Hello, all. I'm putting together a free (ok, maybe, free) e-book on advertising and marketing. The following is a rough example. It needs some ironing, but it is getting there. I'm posting this for two reasons: To help others, and to get reviews. If you think I'm full of bean dip, tell me why. If you think I am missing something here, tell me why. Enjoy. Or, not. Beginning of e-book: I'm not much for the same ol' advice, such as overrated search engines, and link exchanging, blogging, social networks, Digg, and whatnot, because, quite frankly, those sources don't bring in that many quality, targeted people on a consistent basis. Er, I mean, the kind of numbers we all want. *salivates and rubs hands in greedy fashion* I can hear it now. "Rose, you're so full of ****, I need boots just to read your material!" My, that is deep, ain't it? That's fine. We are all entitled to our opinions. But many know the reality of it all. I don't need nor do I want to convince anyone. It's just smoke and mirrors, because many posters mentions the same ol' stuff, time after freakin' time, not really knowing for sure themselves. It's like a stuck record. If you hear about it so many times, then it must be true, right? It must work. ... Right? Somebody, please, kick that record player. You want a lot of consitent, REAL traffic. Hello? You still with me??? If these sources bring in huge amounts of traffic, don't you think there would be more people doing it, and saying that they get hundreds of thousands of hits a month??? Now, don't get me wrong here and start throwing beer bottles at me. I don't advise people who I talk to about advertising to NOT do it, because it does indeed bring in traffic, but your goal is to make money here so you can quit your job, right? Your main focus should be on traditional advertising, with a few imaginative ways thrown in. Like, renting space on a tractor trailer, and have your ad go to city to city, or, creating an infomercial, and bringing in sponsors to pay for the air time. Did I spell "infomercial" right? The real secret to bringing in A LOT of consistent, targted visitors, if you can really call it a secret, *cough* is to find Websites that have very low rates, and making sure that the visitors may like the product. Get enough of them lined up like ducks on hunting day, and make the big smackaroos through volume. That's it, boys and girls. You want the right sites, obviously. Afterall, you don't want to advertise fishing tackle in a site for women. But, first, check to see if your site can sell, and if the product is priced ok. Ask others to review it. Also, start off small when advertising. Start with Google, and other search engines. The reason being is that if you can't get any sales, there is a problem with your site and or the product. It's better to lose a fist full of dollars, than four fist fulls. Once you get your site rockin and sweatin' like Elvis Presley, THEN start advertising on other Websites. There are a lot of Websites out there that have good traffic, while selling space at a very low rate. It's unbelievable the number of high-traffic sites that are out there and the owners sell their space for pennies on the dollar because they don't know any better. They can have, say, a half a million monthly visitors, but they don't think they can get the price they really want. They are afraid of scaring off potential advertisers. The hard part is finding them. You just have to do a search on a bunch of keywords that best match sites that have visitors who would like what you are offering. Check out DavesDaily.com. I think they do at least a half a mill. Check out their rates. Pretty low, if you ask me. And, of course, let's not forget the smaller sites. Multiply 10 sites who have only 100,000 monthly hits, and that's a grand total of one million hits. Whew! ... I'm excited already! Ok, sort of. Now comes the real math.... Let's just say, for example, you are advertising on 20 sites, each one charging you $300 a month. From each site you make a profit of, oh, say, $50. That's $1,000 a month. Not much, right? But, sorry, that is pretty close to the reality of most advertising. Besides, cousins, it's a start! Like the 17-year old on the couch with his date, let's not get impatient. It can backfire on you. Professional advertisers know that the real money comes in volume. The savvy ones advertise in as many cheap places as they can, and making the real $ through volume. You don't have the start-up $ for advertising? Who says you need thousands? Start with just one site for a few hundred bucks. Or start with search engines. You have Google, Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, Ask.... Add those little suckers up, and that could, COULD, be enough to get you started on the bigger sites. Look at Sam Walton. He started off with one tiny store. Look at him now. Ok, ok, he's six feet under, but you know what I'm talkin' about here. If you can get some profit from that one initial Website, or several at a time, on a continous basis, THEN move on to the next site(s), then the next, and then the next. Before you know it, you'll have a long line of cheap sites to advertise on. Ok to call you "Sam" at that point? Also, see what your competitors are doing. Which sites are linking to them, and then contact them to see if they would also sell you space. When looking at sites to advertise on, look for advertisers who are selling products similiar to yours. Keep a record to see if their ads are consistently up. If so, get your butt in there, and pray to the advertising Gods that it works for you too. Yeah, yeah, this can take a few months, but that site isn't going anywhere, right? You'll be busy with other sites, and when the time comes, swing your ass, er, I mean, yourself, back to that site. You just nailed another site for your money train. Choo choo. Now, how do you know how many visitors a site gets? You really don't know for sure, and since many site owners like to tell tall tales, well, you really can't take their word for it, either. I like to use http://www.trafficestimate.com/results.html. Granted, it's not accurate. ... Duh. ... But many times it can put you in that ball park. Okay, now, what if you don't have two dollar bills to rub together? (Man, that's rough. What the hell are you doing with yourself?) Then the question is...how can you get the start up $??? Hmmmm.... -Part time job. All you need is just enough to get you going, so you need only to work a few months, if that. Wash dishes if you have to. Screw it. Who cares? It's only for a few months, if that. Some of the most famous multi-millionaires started off on such jobs. -Cash in a stock, or whatever you have at that moment. -Sell the dog. Ok, maybe not that one. -Borrow from a bank, friend, boss, relative.... -Steal. (You didn't hear that from me.) -Sell your stuff. Hey, your crap could add up to a sizeable $300, right? Right? Uh, hello??? -Donate plasma. -Find someone who will loan you the money for part of the profit. Askmen.com started out back in 1999 on a Angel venture loan. Of course it doesn't have to be that big of a loan, but you get me here. Now I know many disagree with me here. They say not to spend the $. Do the search engines. Do the sites like Digg. Do the blogs. Do the link exchanging. Hey, if that's your cup of tea, more power to ya. But I gotta ask you...how ya doin' out there so far? Don't you want to make some really good bucks? Can ya smell it? MMMMMM! If you think one needs not to pay for advertising, well, okay. For the rest of you, try it, and see for yourselves. When starting out on something new, all of us needs to try things to see for ourselves anyway. Have a great day, and a better future! Perry Rose TheList.FM
With this type of e-book, I always think it helps to give examples and figures. Presumably, you yourself have used these advertising methods to sell products successfully. Quote your figures ... say how much you spent on advertising over a certain period at such-and-such a place or places, with proof. Then, include graphics of your PayPal (or whatever) account, showing how great your sales were as a result of this.
I think the style is too "chatty" the people who are reading this want clear consise information that will help them earn money. While it is entertaining i think it needs to be a little more professional it it's presentation.
Too chatty. The chattiness actually drowns out what you are really trying to say. I think if you toned it down a bit and put in more real numbers as well as some advice on how one would contact these other websites and what type of rates they might ask for then it could be a decent book. donate plasma?
I think it's quite amusing for a thing to read to your mates but maybe if you transform into a little bit more formal form (sounds redundant, doesn't it) it would be better. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, although it didn't have any numbers
It sounds like you're reading a transcript of an e-seminar or something. Try and make it a bit more professional by eliminating the talking, and just saying the facts.
Great points. The one fact many lose sight of is that the average person can often make more money *per hour* at the local gas station than you can on the internet. Those just starting out truly believe they will get rich overnight, but it takes a consistent work ethic- just like the "real world".
I actually like that. It has voice in it, and I'd enjoy reading it. There's also humor in it, which doesn't make the eBook boring.
Thanks for your input. Will work on it. I keep forgetting that it is ok to be more chatty for a book, but not so for an e-book. Damn! I'll tone it down a weeeeee bit.
I agree, people want your point and they want it now. Maybe get your quick facts out front and then do a 'form' for more information, that generates emails as well based on a interest group. Maybe use one of those email in to get into our mailing list, that mailing list could generate what your looking for.
Not bad actually.... There is this guy who got a deal at 30 buck a month ad it sends close to 1200 visitors .. you need to try real hard to find those sites, what with the hardsell of online advertisers and brokers these days
Ok, here is the last part of the e-book. There is a lot here, but I've been coming to this board a lot lately, and I think I should contribute, for a change. It's a hell of a read, but I guarantee you that if you follow this list and the section above it to the letter, you WILL make enough money to be able to either quit your job or pay your rent. And I don't make such claims lightly! 61 Ways To Advertise, Market Your Website For Free, Or For Pennies On The Dollar Whew! That's a lot. You better go get a beer and come on back. Bring me one too. Most of these I don't consider very good. I explain why on those particular ones. I included them anyway, because, who knows, that one particular one just may work for you. But, don't hold your breath.   Of course there are far more ideas than these, but I didn't include them because, well, I don't want to waste my time with the ones that aren't very feasible. For examples: Conduct a survey. Hold a charity, get involved in the community, be part of the B.B.B. or Chamber of Commerce, or start a publicity campaign. Let's get real here...by the time you do these things, how many hours would you have put in, and what would the return be? If it's less than minimum wage, which it will be, well.... There are many who have lists of their own, with more than 200! I think it's more of an ego thing. "Hey look at my list!" Yeah, uh-huh. And how many of them actually work? They just throw the list up, without really thinking. Then there are the good ones! You may think that some of them may not bring in much money. Perhaps you are right. But here's the thing...when you add up all the thumbs-up tips, you can really make some good money at the end of the month after you pay your bills! Hell, at the very least, you will be able to pay your rent and utilities. Now wouldn't that be something?!  Remember, folks...volume! One last thing before you read the list, which is vital for your success...ask your customers where they have heard of you. In the order form, make one of the boxes a space for them to type it in. If they don't fill it out, ask it again in your "thank you" page. Practically all will tell you. This way you will know which methods below are working, and which ones aren't. The following list is updated on a continuous basis. Tomorrow it may be 62. Then again, maybe not. Did you save this page yet? Do it right now.    1. Search Engines Ah, yes, search engines. If you go to message boards on a continuous basis, you can't help but read posters repeating this one...time after time after time after time.... Funny thing is...just about all of the ones who say to do it, that "it works great for getting free traffic," aren't on the pages of a search.  Well, ok, then. I have a lot to say about this one, so when you are done reading this article, come on back up to click on search engine optimization. It won't hurt a bit.   2. Affiliates  3. Upload Your Product Feed To Froogle 4. RSS Feeds The odds are that you have heard of them, but you really don't understand how they work. Right? You visit other sites, see the "RSS" and quickly move your eyes elsewhere. Right? Then how do you expect the feed to work for you in getting your average user to use it so you can get more visitors? I would instead recommend not using the letters, "RSS." If you have, for example, an article on how to catch blue gill, put down on the bottom something like: "Carry this and other great articles in your Website for free. Bring in more readers, and keep 'em coming back! Click here." Doesn't that sound better than the technical, sounds-hard-to-download, "RSS"?  Then explain how it works, and have it set up to where a ten-year old can download it. Of all the sites I have seen that have the letters "RSS," I'd be willing to bet that practically all visitors who own a website don't click on it. MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM!  Submit your RSS feeds to aggregators may help. FeedBurner, Squidoo, Feedboy, Jordomedia, FeedBomb, FeedCat, rssmad, feeddirectory and feedfury. 5. Post In Message Boards, With Your URL In Your Signature I'm sorry, you can rip me a new one if you want, but this is just God-awful advice. But, like I said before, I'm including it anyway, just in case it works for that rare person. Do you post on message boards 24-7? If you want some good traffic from that one source, you better.  And while you are spending literally hours posting, the clerk at the corner grocery store will be making more money than you will, and working fewer hours! Ouch! . Also remember that all those posts that have your URL in it are long gone. Not many posters will look at old pages in a message board.  6. Start A Blog Great, now you have two products you have to advertise! It might, MIGHT keep your present visitors coming back, but isn't it the idea to bring in NEW visitors?  7. Make Your Pages Stand Out Ok, now we're talking here! I don't care what your product is, even if you are selling socks, you can make your pages stand out, make them interesting. For example, go to http://www.prontocondoms.co.za/ Click on "click for demo." Pretty neat, huh? It doesn't have to do with anything but an amusing product. Find a college student who can download such videos into your site. Theses students are cheap, and good.  Then advertise that page. Submit it to content sites.   If you are selling just socks, find some funny news, jokes, stories, or videos on socks. Hey, you'd be surprised! But...don't over do it!  Don't make your pages JUST on what your site is about! You can sell anything to a person, while being entertaining at the same time! In fact, that is what makes a great salesman.       8. "Send This Page To A Friend" You've seen them. But move it up a notch by putting the mailing form right in front of them. Why should they have to click on a link to go to that form when you can easily put it right in front of them? Plus, it increases the odds of them doing it. Here is mine... http://www.thelist.fm/Quick-Dating-Tip.shtml Again, get a cheap college student to do it for you. 9. Write Reviews You send site owners a "I like your site (product), because...." Then put your URL at the end. Now, the trick is to get them to post it in their site, without them thinking that you did it only to have your URL in their site. Tricky, a best!  10. Submit Articles Both Online And Off There Are A Lot Of Newspapers Out There! Many say that this is overrated, and that it really doesn't work. Actually, it does work. The thing is that it can be hard work finding the right kind of sites. What I do is use one keyword(s) at a time. Like "dating advice." I then scour one page at a time looking for good sites to send a proposal to. I'll do this on X amount of pages. Then I move on to the next keyword. Use http://www.trafficestimate.com/results.asp to see roughly how many visitors a site gets. It's not accurate, of course, but it puts you in that ballpark. If a particular site has, say, under 50,000 hits, I wouldn't bother contacting the owner. Now, of course, he may actually have three times that much, but I don't know, and I just don't want to fool with it. That's just me. There's just so many hours in a day. Many submit their articles to "article submitters." These submit your articles to an array of sites. Not many of these work. You are better off doing it yourself. Let's not forget the sites that accept articles. GoArticles, iSnare, Helium, EzineArticles, WordPress, ArticleAvenue, SearchWarp.com and ArticleTrader, ArticleDashboard are some you can look into. Do a search for more. I don't care if you have a site on, oh, web hosting. you can write an article on it. It could be a tutorial, or a funny story. Then put your URL on the bottom. You remember Reader's Digest, right? They have a section in there on letters from readers on the funny things that have happened to them or somebody they know. With that in mind, you could even be an affiliate for clothes and write an article. Find a funny story on something of clothes, or whatever. Just submit something, anything that could be funny, interesting, or maybe facts on stuff, and then put your name and URL at the end of your articles.  One article I submitted all over the place had nothing to do with my site, but I just wanted to share it. I put my name and my URL on the bottom, and then asked them to share the article with others, and that was that. Make people laugh. Put a smile on their face, or have them go "I didn't know that" from a tutorial article, and they may like you enough to click on your URL. People are more prone to buy from others they like, even if they really don't need it.        And don't forget offline sources, like newspapers. Target the smaller ones, too, as many readers like them because these types of papers seem more friendly, and down to earth.  11. Get Interviewed By Others, And They Put The Interview In Their Site Okay, now think here...who wants to read about you? Sorry, it may sound like a good idea on the surface.... But, again, try it. See if it works for you.    12. List Your Business In The Telephone Book I don't care if it is just socks. Many people want the convenience of shopping online. And remember...make it more than JUST about your product. 13. Stickers Now here's a what may sound like a great idea on the surface. But by the time you stick those things all over the place, you may, MAY have put in more hours and still get paid less than someone with a minimum-paying job. But it could work with some. I would think that the only exceptions are is to stick 'em where you are going to be anyway. If you stopped next to a paper rack to talk to a friend, while you are there, stick one on. If you are walking down the street with your girlfriend doing window shopping, stick a few here and there. Other than situations like that, if you make a job out of it, you'll lose money, because time IS money! One thing, though...don't be a pest with them. Don't put them all over the place, on stop signs, and, for God sakes, don't make the glue on them so strong that it is hard to peel back off again!  Remember, folks, if a method you are doing takes longer than a 40-hour job, and you get paid pennies in return, it ain't much of a method. 14. Carry Around Chalk To Write Out Your URL It's the same situation with the stickers idea.  15. Flyers Again, its' the same as the stickers. You would have to literally hand out hundreds of those things to see even a sale. Ok, maybe one sale. Two??? And how many hours would it take you to do it? But, if you are in front of a good spot anyway, tack one up.     16. Get A Rubber Stamp And Stamp Your URL On Every Currency Bill That Passes Through Your Hand Be veeeeery careful. For the obvious reason. 17. Free Advertising On Forums, And Other Sites Many site owners offer free advertising space to bring in more visitors. Problem is, just about all these sites don't have enough visitors going there, so you won't get that many clicking on your free ad. Especially forums. 99% of Internet users do not go to message boards and blogs. And how can you get any real results if there are only, say, a few hundred going there, and it is estimated that only a half a percent, if that, click on ads? Then of the ones who do go to your site, a mere one percent or so buys. Do the math.  18. Press Releases I have never tried this, so I don't know. One thing I do know, how many actually read a press release? Have you? Also, how many times does the release go out? If it is only one time, what's the point? And, where does the release get sent to??? If you do decide to try this, prweb and prleap are a couple of the better ones you can try. Some packages are $200! So be careful here.    19. Submit Your Site To DMOZ, And Other Directories Supposedly this is good for search engines. I have no idea, and I don't think many do either. But try it anyway. It couldn't hurt. 20. Post Ads all Over The Place In CraigsList.org Put 'em in different cities. 21. Yahoo Groups, And Other Kinds Of Groups This may be like message boards. I don't know. If so, you could very well be putting in more time, while not getting back much of a return. Remember, your goal is NOT to be paid less than a minimum-paid worker! 22. Review Products On Amazon, And On Other Sites Put your URL at the end of your comments. Keep in mind that your post may not be accepted as this may be seen as advertising. And, again, how many times would you have to do this to see a good return??? 23. Put Your URL, Along With A Brief Sales Pitch In Your E-mails Â
24. Most Popular Social Bookmarking Sites There are many more than this, but do you really need a list of 5 million? www.reddit.com www.shoutwire.com http://del.icio.us/ http://www.furl.net/ http://www.simpy.com/ http://del.icio.us/ http://www.backflip.com/ http://www.blinklist.com/ http://bluedot.us/ http://de.lirio.us/bookmarks/ http://www.diigo.com/user/ http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/ http://www.netvouz.com/ http://www.taggly.com/ http://www.shadows.com/ http://www.markaboo.com/ http://ma.gnolia.com/ http://linkagogo.com/ http://netvouz.com/ http://www.mister-wong.de/ http://www.spurl.net/ http://www.rawsugar.com/ http://www.stumbleupon.com/ http://www.digg.com/ http://www.blogmarks.net/ http://www.lookmarks.com/ http://socialbookmarking.org/ 25. Selling Something? Don't Forget Ebay 26. Submit Something Interesting, Off The Wall To Sites Like Digg It doesn't necessarily have to be anything related to your site, either. Go to http://www.prontocondoms.co.za/ to see something totally different. Talk about it, and then very briefly and lightly pitch your site. People Digg more on the funny and interesting. But, I have to be honest here...not that many site owners are successful with Digg. It is a bit overrated. So don't get any grand illusions. 27. Wear A Nice-Looking T-Shirt With Your URL And A Brief Description Try to have a cool look to it. Ask family, friends and members of message boards for feedback. Have a nice-looking shirt! Even have your URL on a polo shirt. It would look ok, as long as it isn't gaudy. Have it no bigger than your hand, and place it over the right or left breast of the shirt. T-Shirts, of course, are different, but still have a nice-looking one. Sports stores carry the better ones. 28. Will Your DMV Allow You To Put Your URL On The License Plate In Place Of The Numbers? 29. Do You Walk The Dog A Lot?Put your URL on him, like some sort of a shirt. 30. Magnetic Signs Slap 'em on all four sides. Give some $ to truckers to carry them on their trailer, to cab drivers to carry on their cabs, call up the bus station to se how much they would charge you for placing some of your magnetic signs on their buses. Think of more ways! 31. MySpace Not a favorite of mine. You have to contact X amount of people just to make it worth your while. It's basically like sending a mass of e-mail to people. Spam. Highly overrated! 32. Offer Something For Free I don't know about this one. Experience has told me that they will take it, and keep on a walkin.' Most people are like that. Not even a "thank you." I'll give a few tips away here and there, but that's it. I'm not trying to sound negative, just real. But, try it anyway. Instead of offering a free report or an e-book, put it right there on your site for EVERYONE to see! Maybe, maybe 3% of your visitors will sign up for an e-book or report. Putting it right there on your site, 100% will see it! Then tell them to come back as more will be coming soon. Underneath it put a form right in front of their face where they can fill out to send to friends. 33. Send a "Thank You" E-mail To The People Who E-mail, You And Have Bought From You Then ask them to remember you in the future by putting your URL in their favorites, ask them to tell their friends and, lastly, ask how you can better your site for people like them. 34. Answer People’s Questions On Yahoo! Answers Put a link to your site in with your answer. Give them something extra by talking about something cool that they can relate to. Don't JUST give them an answer! I answer singles' questions all the time. I then send them to Pronto Condoms to look at that video, among other cool stuff. 35. Record An Informative Podcast And Submit Them To Podcast Directories Problem is, not that many go there. But it may be heard by just one person who could possibly make your site successful, like a PR person, or a TV scout. 36. Buying A List Of Names Of People Who Have Bought Online And how do you know if that list is updated? Because they say so? Uh-huh. And, can you say..."Spam"? It could be a list of names who have volunteered to accept such e-mail, but many forget that they have done so, and then get irritated by your e-mail. 37. Infomercial This is a great idea! Then find a couple of sponsors to pay for the air time! 38. Ezines They can work, providing what you are talking about is interesting to a lot of people. And it has to be A LOT of people if you want to make money. Remember, less than 3% buys. But, you still have to hit the Internet pavement to find sites to carry your newsletter type ezines. Aren't you doing it now for your site? So why do it for both the site AND NOW the newsletter? Maybe you can make it work. It might be the answer for you. Who knows. 39. Contests Perhaps. Ain't gonna work if you pay out more than what you're bringing in. 40. A Network for Exchanging Ads This is a spin off of the banner exchange idea. Find nice-looking sites you would like to exchange ads with. Then go to http://www.trafficestimate.com/results.asp to see, roughly, how many monthly hits they get. If it looks pretty good, send them an e-mail, pitching the idea of exchanging banners, or text link ads. To better your odds in them agreeing to it, suggest that you both put it on the bottom of the pages. That way it will be out of the way of the rest of the content, while also being seen by the visitors. After all, their eyes go down to the page...all the way to the bottom, right? And that's where you ad will be! It could be a great way for sites owners who don't have enough money to advertise on other sites. You could get a big network of poor advertisers together to do this! .I know what you are thinking. Then there will be a huge mess of ads on the bottom. Not if everyone does it right. Set it up in categories. Books, clothes, web hosting, dating.... Then only nice-looking ads can be accepted. Nothing garish, or flash. I know, I know, it is sort of like exchanging links, but this way you are telling more about your site, and your ads are on more than one page. And about those banner exchange sites...they don't work! How many people actually go there? Remember, you need a site that has a lot of visitors, because the numbers work like this: 1% or less of the visitors click on ads. (More than that click on racey pictures, porno ads, funny and interesting ads and pictures. But how many of those will ACTUALLY buy from you?) Then of the 1% who do go to your site, 1-3% of them buys. Get it now? 41. Share A Commercial With Other Advertisers You don't have enough money for a commercial? Find a few more advertisers to share a 60-second spot. Take turns pitching your ideas. Be crazy about it. Be funny about it. 42, Furl.net, StumbleUpon.com Where site-to-site hoppers go to tell about all the websites they like. Find other similar sites. 43. Put Your URL In A Picture, Cartoon, Or A TutorialThen spread it around, like an ad. Stick it everywhere. MySpace, FaceBook, funny sites.... Get them to send it to their friends, who in turn might send it to their friends. Don't know what to use? Ask people. 44. Yahoo360 Groups, And Other Such Groups But, remember, if you are putting in more time, while not seeing much of a return.... 45. Answers.Yahoo.com Answer questions, and have your URL at the bottom of your post. same time. 46. Start A Lens On Squidoo It's like having your very own Website in a Website. Well, not exactly. You create a page about yourself for others to see. This is far different than MySpace! It's more for advertisers. But the visitors don't seem to mind. They come in the millions! http://www.squidoo.com/browse/homepage. Find the most popular pages for ideas of your own. Find out WHY they are popular. 47. Business Cards Come on, you're a business person now! Have cards! I don't care if you're an affiliate for clothes. You can offer cheaper clothes, right? So.... You can get a box of 1,000 for what...$30??? Make a few sales from 1,000 people. Would you see a profit? Yes, it can take awhile, but you are talking to the person anyway, right? Just hand him your card. It takes me over a year to go through a box. Why? Because I don't waste them by tacking them on boards, putting them on windshields, putting them on the mirror in public restrooms... Sorry, but those don't work all that much. Instead use a cheaper method. Stickers. they cost much less than cards. And even though it takes at least a year for me to use all the cards, it doesn't matter, because it is just a small part of my advertising campaign. I may make several sales. I am talking to that guy anyway, so I just hand him a card. Let's say you made, oh, $100 in about a year's time doing absolutely nothing. Not much money at all, right? But, if you don't do it, you don't get it. What could you do with that money right now? Here's something else to think about...what if you did several other slow-producing methods, and made a combined $300 in a year's time? More, even? 48. Videos In YouTube and MySpace 49. High Page Rank On MySpaceThere are some people who have high ranking pages on MySpace. You could try posting links on their comment boards, saying how much you like their music, images, etc., along with a tidy little signature and your URL at the bottom. But, the thing is, it could be hard and time consuming finding such pages. 50. Submit A Lot Of Your Pages From Your Site To The Google DirectoryWho knows, it might be of some use. Create pages for that very purpose. 51. Sell On CafePress.com 52. Give Tips In DayTipper.com 53. http://www.google.com/webmasters/ Google helps out with advice, and tools of their own. 54. Reply To Spam E-mail With Your Own Ad 55. Adding Specific Pages From Your Site As External Links On Wikipedia 56. GumTree.com A place to post ads. It has over 3 million visitors, so it might be worth a shot. 57. Advertise Quick Tip In Newspapers, And Then Tell The Readers To Expect One Every Week 58. Create "Just Stuff" Pages In Your Site Again, I don't care if you are just selling socks. It could be funny or cool pictures, articles, links to cool sites.... Then put a tell a friend form on the bottom. This MIGHT get you more visitors. To improve your odds in getting your visitors to click to that page, put a neat-looking thumbnail of a picture next to your link. Perk their curiosity! As for ALWAYS updating it. "Experts" say to do this. Well, here's the thing about that one....once again, if you are putting in more time, while not getting enough sales from it.... Just update it, say, on Fridays, and then tell your visitors that, so they know when to come back. And, folks, if you have some good stuff, many WILL come back! Ask them to save the page in their favorites. 59. Make A Screensaver For People To Download For Free Maybe, maybe not. If it is not something really cool, or really appealing to the eye, you can pretty much forget it. And how many actually look at their screensavers after the first few times? Are you? You pretty much glance at it as you open a browser, right? Sorry, but that is the reality of screensavers. If you do try this idea, don't forget to put your URL in it. Hire a cheap college student to help you. 60. Write Something Controversial And Send It Off In The Internet World It can be something as idiotic as the Da Vinci code, but as long people talk about it, its a successful campaign. A few hints, something controversial is something that goes against established beliefs in your market. BAD ADVICE! But I put it in this list anyway because this, MIGHT, be good for your blog or message board. If you are selling something, the last thing you want to do is to get them to dislike you! Sorry, boys and girls, but that is just dumb. Yes, I know, you can say that you disagree with it, and why you do, but you want potential customers to feel good about your site, to be in a pleasing mood. Save that "controversial" crap for blogs and boards. 61. And, Finally...Ask Others To Critique Your Site If it looks like crap, it isn't user friendly, or it doesn't look the same on other browsers, how can you get your visitors to tell others about it? Well, if you are offering free stuff, like craigslist does, that is different. Ask message board members, family, friends.... Hell, ask your own visitors. Though practically all won't, but a few might, which may be enough. This list is always updated, so stick around. Source: http://www.thelist.fm/marketing-advertising.shtml Perry Rose TheList.FM
That won't work anymore becuase of MSPLINKS.com All the links now are converted to hash strings like . http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmxhc3QuZm0vZXZlbnQvMTY5MDMz Although humans may follow the link. SEO wise there no value. (I'm like 99% sure) Right?
for tracking stats the best tool i found is http://www.google.com/analytics/ works great try it you might like it (and by might i mean you will)