I created an auction site www.bidjunk.com . I have worked my way up to 11 members (such a vast number), but those 11 members have cost me $150 in advertising. I have been using adwords and the first day it was great and cheap, but then the minimums sky rocketed. I can't spend too much money in marketing because the site is a free to use site. I don't even have ads running on it. I was wondering if I could get some tips on how to get people to come to it and actually join. I've tried adwords, adbrite, bidvertiser(what a joke), and next week I have a few newspaper ads running (through adwords). Any advice on how to get more vistors and people to register would be greatly appreciated.
That's quite a nice site. Build up backlinks, try a press release! Press releases have been known to do good things.
You could try yahoo search marketing, it converted well for me and test some of the smaller ppc like 7search, miva, goclik .
A press release? Never thought of that. How would, who would, I guess I should google it. Are they expensive? Yahoo search: I will go signup today. Do they jack up the minimum bid like adwords? If you can get something for referring give me a link or name to use and I will use you as the referrer. Thanks for all advice given and still to come.
Also, as far as building backlinks... Do directories help at all? Or, will I need to try to find people to trade with?
I would recommend getting a logo designed. I can provide the graphics design services, PM me if you're interested. You can write a press release and submit it to press release websites for free. You can also write articles about auctions and bidding and submit those to article directories like http://www.ReadEZArchive.com
readezarchive.. I sent you a PM. I'll try out your site, but I will have to brush up on my grammar.... It has been awhile.
ok look man your competing with ebay here lol. what you should do is try to solicit ebay members to join your site... theres a few ways to do this but what i would recommend is find current active ebay members and buy their email lists. PM if you want my list...I wont sell it to u but maybe we can work out an email campaign deal that benefits us both. I have been actively on ebay since 2003, and have a huge email list, as I also sell alot of info products on ebay for but cheap that i created, which resulted in me obtaining this massive email list.
You can submit press releases for free or paid. There is a list of free press distribution sites on Mashable.com, that you might have a look at. As for other ways to build up your site, I would cancel the paid promotions for now, if you are losing money on them and go with free alternatives like social bookmarking sites and article directories, to build traffic. The other benefit that you have is that you are not charging for the service, so you should promote that to your benefit. Put up a banner or graphic that says "Sell here for free" or something. That in itself should get more people to sign up, because they have nothing to lose when its free. Nice site by the way and good luck hopefully it works out for you.
Have you got a business plan in place? That logo is scary indeed, it looks like a child is running the show.
Sadly, I have the cart in front of the horse with the business plan. It is all ramblings and not very well organized. I am trying to work it out and assign goals and timelines for it though. Yes, I am going to have a dp user make me a logo. I guess I have seen it so much that i have become numb to the fact that it is horrible... LOL
Does anyone ever have any luck with newspaper ads when it comes to a site that isnt actually selling anything?
The reason I made it was to sell my items for free. To make money on it if it ever does take off I will put ads or affiliate links on it. Probably created more out of anger at ebay.
I respect that but you have to treat it has a business. First off place google ads on your site now. Place atleast 2 or 3 affiliate links on there. Make some money that you can put towards designs, promotion, etc... Go to paypal/ebay hate forums and post about your site. I bet they would love to list their items for free. Pick payment processors your site allow. since you against ebay make paypal not allowed on your site. best advice make alertpay your payment processor, free to use, no fees with personal account. Place alertpay banner on your site, have people sign you for alertpay through your link, you make all the refer commissions from people signing up to alertpay under you. I can go on for days helping your site grow. I will help...I will pm you details...
If you want PPC, MSN adCenter does not increase your minimum bids like google, and they're giving $50 coupons in free clicks[my sig, offer ends Feb 29]. However, I would suggest you try Pay per Lead [you pay only when someone registers], since you are trying to get more members. Let's say you pay $0.50 per signup, you would have 100 new members for only $50. You can try this, to get leads for as low as $0.10 Or this
A lot of people is sick of paypal and ebay. You should email alertpay, try to partner up with to get your site on their homepage. But I think to get their partnership they would want your site to only accept alertpay. Its only one way to find out and thats email them.
Try to exchange links with others. Post relevant comments in Yahoo Answers (ie: If someone asks where a good place like ebay to go, point them to your site) I wouldnt buy ads right now. Buy text links from others that have the same sort of niche. Or sell stuff on Ebay with A link to your site that holds the "pictures" (you cant just put your link in the post but you can if it holds more info about the product or pics) Hope this helps!!