To be effective with advertising your home-based business, you need to stay away from Yahoo, Bing, and especially Google. It is often quite difficult for them to approve your ads. These sites have tried to take out the bad guys with their online scams, but in doing so they have affected people just like you and me trying to make a living at home. Fortunately, there are alternative ways to promote your business online. Here are some basics to get you started.
Find sites to place your ads
There are many ad directories and resources to help you find places to advertise. Some examples are ADEngage, AdBuyer and Clicksor. But let’s look at one of my favorite sites, Leadtail.com.
The first step on your homepage is to drill down into your niche to find advertising opportunities for your targeted audience. Let’s use the example of “online business”.
When you search the site for that keyword phrase, you get nineteen pages of results. Each page lists:
- The name of the company
- your pricing method (CPC, monthly, etc.)
- number of monthly visitors
- suggested minimum order
Select one of the posts that appeals to your audience and budget, then click on your website. I will use Business.com because it has:
- CPC or cost per click pricing method
- 40,000,000 visitors (huge!)
- and only $250 as suggested spend
Once you land on a company’s website, you look for links to their advertising page. It will say Advertise, Advertise with us, Advertise with Business.com, etc.
Not all sites are the same. Some will have advertising fees on them. Some won’t. Often, you’ll need to contact a sales representative to find out the best options for your budget and advertising goals.
Many of them have self-service platforms where you don’t need to speak to a representative. The site will have a form where you will set a budget, place your ad text, and add a tracking code. Have your ad, ad photo, and URL ready before you begin. Often there are also options for placing banner ads or advertising in business directories.
create your ads
You need to make sure that you use strong keywords; words that people will search to find your business or ad. First, find Google AdWords and its ‘KeywordsToolExternal’ tool.
Example: “online business from home”. Hit search and you’ll see a ton of keyword phrase options. Shows the number of people searching for certain terms. High numbers mean a lot of traffic.
Choose a keyword phrase from the list and click it to go to a Google search page. This will show you what the search results are for that phrase. Sometimes at the top of the page is a peach box with links. These are sponsored or paid links. If there are links in the right column, they are also paid ads.
In the main window, the white area shows organic or natural search results. On the first page, investigate each link for advertising opportunities.
If people are searching for your keyword and land on this page, they’ll likely click on one of the results. If they click on a website, they may see your advertising there. That is the general idea.
Between Leadtail.com and Google’s keyword tool, you have endless options for researching where to place your ads.
Ad Tracking
It is very important to track the performance of your ad. Make sure you have a proper tracking system. You can create your own tracking system, but most ad networks will give you a tracking “pixel” to add to your landing page.
If you have the same ad in three different places, you’ll want to know exactly where your leads are coming from. Some locations may be better for you. Where is your money best invested?
So you’re not flushing money down the toilet, make sure you find sites that have ad opportunities within your budget. Make sure you have powerful keywords so people can find you. Be sure to track your ads so you can see how they’re performing. Do all three and your ad campaigns should be successful.