How To Get Much More Advertising Than You Could Ever Afford To BuyBy Garnet R. Chaney Have you seen my article on website promotion? This article discusses just one of the several dozen techniques on my list of website promotional strategies. The owner of Hungarian Bookstore wrote recently in a discussion forum: I'm excited about the prospects of print ads. The rich niche nature (say that three times fast!) of what I sell limits where an ad might go, but similarly, provides solid focus. Those who read Hungarian-American periodicals would be happy to know I exist. The trick would be in spending the right about of dough... getting noticed without wasting dinero. A huge display ad might be overkill, but a series of classifieds or small display ads might catch their attention. The rule of thumb in running ads of new products is to do them in the same area of the publication three times consecutively. One-shots go often unseen. Classified advertising is one of the great website promotional techniques that I've recommended for many years to my clients, ever since my 1995 website marketing campaign targetted at classified advertisers. That campaign, which was a direct mailing to classified advertisers, had a 25% sell through rate. In other words, if I sent out 100 copies of that letter, 25 of the recipients became new website customers of the Web Mill! There is great synergy that can be created between a website and classified advertising that mentions the website address. But did you know that it is possible to get even more "advertising" in a magazine than you can afford to buy in their classifieds ad section? In that discussion forum, I wrote back to the owner of the Hungarian Bookstore: | Dear H.B.: Budget saving promotional tip for your niche site from my tips for website promotion: If you are considering placing an advertisement in a magazine, why not write a review of your website, and submit it to the magazine for publication? They have lots of copy inches to fill, and they are often very happy to receive articles of great interest to their readers. This can give you a lot more space in their magazine than you'd ever be able to afford.Then in your future advertising you can build credibility with a line like "featured in December 2003 issue of Hungarian Hobbies" - Garnet |
Other readers of the forum agreed with me that they've "seen the benefit of reviews in magazines and on other serious sites." If you are considering placing an advertisement in a magazine, why not write a review of your website, and submit it to the magazine for publication? They have lots of copy inches to fill, and they are often very happy to receive articles of great interest to their readers. This can give you a lot more space in their magazine than you'd ever be able to afford. In fact, some magazines might even pay you for your review, or give you a discount on your classified ad in that issue! Then in your future advertising you can build credibility in your advertising with a line like "featured in December 2003 issue of....". Sometimes it can add even more credibility to your review if a third party writes the review for you. I've written reviews of dozens of sites, and I'd be happy to help you review your site. My diverse background (quality assurance engineer, programmer, web designer, book reviewer, and internet pioneer), gives me a unique perspective when I review websites. My commitment to quality assurance has helped many website owners find problems in their websites that they didn't know about before I looked at their sites. I worked with them to help them improve their sites before the reviews hit the press. If you'd like advice on this idea, or how I can write an independent review of your website that you can submit for publication, please contact me for more details. Visit my free website promotion list for several dozen more ideas about how to promote your website.. | |
