How do you target yout audiance on the web if you are into business online. To build your web presence is the key. Also networking sites, number of hits on your page etc matter a lot. What are the other ideas to advertise in an online business.
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"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
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One way is to get someone to spam various forums/BBSes with links to your site.
Hey DanH. I totally disagree with you. That is not the way you would build a genuine customer base and is not what I was looking at as an answer. Thanks anyways for responding. Though I would like if someone could help me out on ideas for using FB for business or something on those lines. Thanks!
For any type of business you can write articles or blogs, make your presence felt on business specific social networking sites. And if you are selling products online then you can create online stores on many sites where you can add all information about your products and sell them too.
If you want to simply "focus"
If you want to simply "focus" advertising, the major ad purveyors such as Amazon and Google can do pretty amazing things in terms of identifying a "target audience" based on interests and location. Not cheap, but probably better value for your money than buying random ads.
But the big question is whether your "target audience" even pays attention to most ads. I know I'm pretty good at ignoring them (such as the ones to the left of this page, or the ones inserted at the top or in-between posts).
A little better, in a way, is Google "ad-words" (I think that's what they call them). These are the "sponsored links" at the top of a Google search, plus those links on the right-hand side. These are usually selected to strongly relate to the user's search terms, so the user has some specific interest in the topic and is hence more likely to actually look at the ad. (You can control to a degree how strong the relationship must be in order to trigger your ad.)
Otherwise, I don't think on-line advertising can do much good. Better to concentrate on having your business findable by Google.
business on-line
We were early adopters and quickly rocketed up to huge traffic... (1 million visits a year)... not bad for a construction related site, however, things have changed. The web is crowded and traffic is harder to come by.
There has to be a compelling reason for the site to exist. Here at Taunton it is fresh content and strong subscriber base that drives their huge traffic. In our case it is innovative and unique designs...
When there is a compulsion to visit a site, that translates to natural links from other sites, blogs, links sent in email...etc.
Directories had a boost this year thanks to Google attempting to build evidence that they are not a monopoly in the advertising business--however, don't expect that to continue.
Seo is basically nullified these days. The only companies that get traction with SEO, and there are fewer and fewer of them, are gaming the search engines, and since there are fewer and fewer of them, they are under Google's spotlight. Lets face it, when people can't cheat the system, they will subscribe to it, which means Google gets bigger profits, which is the goal after all.
Good Luck with the business Selenavaz-- You have a steep climb!
L
The web is crowded and traffic is harder to come by.
Ain't that the truth. I was in the same boat as you Lawrence. Actually peaked at 2 million. Now lucky to get 700K. Mauled by the Panda. It's also about big brands. Ever notice why we see weak looking Home Depot and Lowes pages filling up the search results?
I still think a small business can still do it because they are not under the spotlight as Lawrence alludes to with big sites. Just be careful and stay away from the easy gimmicks. They always backfire.
I'm sure I have seen gardenstructure.com before. Nice design, better than I can pull off. If there is one easy tip, get into Goolge local, unless that's already been mentioned.
https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=lbc&continue=https://www.google.com/local/add%3Fservice%3Dlbc
Btw, long term member probably dating back to 2002 but lost my username and password (moved/email changes)
Incidentally, I pay attention to the changes at Google all the time because the web is my livlihood. What I'm also seeing that benefits small localized sites is they are expanding the local business listings for more and more search queries. For example it used to be "plumber Your City, Your state" that would show local listings. Now it's not unsual to see more listings when variations are used, but it may not work with all industries. Not sure how it actually works. Perhaps volume of search queries(phrases) that are being used that trips it to show local?
Get on board before that gets too crowded too.
Where's the spell check here? It doesn't even work on my Firefox, which is unsual.
Ken
Welcome back.
Hardwood flooring, no?
Take a look at the flooring threads (recent). Click on Recent Posts up on the left of the page, below your name.
Yessir calvin, hardwood flooring. Most of those threads are out of my realm being more familiar with wood flooring in the south. There is a differnce! Hey, I was an early contrubutor to your form. I remember how you "blasted" me for uploading gigantic pics. LOL, I didn't have a clue about that and the web in thosedays.
Nowadays I'm working on a video project. Slow to get off the ground. My industry has always been slow to accept new ideas on the web. For others looking for good business angles on the web, take a look at video. It's an uncrowded field, but that can be argued with all the poor quality on YouTube. Good thing is YouTube has found great methods to "bury" the amateur videos.
http://www.hardwoodflooringvideo.com
In a business on internet you need to do competitor analysis and understand what they are doing. How they rise or have fallen in the past to get an idea on what's best for your business.
Apparently the plan is to register with business websites and forums with fake names then post lots of fake posts. Sometimes you can co-ordinate them and get three spammers on one post! Amazing!
Florida:
There are bots that do that, but I would not recommend it. Maybe that's what you're seeing. I have a message board that if not maintained by keeping the bots out can destroy it. Unfortunately I have very little knowledge in how the system works..way over my head...ocassional help from a friend.
But, nowdays the search engines are smarter and the links have little if any value...waste of time.
Ken. my post was dripping sarcasm. The original poster, salenavez, JimBerry and Jenny 26 are all spammers. They all posted on this one thread. A record.
Use Google!
For those of you reading this post that are real people (and not bots), I'm a real person who spent several hours recently writing a blog post about this exact problem. I wrote the post to help build awareness about my company and the cool things we have planned for 2013, but the content of the post I don't benefit from in any way as i have no affiliation with Google. This is my way to "pay it forward" by offering some of my knowledge for others to benefit. Here's the post, which gives step by step directions about taking a construction related business and advertising on Google. http://blog.ezgc.co/index.php/2013/01/18/google-adwords-express-to-grow-your-construction-business/
Well, your spam link will probably be zapped shortly, but you do raise a good point -- Google Adwords is fairly easy to use, and pretty cheap. For some searches (eg, perhaps "remodeling batavia ny") you can make it work to pop up your link in the ads to the right.
I am grappling with the same issue. Aggregators have taken over "trade" searches, it is very hard for a local small contractor to get to the top of Google searches. I tried Google ad searches, and Yelp with no results. I went back to advertising in a local newspaper, which I had left because of no responses, and sure enough still no responses. I was also in Ziplocal, which is a yellow pages and left because I was not recieving any calls from that.
I wish I knew where to spend my "advertising' dollars, currently I have no idea. I hear a lot of recommendations, but I feel like there is just too much info rushing at the consumer, and they just blank it all out.
The other issue is that the building market has collapsed, and there are that many less people picking up the phone or contacting via email, etc. than there were pre 2008.
Would like to hear any successful strategies that small shops out there have had with finding effective advertising avenues.
Jimbo:
It’s big business on the web nowadays particularly with Google. If you really step back and look at all their results today (compared to two years ago) it’s mostly about big brands dominating. That’s their excuse or method to clean up the cesspool.
I’ve heard some guys having great success with newspaper sticky notes. They are not cheap but they seem to work…and newspapers aren’t dead yet.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=newspaper+sticky+note+advertising&FORM=AWRE
Get help
To really get traffic up, you are going to have to put a lot of time into it or hire someone to help you rank better.
Our copper gutter website went from not showing up to being about number 17 for most terms now.
I have found that both blogs and Facebook ads (targeted to my specific area, not just blanket coverage) is going to get me the results I want. I think that keeping an active blog (meaning that you update it more than once a year) actually nets pretty decent results if you know what you are talking about.
Target your audience
Marketing is one of the most important things you’ll consider for your business. Google ads is a helpful tool in reaching your target audience. Content and information if also the key. You need to showcase your portfolio online and what services you can provide. Promotions and bonuses are attractive approach as well. Always remember the “3 R’s”. Customer Registration, Recruitment and Retention - for a startup, you can use google ads and set a specific budget. Join community forums and contribute some helpful topics than spamming away your business. This way, you are building a credible profile. And lastly, use the power of social media sites - you’ll be amazed how these tools can help.
Words That Work
I lost my old login and member name. Back in the day I think I was HardwoodGuy (circa 2002 or 2003) then I made a brief revisit under my real name above.
I love this topic. It's my passion. Over the last four years I've struggled with all sorts of methods to improve my online visibility. But what I didn't realize is the importance of keeping people on your site. Most of us get all pumped up when we discuss numbers. I was in the same boat when my site traffic peaked in February of 2011.
Since I have worked very hard at coming back. I realize the good ole days are behind us, but all the research I've done during these four years has taught me a lot.
Very compelling guy.
Frank Luntz
The video is long, but worth every minute. It not only relates to online but offline marketing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcsadaPFkI
edit: sorry Ken, didn't see this post in June and so it was held up by the Taunton software. Your knowledge is valuable so if you run across this, you should be able to post with no problems
I have had great luck with google ads. SEO is so long term and slow to get results. I can put money into Google Ads and get my phone ringing within a day. But, if you don't do it right it could be expensive.
Clyde
My roofing spam link removed....
First of all create Business page in popular social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram. Promote your products & Target local audience. Post classified ads related to your service.
If you provide service make video and post on Youtube, Netfix, Vimeo
If you want to sell products than contact with top e commece sites such amazon, ebay and others.
These are the best ways to lead the web presence & social networking sites.
There are many ways you can extend your online presence:
1. Organize a link building strategy, start guest posting
2. Buying advertising online
3. Find and spread the information on the relevant forums/social channels/youtube channels
There are a lot of solutions, mostly depends on your budget