I've always wondered what is the best way to do some marketing, that is by spending money. Generally everyone uses advertising to get their message across to people. However, isn't that method a little over saturated considering people become, "ad blind" over time. Also i look at all the various services being listed on this forum and I think maybe that those services are better than direct advertising. I've seen services like directory submission, article writers so on so forth. Perhaps its better to spend my advertising dollars on getting people to write good content for me. That way those articles get picked up in google search and people find my site like that. There is also stuff related to seo, but who knows if its any good. I want results. If I could get ranked in the top 10 for my top 3 most targeted keywords that would be awesome and i'd be willing to spend money to get there. Ideas? My product is very niche related. Its used by high school students ONLY and only maybe 5% of those high school students would actually need the product.
Yes, of course advertising stil works. If it didn't, many, MANY businesses, both small and large, both off and online would go under in due time. Think about it. In many (not all) cases, absolutely. Google's Adsense is a good example. This is why you have to create a line of better, more eye-catching ads. It isn't hard, and, again, advertising still works. I don't know which ones you are talking about (Twitter being one of them?), but I think it is still safe to say that for the most part they are basically crap. If they wre so good, better than advertising, then why do so many of the webmasters here still have dead sites? Again, think about it. SEO is highly overrated. Just because you do it does not mean you will land high. It's all about luck. And if you do land high, the traffic is not all that great to begin with. Did you know Markus Frind, of PlentyOfFish, still advertises? But, and not to be contradictive here, some sites can do ok (just ok) by using social networks, like, say, Twitter. But don't hold your breath.
Hmmm, yea you make some good points there. I guess advertising is only good IF IT WORKS. I really wish I could get a free trial for google adsense or YPN to see if I get any results. I agree on the seo, there is no magic formula. I do know however, that content is king for google. By writing good content and ranking good in google that is basically free advertising. I'd also say that if you can rank 1 number in the serp for your keyword that would be more valuable compared to just buying ads on the serp page.
Depends on the type and quality of advertising. Some website's work very well with advertising, but a lot depend greatly on the niche