I'm building a new website for a business idea which should appeal to the general public. I feel advertising in the National newspapers should drive traffic to the site. Any ideas anyone??
I would probably not do that, but I am living in Norway and I am talking about Norwegian newspapers. The ads are very expensive compared to ads on the Internet, and it's not as easy to track your visitors (roi). Jens
wow national newspapers. Yes do it. It's gonna be VERY expensive though, and I haven't talked to many people that use this method, I've only seen big companies use it. I'm guessing it really works, but it all depends on how attractive your site is.
We have a local "Pennysaver" that is published on Wednesdays and Saturday. I think a small ad in it is about $10.00. I would test it in a small paper first to see what kind of result you get. You could put something in the ad that says if you mention this code you will receive a free ebook. That could be one way of tracking how many visitors you get from the ad.
What MarketLeverage said. As for tracking, perhaps you could also use just that one source. That way you know where they are coming from. But first get your ads critiqued. Ask others what they think. Anwyay, try it. It never hurts to experiment.
Newspaper advertising does indeed work, you just need to find out which newspaper works. This is why tracking is really important. A good way to track is either offer a coupon code exclusively for the newspaper or use a specific URL strictly for your website such as yoursite.com/newspaper. You also have to remember that newspaper is really good for branding, so if you don't see results right off the bat, it may take a few runs until you see some sales. Good luck!
To be honest I wouldn't advise it for a first step because its a total different game from the internet and every visitor from an internet site is a visitor who is going to click and go on the site even if it is for a few seconds, where as if its a newspaper the visitors are potential as in readers who MAY visit the site But you never know prove me wrong
2000??? damn. One does not put that much in their first ad. Well, if he had any common sense, that is. Is that how much you lost, germz? So that means it won't work for everyone else, is that about right?
I have done this through a regional paper for a regional website and had little success. Its costly and hard to get people from print to the computer, but that doesnt mean it cant be done. If you're serious about doing this and your domain name is hard to type or remember i would spend $8 on an easy domain for your ads and then redirect them to your main site.
Depends on the site and the article/ad.. Last year there was an article about my hobby (pinball machines) in the weekend edition of a national newspaper here in Belgium with a link to my websites.. Didn't bring in any new visitor (not that I noticed in my stats). I wouldn't invest too much money in it..
In my opinion you should use only online Internet ads...It's much more effective and cheaper...What's more newsparer's ads have sunk into oblivion...It's my opinion...
IMO - try a press release first. the PR should not be a mere announcement - instead, it should have a story/news angle/pitch. then, pass this on to the editor of the newspaper you're targeting - if it's newsworthy enough, they'll run the story for free. that beats a paid ad anytime
That's what I mean, it all depends on the newspaper article and the newspaper publisher. If it's a national newspaper it will probably cost you more than 2 thousand dollars. Perry, you've been a member of this forum for a long time and you must know the average price of an ad on a popular website such as well... john chows? he charges 1k a month for a type of ad on his blog. Now can you imagine how much MORE a national newspaper charges? A national newspaper gets way more readers that johnchow.com and many other popular site.
I think online advertising would be better. With a newspaper, people have to remember the URL, walk to a computer and type it in however on the internet, if they see your advertisement, they only have to click to the ad to arrive to your site. Also, advertising (in Australia anyway) is really expensive in newspapers.
Yes gameover, newspaper advertising is very expensive, I've lived in Peru, Colombia and the US and all of the national newspapers change a lot for ads. I doubt there are places where newspaper ads are cheap. Newspapers charge by the size of the ad, so if your ad is big you can end up paying hundreds of dollars, but a small ad won't get much attention and can simply be overlooked. With the money you spend on a newspaper you can advertise way more online and guarantee visits to your site, with a newspaper it's more of a chance.
Yes, advertising is very expensive (A rip off, if you ask me, especially with such sites as John Chow's.), but rates do not start out that high in all newspapers. There are some good papers out there. South Carolina's state paper has reasonable rates. Shop around, start small, and work your way up.
In my experience, we didn't see a return that justified the price. Each situation is different, I think if you have some sort of promotion closely tied to the site it might work. We did get a few phone calls, but virtually no spike in traffic. A couple grand in AdWords or with other online methods might take you a bit further than print ads.
Day one of my ad exposure and I only got two hits. However I will know by the end of the week. Anyway up and at em - another site on the way.Thanks for all your help.