Hello guys, I started a site about 3 weeks ago. It is an aquarium related forum that targets local people. www.CarolinaFishTalk.com I have done advertising on craigslist.com, work with some local fish shops to get more people involved, but it looks like I am sorta stuck at this point. I have done some seo on my index page, exchange links with some website and submit my link to over 100 directories. However, I am not sure how that will work out because my forum is targeting mostly local people. What will be a good way to market such a site? Give out flyers? Can someone give me some suggestions? I want to bring in more traffic and make people post more, just can't seem to get the words out.
I run a small PR firm, so I'll give you a few tips in that sense for local promotion. 1. Yes, fliers are a possibility, and they're inexpensive. But, since different localities have different rules on posting them, be sure to check first. A good alternative would be to try to network with some pet / fish supply stores. Ask if they'd like an announcement, coupon, etc. printed on your fliers. In exchange, you'd give them a stack of them to put into a bag every time someone makes a purchase. 2. Press releases tend to work very well for local publicity. You can write your own, or hire someone. Then, just contact your local newspapers and other media outlets, announcing your new site and its local focus with the release. Smaller papers are more likely to pick up on it because of it's local angle than a major metropolitan one ... but it never hurts to try. 3. Keep thinking off-line in the sense of your promotion ... interacting directly with your target market is always the best option. Print business cards, and post a few on public bulletin boards (some banks, businesses, etc. allow you to). See if there are colleges in the area with any kind of aquatic studies like marine biology. Maybe they'll have some contacts in related businesses to pass along. Offer an incentive, contest, or something similar where maybe you could present the prize in person. See if there's some kind of event related to your topic that you could get involved in. ...the possibilities are really endless. Jenn
Yes, for local people stick with local advertising, offline especially. Ask the local animal shelter if they'll put a flier on the bulletin boards most have, or ask the same of local pet store owners. Targeting your demographic is an art.
Have you considered allowing people to create a personal webspace on your site? Maybe some of the local stores don't have the $ and/or time in their budget for a full website. Give them free webspace (where you could fill the borders with some adsense or something). In return they could print the URL in THEIR advertising. that way you are only paying for a little bandwidth and they are paying for the print! Additionally they might be able to get people to sign up for a newsletter about the fish that they bought from the store. The owner in return would be saving phone time from people calling about questions about previous purchases and the customers would be getting the information they need. You could charge a nominal fee for ad placement from your sponsors and everyone would be happy (in your newsletter). This idea obviously has a ton of holes in its explanation. But, i didn't really want to spend 2 hours typing up all the details.... To sum it up local advertising is the best way to go. The more products (business cards, fliers, ads, shopping bags etc.) you can get your URL on, the better. Try talking to a small town newspapers and local magazines about writing an article or column for them form time to time.
allowing people to create a personal webspace is actually something I am working on. A lot of stores don't have website, I am working on something such as charging them like 5 bucks and they get a sub-domain and a website. Thanks for the local advertising comments everyone. I'll definitely work on that as well.