One of the most difficult things for a small business owner to
part with is their advertising dollars. Face it, as a small
business or work from home mom, we just can't afford to throw
money around without a guarantee of results.
Granted, a webmaster can not guarantee the effectiveness of an
ad, especially since the webmaster did not write the ad.
However, he or she should be able to give you statistics for
how many page views the site receives each day, week or month,
how many visitors they receive and a reasonable idea of how
many people will see the ad.
If you want a guarantee of results, you have to do some
research on your own.
Check the forums - are there posts? More than 4-5 per
category? If not, the site probably hasn't been online very
long or it's not very active. You might also want to read
several of the posts in each category. Make sure the majority
of the posts are not made by the web site owner, showing that
there is participation in the forums and check dates of posts
if they're available.
Check ad listings. Are there an abundance of ads posted?
Normally a site that has good advertising rates and is
established and well-known will have several ads posted. Also
make sure there are not too many ads where your ad will get
lost in the crowd and never noticed.
Site content. Does the site contain a lot of content to keep
visitors on the site or keep them coming back? Does it provide
information that coincides with the target market you're
trying to reach?
Banner ads. Does the site offer a private log in area to check
your banner stats? With today's technology, there's no reason
they shouldn't offer this option if they are serious about
providing the best advertising for their customers.
If the site measures up to your standards, try a test ad.
Choose a smaller ad placement that's not too expensive and
wait for results. Be sure to use a tracking tag so you can
accurately measure the results of your ad placement. This will
allow you to see what ads are performing well and on what
sites. Without ad tracking, you're just throwing away your
money!
I've used ProLinkz from
http://womans-net.com/cgi-bin/prolinkz/pl.cgi?pl
for a couple years now. It costs $45, but it can save you lots
more in purchasing ad space that gives you no return on your
investment. It's easy to set up and you have unlimited URL and
ad tracking as well as a nice graph layout to help you
understand who's clicking and where they're coming from.
Other ad tracking programs available are:
URLTRAK
http://urltrak.com/
$4 a month
Link Track Pro
http://www.linktrackpro.com/
$47.50
AdTrackZ
http://adtrackz.com/
$47
If you've got a lot of cash to throw around on advertising
that just doesn't work, there are lots of sites out there that
will be happy to take their share of your money.
A smart entrepreneur is going to be very picky about where
they spend their advertising dollars. You can bet if you spend
$80 on ad placement and two people visit your site without
buying, you're going to either think twice before advertising
on that site again or rewrite your ad.
As the owner of a large community, I handle a fair amount of
ad placements on my site. Only 2-3% use ad tracking of any
kind! I hope those who don't use it, spend a lot of time
analyzing their server logs - yet even this will only tell you
half the story of how effective your ad is, and how well it
does on each site on which you advertise.
Just because you find a place where you can post an ad for $2
a month, doesn't mean that you're spending your money wisely.
You can be frugal with your advertising budget and still
achieve good results. It's simply a matter of where and how
you choose to advertise!
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© 2003 Womans-Net
Kim Haas is a WAHM and Founder of
http://Womans-Net.com,
a popular online networking community for women focusing on
working from home and women in business. Let us show you how
to start, run and promote your business effectively.
http://womans-net.com/cgi-bin/prolinkz/pl.cgi?a1
