Internet Marketing Strategies
Part Eight: Purchasing Advertising

By Shelley Lowery

If free advertising ventures aren't providing you with the response that you had hoped for, maybe it's time to consider purchasing some advertising.

If you really want to build your business online, you must be willing to invest a portion of your profits back into your business. There are several advertising opportunities available on the Internet that will enable you to purchase targeted advertising very reasonably.

Ezine Advertising

Ezine Advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising on the Internet. Not only is it effective, but it can also be very inexpensive depending upon the size of the publication.

The key to using ezine advertising effectively is to target your audience and track your response. You must test the effectiveness of both your ad and the publication in which you're advertising. This will enable you to determine which ads are pulling the most response and which publications are providing you with a high response rate.

When selecting an ezine to buy advertising, there are a few factors that should be taken into consideration:

1. Select an ezine that targets your potential customer. In other words, if you were selling health products you wouldn't want to advertise in a "marketing" ezine. You would want to advertise in an ezine that focuses on health.

2. The size of the publication really isn't a factor in determining your ad's success. Smaller publications will many times have a higher response rate, as they may have a higher percentage of subscribers that actually read the publication.

3. Before buying advertising in a publication, make sure you subscribe to a few issues. You want to ensure that the publication contains quality content and see how their ads are displayed. If they're running 15 or 20 ads each issue, your ad's response rate will most likely be low. Try to select a publication that runs only a few ads each issue and places them in the center of the publication.

4. Contact the ezine publisher to make sure that they never run two ads for similar or the same product. This will increase your response rate immensely.

The Directory of Ezines provides a complete online searchable database of ezines that accept advertising. This directory contains all of the information you'll need to know to effectively place your ads. There is a $39.95 per year membership fee. http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=doe

If you're looking for a low cost alternative for purchasing ezine advertising, Ezine Ad Auction will enable you to bid on ad space in targeted ezines.
http://www.ezineadauction.com

Pay-Per Programs

Pay-per programs include, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale.

Pay-per-click programs will enable you to advertise to your target audience and only pay for results -- you pay a set amount for each visitor that is sent to your website. The most popular pay-per-click program is the pay-per-click Search Engines. You can learn more about pay-per-click Search Engines here:
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com

Pay-per-lead programs will enable you to only pay for leads. These leads may be potential customers that fill out a registration form, enter a sweepstakes, or download a free product trial.

Pay-per-sales programs are simply affiliate programs. You pay your affiliates a set commission for each qualifying sale.

You can find a number of Pay-Per programs here:
http://www.clickaffiliate.com

Another form of a pay-per-click program is pay-per-click banner ads. There are several companies online that will place your banner within their network and charge you a set fee for each click through.

Here's a few to get you started:

Value Click
http://www.valueclick.com

I-Clicks
http://www.i-clicks.net

PennyWeb
http://home.pennyweb.com

Opt-In Email Marketing

Another powerful advertising method is opt-in email marketing. There are many Internet companies that will allow you to purchase targeted lists of individuals who have chosen to receive commercial email messages. Although this form of advertising can produce a good response, it can be rather expensive. Make sure you have fully tested your sales copy and have a good response rate prior to purchasing this type of advertising. In addition, make sure you only deal with a reputable company, as there is a very thin line between "opt-in" and "spam." Some of these companies may use unethical means of obtaining email addresses. The only company I can recommend is PostMasterDirect.com.

Before purchasing any "major" advertising, make sure you have fully tested your ad copy. Take your time and plan your advertising carefully for the best results. Your success depends upon it.

Copyright © Shelley Lowery

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.com