business needs blog marketing
Everybody has picked up the trend of blogging. And blogging has picked up the money-making scheme.
If you have a blog and have not used that to make money online, then you are being left behind by the others who are already making some good profits from blogs.
How do they do that?
Selling advertising though blogs.
This is the most common ways of making blogs produce income. The process is simple. If your blog is one of those more famous and well-read, you can it to sell ad space all by yourself. But for those not so famous blogs, there are services that can be used to set up an ad program. The widely used one is Adsense.
Adsense lets you choose some ads that are somewhat related to what your site is about. You are then paid based on the number of the readers that clicked on the ads to check them out. Why people opt for Adsense is because they can get it for free.
Blogs as an affiliate program.
This is another one of those click-through opportunities. This allows blogs to serve as a medium between the affiliate sites and the readers. When a visitor became interested on something that you have promoted on your blogs, they can click on the link that you have provided that will lead directly to the affiliate site.
Once the customer has decided to buy or avail of what is offered, you will get a commission based on the sale made.
Soliciting though blogs.
As opposed to the first two mentioned, you are not offering something to your readers. On the contrary, you are counting on their kindness and seeking out their help. You can ask for contributions, whether money or goods, for a certain cause.
If your readers are taken or is moved by what you have written, there is a likely possibility that they will be more than willing to help you.
Blogging to market.
Blogs are a way of generating new businesses and getting potential customers. If you already have a product or service being offered, you can try and offer more and new things though blogs.
They can be your own or in reference to other site or business that you want to offer your readers.
With the publicity that blogs are getting nowadays, there is no doubt that it has become one of the most effective income generating tool online today.
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:55 pm. Add a comment
Advertising on Craigslist
Advertising on Craigslist is worthwhile for just about any business offering products or services. Whether these products are offered through ecommerce websites or physical stores, the business owners can see financial gains through advertising on Craigslist. Firstly unlike other advertising opportunities there is very little risk involved in posting on Craigslist. With the exception of job postings and housing postings in specific markets, advertising is free on Craigslist. Users are asked to agree to the terms of service of the community and are expected to follow specific guidelines when posting advertisements but there are no financial obligations to those placing advertisements on Craigslist. This means those who post advertisements do not have to be concerned with whether or not the advertisement they place will meet their expectations in terms of sales generated.
Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist
Another reason why posting advertisements for products or services on Craigslist is so worthwhile is the likelihood of reaching a large audience of potential customers. A review of the Craigslist fact sheet reveals pertinent information regarding the amount of traffic the website receives. According to this information Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views each month with ten million people using Craigslist each month. From these statistics it is clear that advertisements placed on Craiglist are likely to receive at least some attention from potential clients.
With so many visitors using Craigslist each month the advertising possibilities are limitless, however, there are no guarantee any of these visitors will be interested in your products or services. Like any marketing campaign, your advertisements on Craigslist must be intriguing, informative and in a location where you will reach your target audience.
Finding Your Target Audience on Craigslist
We’ve already discussed the number of visitors using Craigslist each month but the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to target your advertising in a way aimed at reaching your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It is much more worthwhile to reach a small audience of those with a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience of those who are not interested. Those who have an interest in your products or services are your target audience.
The key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist is placing your advertisement in the most appropriate locations. Craigslist has a specific section for businesses to advertise their services. This section is broken down into a number of categories. Those who are in the business of computer repair would be wise to place their advertisement in the computer section as opposed to the automotive section because individuals looking for computer help will naturally migrate to the computer section. It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section.
If there is not a specific section for the products or services offered by your business there are a couple of options. Business owners can place an advertisement in the section for small business advertisements where it might be found by those doing a search in this section. Alternately the business owner can contact Craigslist to suggest the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if they believe this category warrants an addition.
The Difference between Advertising and Spamming
Advertising on Craigslist is one thing but spamming is quite another. Placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable; however, placing the same advertisement in nearly every section of Craigslist websites for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all potential customers who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations are likely to recognize the spamming techniques and be less inclined to patronize this business. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming they may delete all of the postings and could potentially ban advertisements from the individual in the future.
Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago at 10:08 pm. Add a comment
Basic Marketing Tips
Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics – that’s true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them, you really won’t have to sweat the small stuff.
#1. The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number when they need the services you offer.
Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren’t given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience’s attention.
Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular tip cannot be stressed enough – and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.
You should also know that taking the time really to see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don’t just totally give up when a response is low – persistence is vital.
#2. Measure your Return on Investment (ROI) in terms of actual money not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the money that it brings in has more value than the money and time that is spent on the marketing.
Don’t fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding too many of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the quantity of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.
#3. It is much easier to “sell” a prospect once you get them to call or come into your store. In 2-Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details – and get “closed” by that representative.
Your design must be eyed catching and informative, but don’t try to close the sale by explaining all the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.
Marketing can be as simple as 1-2-3 when you know the basics. By no means have they given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 2:33 pm. Add a comment
