Google Adwords: Higher Traffic and Sales in 2 Hour

Google Adwords: Higher Traffic and Sales in 2 Hours or Less!

by: Ben Chapi

There are various ways to purchase highly targeted advertising at very low prices. Google AdWords is one simple and quick way to to do this. Regardless of your budget, you can actually get your text ads appearing on search result pages within minutes! You can also target your ad to a specific language or country.
Pricing is based on the position in which your ad is shown but there is no minimum amount required in order to open an account. Google positions your ad based on how many users click on it over time. Current rates range from $15$10 (per thousand ads shown) for positions 13, and $8 per thousand for positions 48.
According to Google, Adwords text ads have an average click through rate 45 times higher than banner ads. I have generated click through rates as high as 36% by using the guidelines outlined below. I frequently test ads for as little as $1!
Iกve been using Google Adwords since it was first introduced and Iกve found it to be very effective for testing ads. My best click through rate so far has been 36% and the lowest being 0.98%! On average my ads get a 20% click through rate on very focused keywords and search terms and 6% on general popular relevant keywords. Here is what I do.
When promoting my products I choose keywords/search terms that are very specific to generate highly qualified prospects. I get very few searches, but a very high click through rate. I then keep the ad running for a very long time.
Example:
Instead of using keyword กprinterก for an ad about printers, I use the exact model of the printer e.g. กLexmark Z11ก or less focused กLexmark printerก. I also put the search term in the title section. This simple trick produces very high click through rates.
Here are some guidelines:
1. Avoid keywords that are too general. Because ads are paid for on a CPM basis, you are likely to spend money quickly with keywords that are too vague. Avoid general keywords like กbusinessก or กfreeก. Taylor each keyword to your offer and use relevant terms/words in both the title and the ad body.
2. Give Google users a compelling reason to click on your ad link. The easiest way to do this is to provide something of value for free.
3. Use a different ad for each keyword or search term. This increases relevance and the likelihood that Google users will click on it.
4. Test and monitor your ads. Refine and finetune your ad to maximise click throughs. With Google you can do this in real time!
Googleกs Adwords has become very popular and Google have had to increase the number of ad displays per keyword search from 3 to 8. You can open an account and test this service by going to:

http://adwords.google.com

About The Author

[email protected]

FREE "Ultimate SelfFunding Autopilot Affiliate Recruiting System that will EXPOSE your Ad to over 1,000,000 people Daily for FREE! http://www.wildfirecoop.net/a.asp?70004278

This article was posted on February 4, 2002

by Ben Chapi

Getting Web Site Traffic in Less Than One Day

Getting Web Site Traffic in Less Than One Day

by: Cheap Hosting Directory

Every web site owner has wanted to drive additional traffic to their web site – and of course we’re all in a big hurry to do it. But have you ever thought about the fact that any webmaster can drive great qualified traffic to their site in less than one day? That’s right – you can literally set up an entire traffic driving campaign and see the traffic coming to your site even in the same day! Here’s how:
Harness the Power of Targeted Search with Google
The absolute fastest way to get really serious targeted traffic to your web site is to use the power of Google. You know, Google the guys that get, oh say, over 50% of all searches conducted on the Internet today. Yeah Google the guys who figured out how to produce relevant search results. Google the guys who are gonna go public and make like 20 zillion dollars. That Google.
They have a braindead easytouse advertising product called Google AdWords – and you can set up an account, create keywords, have them appear on the relevant search terms in the Google search engine, and see real live qualified traffic to your web site in the space of a few hours.
Setting Up a Google AdWords Account StepbyStep
Okay, take a deep breath. Settle into the chair in front of your computer and get ready to go. Follow these steps exactly:
1. Navigate your browser to: https://adwords.google.com/select and click on the ‘Sign Up Now’ area.
2. Select the appropriate language and gepgraphical targeting – ‘Regions and cities’ if you are a local business, ‘Global or nationwide’ if you serve all regions (we’ll use this setting for our example). Click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
3. Next you choose your countries. If you are a North American business, I highly recommend selecting ‘United States’ only. To do this – go to the right hand box entitled ‘Selected Countries’ and highlight ‘All Countries’ with your mouse. Then click the ‘Remove’ button. The ‘Selected Countries’ box will now be empty. Go to the left column and highlight ‘United States’ – then click the ‘Add’ button. Click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
4. Now you name your ad group and create your first online ad. Don’t worry – you can always go back and edit your ad at anytime. Just have fun with it for now! To get started, think up a name that you want to call your first group of ads. Type this name into the box labeled: ‘Name this Ad Group’.
Now go to section ‘A: Create Ads’ just below. You simply fill in the boxes and Google does this cool ‘automatic update’ that shows you what your ad will look like as you are filling in the boxes. When you have an ad that you like click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
5. Choose the keywords that will trigger your ad. If you sell ‘tennis rackets’ then start with that keyword. If you sell ‘palm pilots’ then start with that. Once you have typed in a search term, you can always use the ‘Keyword Suggestion Tool’ link on the same page to expand your list. Google will automatically suggest words that may expand your traffic. Be sure to do a reality check against this list – it’s automated and some terms may not be appropriate for your business. Once you have a list of keywords, click the ‘Save Keywords’ button to continue.
6. Choose your maximum bid. I always set this to $.05 (five cents) to start. This is Google’s minimum bid amount. You can always change it later if you need more traffic. Type in .05 and click the ‘Calculate Estimates’ button. Ignore the resulting estimates – they are almost always wrong. Simply click the ‘Save and Continue’ button. At this step Google will ask if you want to create another ad group – simply bypass this step by clicking the ‘Continue to Step 3’ button.
7. Now you specify you daily budget. I suggest being conservative here as well. You can always increase this later. For now – figure out how much you can spend each month for traffic and divide by 30. Put in an amount that is this number or even lower. I usually start with $5 per day as a maximum. When you’ve decided, simply click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
8. Entering your contact information and password. This step requires you to give Google a valid email address that you can check – in order to send you to the final confirmation and billing step. Fill in your email and pick a password that you can remember – preferably one that has at least 1 numeral and is difficult to duplicate easily.
When you’ve filled in your information, click the ‘I agree – Create my AdWords account’ button.
At this point you should see the following message: ขThank you for signing up with AdWords. Please check your email ([email protected]) for a message from Google containing a link to our verification program.ข Follow the link in that message to confirm that we have your correct email address.
9. Check your email and finish setting up your account. Go to your eamil and retireve the Google email. Follow the link inside – this will verify that your email is valid. Then simply login to your AdWords account using the email address and password that you supplied in the last step.
10. Once you log in you will see the following message: ขNote: Your account hasn’t been activated. Payment information is required in order to run your ads. Please provide your payment information on the Billing Preferences page in the กMy Accountก section. Typically, your ads will begin running almost immediately after you submit this information.ข Simpy follow the ‘Billing Prefences’ link and enter your credit card information. When complete click the ‘Save Changes’ button.
11. Your AdWords account is now live! You will see traffic from your ads coming to your site almost immediately if you have selected popular keywords.
Then entire process described above can easily be completed in less than 2 hours. I just did it myself in less than an hour. Good luck and remember if you ever have any problems with the account running through too much cash – you can simply ‘pause’ the account giving you time to reduce your bids, or delete keywords. While you won’t become an AdWords expert from this start up guide, you will begin to see highly targeted web traffic come to your site in less than one day!
Next we will be publishing our 4 Part guide to กCheating Adwords Selectก

About The Author

Author: Cheap Hosting Directory .com

Email: [email protected]

CheapHostingDirectory.Com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company or a quality expiring domain names with traffic. CHD is part of the TechPad Agency network of web hosting related sites, visit www.thetechpad.com for more information.
This article may be reprinted or published without the authors consent as long as the ขAboutข and ขweblinksข are kept intact. If you publish this article, we would love to know the location. Feel free to email us.

This article was posted on June 14, 2004

by Cheap Hosting Directory

10 Killer Ways To Multiply Your Sales

10 Killer Ways To Multiply Your Sales

by: Frank Bauer

Would you like to multiply your web site sales? Or course you would, who wouldn’t? 🙂 Then take a close look at the following 10 killer ways to multiply your sales…

1. When you make a sale, always followup with the customer. First you should followup with a ‘thank youก email.

Then, a few days later, you can followup up and as them if they are satisfied with their purchase or if they have any questions.

After a certain time, you should followup and ask them for their feedback, good or bad and possibly for a testimonial.

All your followup messages can include a small advertisement for other products you sell.

If you use a fn automated system to do this, it will not even take a minute of your time to do all the followups.

2. You could upsell to your customers. When they’re at your order page, tell them about a few extra related products you have for sale. They could just add it to their original order.

Or you can upsell your visitors from a standard version to a professional version of your product or service.

3. Tell your customers if they refer four customers to your web site, they will receive a full rebate of their purchase price. This will turn one sale into four sales.

This can be easily done placing a referafriend form on your order ‘thank youก page.

4. When you sell a product, give your customers the option of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions selling your product. This will multiply the sale you just made.

For example… do that in one of your followup messages mentioned in the first point above.

5. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to your products. You could include an ad on or with the product for other products you sell. You could make sales for the reproduction rights and sales on the back end product.

You could also product licenses in bulk at a discounted rate to resellers. Then they can sell it at retail price and keep to profit.

6. You could cross promote your product with other businessesก products in a package deal. You can include an ad or flyer for other products you sell and have other businesses selling for you.

This is a great way to joint venture with other businesses as it is mutual beneficial for both sides.

7. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a coupon for other related products you sell in the package. This will attract them to buy more products from you.

Of course you can also include coupon codes in one of your followup emails.

8. Send your customers a catalog of addon products for the original product they purchased. This could be upgrades, special services, attachments, etc. If they enjoy your product they will buy the extra addons.

If you create an online catalog for delivery by email (again, this is good for another followup email), I recommend to use Adobe Acrobat to create a PDF catalog.

This way your customers will be able to read it, no matter what operating system they use on their computer.

9. Sell gift certificates for your products. Youกll make sales from the purchase of the gift certificate, when the recipient cashes it in. They could also buy other items from your web site.

To do that online, you could simply send the customer a personal coupon code, that they can on to the lucky person.

10. Send your customers free products with their product package. The freebies should have your ad printed on them. It could be bumper stickers, ball caps, tshirts etc. This will allow other people to see your ad and order.

Online you could give them free versions or trial copies of your other products, together with their paid product.

Copyright 2004 Frank Bauer

About The Author

Resources:

Followup autoresponder system: Add2it AutoRespond Pro

http://www.add2it.com/scripts/autorespondpro.shtml

ReferAFriend system: Add2it ReferThem Pro

http://www.add2it.com/scripts/referthempro.shtml

Frank Bauer is the owner of Add2it.com Scripts & Services for your Web Business at http://www.add2it.com and the publisher of the More4you Newsletter at: http://www.more4you.ws

To see how he can help you, visit: http://www.frankbauer.name

Reprint rights to this article are granted, as long as it is not modified and the resources plus this signature remain unchanged.

This article was posted on September 25, 2004

by Frank Bauer

How To Create Instantly Compelling Ads Every Time

How To Create Instantly Compelling Ads Every Time

by: Marc Gamble

Use This Quick 3Question Evaluation Process… And You Can Be Sure That Your Message Will Sell!

Evaluation #1: ขWell, I Would Hope So!ข When you make a claim, don’t think about it in terms of coming out of your mouth…think of it in terms of it entering your prospects ears. Then you’ll realize how ridiculous some claims sound. Whenever you make a claim, ask yourself if the prospect will immediately echo this response: ขWell, I would hope so!ข For instance, an insurance agency faxed me the following reason to choose them over their competitors: ขWe will be there for you when you have a claim.ข Well I would hope so! You’re an insurance agency! Isn’t that what you do?

These statements are about like the haircutter telling you that your hair will be shorter after it’s cut, or the gas station telling you you’ll have more gas after you fill the tank. Always, always, always ask this important evaluation question whenever you make any claim. It will improve your effectiveness by 500% immediately.

Evaluation #2: ขWho Else Can Say That?ข Pay close attention to this one; the question is not who else can do what you do. The question is who else can say what you say. The answer is usually…anybody and everybody. We consulted with an auto repair facility that was by FAR the most awesome business of its kind. They put competitors out of business every yearand devour their market share in the process. Small problem: Even though nobody could even come close to performing at their level, their yellow page ad looked virtually identical to all of their cheesy competitors.

Try This: Look at your ad and look at your competitors ad, if you can cross out your name on your ad and replace it with your competitor or vice versa, and the ad is still valid, you failed the test! You failed to distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Evaluation #3: The Specificity Challenge. I could write an entire book on this subject…but suffice it to say for sake of this newsletter that you need to quantify all of your claims. Businesses fail to create a compelling case to buy their product or service. Instead they ask for their consumers business for no justifiable, rational reason. Quantify them in terms of:

1. Specifically How Are You different?

2. Compared To What?

3. Why Can You Do That?

4. What’s Your Advantage?

If You Want To Distinguish Your Business From The Competition… Build A Case Like An Attorney Would.

You need to realize that your business is on trial. Your customers and prospects are the jury. You’re the attorney. And it’s a life or death sentence. What will you say that will convince them to buy from you? What kind of specific evidence can you produce to PROVE beyond any reasonable doubt that they’d be a fool not to buy from you?

Get a FREE Analysis of Your Advertising! Simply email it to [email protected] or fax it to us at (650) 6492221 and ขStop Wasting Your advertising dollars.ข

Good luck with your marketing efforts.

Marc Gamble

Principal Consultant

MYM OnDemand Virtual Marketing Training Program

http://www.mymondemand.com

About The Author

Marc Gamble, the author, teaches business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals how to acheive bigger, bottom line results from their advertising & marketing efforts without spending more time, effort, or money. Learn marketing strategies and tactics to separate yourself from your competition and become the obvious choice to do business with. To learn more about how to improve your own Marketing Efforts and Achieve Better Results, visit: http://www.MYMOnDemand.com. Email: [email protected]

This article was posted on December 08, 2004

by Marc Gamble

THREE ways You can Use the Ezines to Increase Your

THREE ways You can Use the Ezines to Increase Your Sales

by: Radhika Venkata

***1. FIRST PROMOTIONAL METHOD: Write ezine articles and submit to ezine publishers

Writing ezine articles is one of the three best promotional methods that Iกd ever know. (search engines and free ebooks are other two in my experience). Ofcourse your results may be different.

Collect email addresses of ezine publishers that are willing to receive articles on certain topics.

http://www.ezinelocater.com/

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/Ezine_Directory/index.shtml

Search the database on these web sites and collect the email addresses of ezine publishers who are willing to receive your articles. If you have a mailing list manager or autoresponder software, you can import them to your software. Seperate the publishers emails based on the article topics they want to receive.

http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/arpproadv/index.shtml

You can send your article(s) to these publishers at certain interval like a month or two. DON’t forget to include a thankyou note for their time.

***2. SECOND PROMOTIONAL METHOD: Joint ventures with ezine publishers

Follow กWin and winก theory. If ezine publishers get something from the joint venture proposal sure they are gonna agree to your proposal. For example you have an affiliate program for your product, you can ask the ezine publishers to join in your affiliate program and send the advertisement to their subscribers with their affiliate link.

Or publish a free ebook with your product and relevant articles and offer it to subscribers of ezines. So ezine publishers can give away the free ebook to their subscribers (remember, ezine publishers now offering free ebooks to subscribers for signups). So you can use innovative methods to approach ezine publishers.

***3. THIRD PROMOTIONAL METHOD: Buying ezine ad space

Sometimes you sign up for an ezine, publishers offer you free ad that run in one or two issues. Or if you join an ezine coop, you will get to publish some free ads in your ezine inexchange of your free ads. Or you can buy cheap ads like $2 dollar ads. Beleive me. I experimented with all those. Not even got reasonable click through rate.

Few tips in selecting correct ezine for buying ad space: (Afterall you are spending money from your pocket. So spend sometime in researching that ezine)

=Choose the ezine carefully that related to your product.

=Subscribe to that ezine atleast few months. See how the ads are being placed.

=Check the number of subscribers, ad placements, price etc. But remember, It is the click through ratio that is important, not the number of subscribers. Ezine lists with double optin supposed to be with loyal subscribers.

=Always track your results of an advertisement. More on ad tracking http://www.webmasterscentral.com/wprofits/tracking.shtml

=Check if the ezine is published on the web simultaneously. Because some ezine publishers will send their ezines through emails and also publish them on their web sites. This will be an advantage for you as your ad will be placed on the web and will pull continuous visitors.

=Placement of ads: Top ads certainly pull more results than bottom ones.

=Writing good headline: Writing a good headline is very important to pull the reader in to the ad. No matter where the ad is placed, attractive headline always matters.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata

Subscribe to กiNet Marketing Ezineก which is completely focused on Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights! http://www.webmasterscentral.com/subscribe.shtml

FREE Ecourse :: 30 days Solid work out to increase your online profits! http://www.ebooksworld.com/ecourse/index.shtml

This article was posted on April 10, 2004

by Radhika Venkata

Don’t Use FFAกs To Build Your Newsletter Subscribe

Don’t Use FFAกs To Build Your Newsletter Subscriber

by: Dean Phillips

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, The initials FFA stand for กFREE For Allก and my advice would be don’t waste your time! FFAกs DON’t WORK!

FFA sites are directories where anyone can place their ad for free. And thatกs exactly what you geta zillion people posting free ads.

When you post your ad on an FFA directory or site, hereกs what will happen. Youกll immediately get back in response to your ad a truckload of autoresponder emails from every Tom, Dick and Harriet soliciting you to join their programs. Hardly anyone ever actually reads your ad. FFAกs will produce next to zero new subscribers to your newsletter.

Here are some suggestions to help you build your newsletter subscriber list:

1. Put a subscriber box on your web site. People can easily enter their email address and send it to you. A percentage of people who visit your web site will sign up for your newsletter. Just don’t scare them off by asking for a lot of personal information. Put their minds at ease by promising not to share their email address with anyone else.

2. Announce your newsletter in the ezine announcement directories. There are several sites with searchable catalogues of ezines. These sites get lots of visitors and are a surefire way to find hundreds of new subscribers. Here are a few to get you started:

http://www.ezineuniverse.com

http://www.escribe.com

http://www.ezinemarketing.com

3. Trade ads with other ezines. Find newsletters that focus on topics similar to yours. Theyกll run your ad in exchange for you running theirs.

4. Consider emailing a press release to the media. Your release should announce your newsletter and explain whatกs interesting or helpful about your newsletter. There are a number of press release services that will email your release. Here are just a few:

http://www.ereleases.com

http://www.majon.com

http://www.majornewswire.com

http://submitexpress.com

Whatever you do, DON’t add people to your newsletter list who haven’t asked to be on it. The spam gods will come down on you like a ton of bricks! Thatกs why many newsletter publishers insist on double optin. Whatกs double optin?

Double optin is your protection against the sending of unsolicited email. For example, after visitors register at your site, they will receive a confirmation email. By replying to the confirmation email, your visitors have กdouble optedinก which means that:

1. They are the owners of their email addresses

2. The address is working

3. They indeed want to subscribe

Usually the confirmation action is as simple as replying to the confirmation request or clicking on a link.

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: [email protected]

Make Money Online! Internet marketing expert, Dean Phillips will help you make money online, starting today…Guaranteed! For details just visit my website.

Website: http://www.letsmakemoney.net

This article was posted on September 30, 2004

by Dean Phillips

Why I like The Ads I Hate!

Why I like The Ads I Hate!

by: Yvonne Finn

Itกs been said that the antidote to liking/loving is not hating, but indifference. So, when an ad makes you angry or disgusted or evokes any other strong emotion, it has done itกs job.

That is what advertising is supposed to do! Isn’t it?

There is an advertisement currently running on T.V. that makes me so disgusted that I spent quite a few minutes last night, discussing it with my sister,

The ad is for a well known brand of toothpaste that is being recommended for people with sensitive teeth. Nothing wrong so far. There are plenty of people with sensitive teeth and I have no personal knowledge of the truthfullness of the claims made by the manufacturer.

My objection is to the presentation of this product. There is a beautiful women, dressed only in camisole and under wear parading around as she touts the benefits of using this product. There is nothing wrong with that either, and I am no prude But what is the connection? Do you have to be beautiful, female and barely dressed to benefit from this toothpaste?

I am sure the manufacturer would not want to limit his market to that niche only. What a waste of his advertising money? It is getting harder and harder to get your message noticed, with so many other products vying for the same market shares that you’re after.

Why get that consumerกs attention, only to then turn them off or away, with an inappropriate advertisement?

So, I like this ad because it certainly demonstrates that advertising gets you noticed and talked about.

It is up to you. however, to target your market appropriately and benefit from your hard won exposure.

P.S. By the way my sister hates the ad, too!

About The Author

Advertising like beauty has to stike an almost perfect balance in order to achieve and maintain the desired results/effect.

Visit Yvonne at: http://www.herbalhealthyskin.com for your free beauty balancing tips!

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 28

by Yvonne Finn

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

by: Lil Waldner

The first impression that the people get from your ad decides if they click or skip. This shows that writing really persuasive ads is not easy. Writing irrestisible internet ads needs some skills. You can acquire these skills, if you follow some rules.

Simplify your message

Focus on your customers need! What are they looking for? What is special on your website for your customers? Write a simple language with common words. Use verbs more often than nouns. Using verbs makes your texts dynamic. Propagate a positive message and avoid hype.

Follow the AIDA rule:

Attention:

Your ad needs to catch the attention of the audience. The title has to be determined with caution. Look at the title of this article as example. Why have you clicked to view this article? Does it exactly offer what your are looking for? Your ad title has to meet the people’s need. You can use a question to awake the curiosity of the audience. You can use Overture and Google Adwords in order to find out popular phrases for your ad title.

Interest:

Your ad text should be convincing. You praise your produce or your website. Why should the people use your produce? What is special? How does your offer differ from others? What is your USP = Unique Selling Proposition? You may describe your produce with strong words, e.g. amazing, ultimate, superior, incredible, guaranteed.

Decision:

The audience has to be lead to a decision. Some advertisers give the impression of urgency. Here are some examples: ขJoin today and get a free ebook.ข ขSign up and receive a bonus.ข ขBe among the first 500 to join.ข ขLimited time offer!ข All these kind of phrases try to persuade the customers to make up their minds.

Action:

Every ad has to call for action. The people should know what to do. Following phrases might help: join now – sign up today – click to view – visit the homepage – etc. It is recommendable to address the audience directly with ขyouข. This makes the readers feel that the message is written to them.

Repeat and repeat

The people usually do not join or buy if they see your ad the first time. Your ad has to be displayed again and again. Some people visit your website several times, study your offers and deliberate before they decide. Look at TV advertisements! Even the famous brands with great marketing budgets have to repeat their ads again and again. The people have to get familiar with your ad, they need to gain confidence. Do not forget: Your ad text should be credible.

About The Author

Lil Waldner is a business economist. She is experienced in project management and marketing. She has worked as editor of newspapers and she has written booklets and essays with economic and public issues. Visit her web sites: http://affiliatechain.com/GetASite.asp?ID=51105 or http://www.storeowner.com/owner/lwmall

This article was posted on August 29

by Lil Waldner

How to Win the Advertising and Promotion Game

How to Win the Advertising and Promotion Game

by: Stone Evans

I am certain that, as a business owner, you have often entertained the question as to how much to spend and where to spend your advertising dollars. For most small business owners, these questions can add to the headaches suffered in the course of normal everyday operations of their business.

THERE ARE NO SIMPLE ANSWERS

The how much to spend and where to spend it questions have no easy answers.

Depending on your type of business, many people suggest that the *how much* should be equal to anywhere from 4% to 10% of your gross receipts.

The quandary is that a business cannot survive without a fresh flow of incoming customers. But, a business can seldom generate a fresh stream of customers without spending money to get the word out about their business.

THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING

Have you ever paid for advertising and sat back to await the fresh flow of customers, only to find yourself sitting and sitting and then sitting some more?

Don’t feel bad about that. It has happened to many of us before.

See, knowing where to spend the advertising money is not enough to get the job done.

Where to spend the money only begins to highlight the other issues connected with advertising:

Marketing Plan

Advertising Strategy

Headlines, Ad Copy and Visual Presentation

Tracking the Success of Your Advertising Campaigns

THE MARKETING PLAN

The Marketing Plan is used primarily to identify your own products and services, costs, strengths, weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

To learn more about constructing your own marketing plan, visit the Small Business Administration website for a comprehensive study of the elements of a Marketing Plan:

http://www.homebusiness.com/nav/articles/links/sba_plan.html

ADVERTISING STRATEGY

It is important to understand what you expect to gain from your advertising.

Do you simply wish to get your name known so that when your customer will need you, they will think of you first? Or, do you wish to get your customers in your front door on Saturday?

Do you want your customers to come in and take a look around to discover the next object that they cannot live without? Or, do you want them to come in and buy a specific widget?

Do you hope that enough people will come in to buy enough products or services to pay for your single ad? Or, do you expect to gain a lifelong customer who will help pay for your advertising over the course of several years?

When you know what you want, then you will better understand just how to do it.

HEADLINES, AD COPY AND VISUAL PRESENTATION

You might be surprised how many business owners put out advertising without regard for the quality of the sales pitch or presentation. The quality of your distribution outlet or the amount of money you spent to get there will do little for you if the advertising vehicle is a junker.

Test all of your advertising materials in smaller markets before blowing your advertising bank roll on it. You must absolutely know the value of your advertising before putting large sums of money behind it.

TRACKING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Tell your customers to save another 10% when they tell you they heard or saw your ad in suchandsuch location. Suggest that they can register to win a free widget if they fill out a form and have them to tell you how they heard of your business. Advertise a specific widget in your ad and track the sales of that widget.

It does not matter how you track your advertising just make sure you do it!

IN SUMMARY

The ideal way to spend your advertising budget is to buy a rifle with a highpowered scope and to only shoot your targets in the light of day.

If you are not tracking your advertising, then you are shooting a pellet gun without an attached scope, with blinders on, and shooting in the dead darkness of night.

Even with a bigger gun, the blinders in the dark constitute the single largest mistake made by advertisers. If you are unable to track your advertising to learn what is working well, what is working somewhat, and what is a money pit, then you are condemned to repeat your mistakes over and again.

By relying only on gut instinct, you may be choosing to spend more money in the money pit and to lose all of your money in the process.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts of making money from your advertising, you should plan, prepare, track and study your results. You must have factual information on which to base your advertising decisions. When you are making the right advertising decisions, then making money from your business might just come easy.

Copyright 2004 Stone Evans

About The Author

Stone Evans has helped thousands of people all over the world start their own home based business on the Internet. You can now find everything you will ever need to start, run and grow a home business at: http://www.HomeBusiness.com

This article was posted on March 18, 2004

by Stone Evans

4 Steps to a Successful AdWords Campaign

4 Steps to a Successful AdWords Campaign

by: Michael McLaughlin

Not getting the satisfaction you want from your AdWords account? Want to make more money by spending less?

Google AdWords has made many businesses successful by providing them with a great deal of highly targeted traffic for as little as 5 cents! Yet many webmasters and advertisers are incompetent when it comes to using AdWords efficiently. After $100 in losses and having many failed campaigns, I have learned how to solve many of these setbacks, so I have put together a list of the 4 steps required to come out on top.

1. Design

Decide how the layout of your ad will present itself. Next consider what you want to be included in the title and what facts or catch phrases you want your visitor to know before they decide to spend your money by clicking on your advertisement. Don’t be a fool and get your ad disabled, please be sure to follow all of Googleกs rules and regulations on there editorial guidelines page.

Many computer owners are just learning how to purchase using the miracle of the internet and even more people do not understand that when they click on those Google ad’s they are spending someone’s money just by clicking on it. They also don’t understand that most of the pages that they are going to be clicking on are product pages trying to sell them something. Many aren’t even interested in spending any money no matter how convincing your sales pitch can be. Though, this depends on what they are searching for. To avoid this simply yet destructive problem merely put the price of your product directly into your ad.

2. Brainstorm

This is where my downfall began, I selected few keywords and in turn received little traffic, and the traffic I did receive was very expensive! To avoid this start off by taking the position of your possible customer. If you were searching for the product that you sell, what would you, as a customer search for? Do that now and make a list of as many search phrases and keywords you can think of. Don’t be afraid to use Google’s keyword tool, though I found that this isn’t too helpful.

After you squeezed out as many words you can, glance over them and determine what words and phrases can be combined to form a new one. Simply come up with as many words as possible, once you get started its easy and you should come out with around 250 keywords. Review this list and delete some of the keywords that are ขout thereข and wouldn’t produce targeted traffic.

3. Optimize

Never waste your money using Google’s suggested cost per click; it is 10 times higher than necessary. Many advertisers do not understand that there click through rate effects there position to the same degree with how much they pay per click. To make this easier to understand here is an example: if you pay 5 cents per click for the phrase ขshopping cartข and your competition pays 10 cents and has a click through rate of .5%, to surpass this person in position you need to double your click through rate to anything above 1% yet you are still paying half of what he is! For keywords that are less targeted to your product or purpose yet still effective I suggest pricing them to nearly half that of highly targeted keywords for a rule of thumb.

Now that all your keywords and pricing is in place, set your daily budget lower than you plan on spending per day for now, this way incase it’s a failure you don’t lose that much. Let your campaign run for a few days, but before you do make sure you set up conversion tracking. Watch what keywords perform well and convert to conversions, and delete the ones that cost you nothing but money. If at first you don’t succeed try try again.

4. Experiment

As you watch the performance of your keywords and Ad groups you should continue to try new things. Change one word in your ad and compare the results to previous, trust me one word can and will make the difference; whether positive or negative that is for you to discover! If you are having trouble finding an ad that gets enough clicks to avoid being disabled brainstorm again and create as many ads as possible, even if they are terrible they will give you new ideas. Pick your favorite three and create a new ad group while comparing the results to your other ad groups.

If you do not find success after following all of these steps, what you’re doing isn’t wrong it’s what you’re trying to sell. To determine if your product is assured to fail ask your self this question: is this product helping someone or is it just another great idea? Chances are if it’s a great idea people aren’t searching for it, or in desperate need of it.

Continue to track and modify your keywords and Ad groups while watching your sales and popularity excel!

About The Author

Written by: Michael McLaughlin at http://www.webmastershed.com – webmaster forum, for more articles by this author please visit: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 17

by Michael McLaughlin

Step Aside PopUps, Hover Ads Are Here!

Step Aside PopUps, Hover Ads Are Here!

by: Tanner Larsson

As anyone involved in online marketing has learned in recent times, PopUp ads have developed a very negative connotation amongst Internet users the world over. Indeed, there has been an explosion in the availability of software and tools that are designed to block PopUp advertising.

An estimated 405 million internet users have free access to some form of popup blocking technology. If you are an internet marketer this is bad news, as popup had been an effective way of increasing sales and capturing email addresses for newsletters. Now over 405 million users that cannot see their advertisements and not only that, but the people who use popup blocking technology are typically ‘savvy internet users’ are the kinds of people most likely to spend money online.

Fortunately, Hover ad technology has arrived just in time. Hover ads are completely unblockable, dynamic ad technology that are on the cutting edge of Internet marketing today.

As mentioned, Hover ads not only have the ability to avoid the latest PopUp blocking tools, Hover ads are a truly dynamic method of advertising. Even without blocking tools, the vast majority of Internet users will regularly ขclick offข any and all PopUp ads that invade their space.

Hover ads are so different, so appealing that the typical Internet user is going to read the ad content rather than make a reflexive decision to the click the advertisement away.

Boost Your Sales with Hover Ads

Internet business owners and internet marketers alike have reported dramatic sales increases after they commenced using hover ads on their websites. One typical example is that of an Internet business owner who had been using traditional PopUp ads only to see his sales dramatically decline over time.

Over the course of the first week that this same Internet marketer used Hover Pro ads he saw his sales volume actually triple.

Any offer or presentation you can come up with can typically be put into a Hover Ad campaign and will have a more profound impact on your sales and subscribers than regular methods.

On the Cutting Edge

Hover Ads truly are on the cutting edge of Internet advertising technology. Hover Ads are still relatively new to the internet scene, but already the variety and diversity of options and features of Hover Ads, make them a serious contender in the online marketing arena.

Some of the advanced features you will only find with hover ad technology are:

Autoscrolling – this feature allows the hover ad to scroll down the page and stay visible as the user scrolls down the webpage.

Draggablility – this feature allows the user to click on the hover ad and drag it around the screen and position it anywhere they want.

Transparency – This cool feature allows you to see through the hover ad to the webpage beneath, while still displaying the hover ads content.

There are many other advanced features of hover ads that allow you to completely tweak and customize your marketing messages and advertisements for maximum impact.

By utilizing Hover ads you will be able to take your business to a whole new level. Since their recent introduction on the market, Hover ads have ensured revenue growth for a wide variety of online businesses. Any online business can benefit through the use of Hover ad technology. In little time you will see a marked increase in people visiting your online website as well as a noteworthy rise in your sales and revenue.

Copyright © Tanner Larsson

http://www.workathomeresourcecenter.com

About The Author

Tanner Larsson is a veteran entrepreneur and the creator of the award winning HoverPro Ad Generator. Create powerful attentiongrabbing Hover Ads for your website. Free DEMO!

http://www.HoverPro.com

This article was posted on January 30

by Tanner Larsson

2005 Super Bowl Ads… Winners & Losers

2005 Super Bowl Ads… Winners & Losers

by: John Jordan

Well, Super Bowl XXXIX is history. Too bad for the folks who consider themselves the alwayspullinกfortheunderdog type. The Bandwagon team won.

But, as far as Super Bowls go, the losers played well. For those who care, the Eagles actually covered the 7point spread. T.O. is the deal, too. At least on the field, anyway.

They had a chance late in the game, but poor field position and bad clock management did them in. Scoring from 95 yards out with 48 seconds left? Thatกs a tall order.

So is getting/maintaining ad recall 48 hours after the final gun. Whose $80,000 per second ad was worth it? Who wouldกve done better by writing me a fat check for $2.4 million?

Read on, and find out. True to school yard rules: Suckers Walk. Losers are up first.

Losers:

Sorry, Donovan, but your three picks lands you in with GoDaddy.com, Quiznoกs, and Silestone. I don’t care if you were ill.

GoDaddy.com had a decent concept that quickly went bad. OK. Boopsie talking to a Senate subcommittee on CSPAN about indecency. Good start if they cut out any hint to last yearกs halftime debacle. But… they couldn’t resist. So the buxom wench wearing a GoDaddy.com tshirt has a near wardrobe malfunction. One of the craggy senators has to hit the oxygen mask.

This ad was supposed to run again, but Fox pulled it midgame. Good idea. I bet their stomachs were in as many knots as Donovan McNabbกs.

The Quiznoกs ad was mediocre at best. This talking baby concept is tiresome. As cliché as it may be, itกs still 80% less annoying than those whack rodents in pirate hats from a couple of years ago.

The one stinky Bud Light ad was one that the ESPN crowd really dug the parachuteless pilot heading out the door for the six of Diet Bud. Dumb. The desert island one with Cedric the Entertainer was iffy, too.

Speaking of stinky… what was up with Napster’s ad? Ugh! It could wind up doing more to shut them down than the Supreme Court.

This bad concept was in stark difference to their introductory spots featuring Flash animation based around their logo. Those were welldesigned and entertaining. This one was as fat and ugly as the seven shirtless blops they decided to show with a letter on each of their overdeveloped beer guts to spell NAPSTER. It was done in house and, boy, did it show.

The manufactured ขrealityข of the game and its atmosphere was lame and no one bought it. An ad taking place at the Super Bowl should be IN the Super Bowl done real time. And… trying to take on Apple’s iTunes on price? That was the second dumbest decision of this ad. No wonder it finished dead last in likability and recognition.

Now… Silestone. Valiant effort of an ad featuring Chicago sports legends. Voice over was good. It was shot nicely. But, it was a little too jumpy in the cuts to get the whole picture the first time through. The quick cut style hurt the name recognition of the line of counter tops.

Silestone and Diana Pearl are not exactly household names. And Dennis Rodman slurred his line. It sounded like กDinah Pearl, rather than, กDiana Pearl.ก Iกm sure the director or writer got dissed when they said, กUh, Worm… itกs กDiA naก.ก

กSure. Dinah.ก

As a side note, why were only Chicago Bears in it until Dennis Rodman at the end? No Scottie Pippen or Slammin’ Sammy?

On to the good กuns…

Winners:

This year, the game was nearly as good as the ads, as there were a surprisingly good number of breaking spots. Leading the pack was Career Builder, FedEx, Mastercard, and AnheuserBusch.

FedEx likes to make ads relating to advertising on advertisingกs biggest stage. They did it again patching together 10 ‘tried and trueก Super bowl ad conventions to great results.

Career Builder put a great spin on a stale category with the best work since Monsterกs กI Wanna Be…ก [a brown noser, forced into retirement, etc.] from ก98. Three ads featuring a hapless chump working for chimps managed to put their name into mind share largely dominated by two others.

MasterCard got a bunch of animated branded food icons together for a meal and a nice touch of nostalgia. Ad fans and agency folks dug this one.

AB hit emotional hot buttons with a nearpublic service ad saluting troops retuning home. Yes, they were real military not actors. Their uniforms just did not have any insignias, so the common soldier would be represented. For their light beer category, the ad with the head on the wall and the designated driver spot were the best for Bud Light.

Pepsi’s second year of an iTunes promotion kicked off well. They ran a humorous spot featuring people opening winning bottles for a free song. When the bottles were opened, a song reflecting the drinker’s taste in music would play. Although the spot was humorous and worked, Pepsi could’ve really hit a home run by involving the older ขauthority figureข more into the ad. But, keeping with brand tradition, they kept the focus young.

AmeriQuest had two entertaining spots revolving around the themes of misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions. Their message was, ขWe don’t prejudge.ข The ad featuring spaghetti sauce, a cat, and knife will certainly make some ‘Best Ofข reels this year.

Decent work also included Hondaกs new pickup/SUV product introduction. Good detail with benefit highlights. Left the กHondaก out until the end. Cadillac and Volvo had solid ads. Volvo should have bought another ad, if not two, as many people missed the early run. The audience also may have missed the details on their unique contest. But they did follow up with some net portal ads the day after. Fordกs F150 Biker spot was OK. Their line that กit makes YOU tough,ก really undercut the effectiveness.

About The Author

John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly ezine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and inhouse experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 10

by John Jordan