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Advertising your listings
on the Internet can be a simple, cost-effective to quickly get more and increase your earnings. If you've never purchased advertising
before, don't worry! It's a lot easier to do than you may expect. We recommend
that you experiment first without spending a lot of money. See which types
of advertising work best for selling your advice.
Advertise on Pay-for-Performance Search Engines
Many advisors have had success advertising
on pay-for-performance search engines like Overture.com. It's a great
place to start experimenting!
How do they work?
When a customer searches on a search engine for a specific
topic (e.g. tax advice), they'll see listings of advertisers for that
topic. Listings are ranked by the amount each advertiser bid for clicks.
Advertisers with the highest bids are shown at the top. When a customer clicks on an advertiser's listing, the advertiser is charged the amount
they bid (e.g., $0.30). Note: this type of advertising is often called
cost-per-click or CPC.
What are the largest Pay-for-Performance Search Engines?
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www.Overture.com
- The top advertiser listings for each topic
on Overture are also shown in search on Yahoo, AOL, Lycos, Infospace
and AltaVista.
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www.FindWhat.com
- The top advertiser listings for each topic
on FindWhat are also shown in search on CNET, Infospace and Momma.com.
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www.Google.com
- Google is one of the top search engines on
the Internet. They offer a variety of advertising options. The pay-for-performance
option is called Adwords Select.
How do I advertise on one of these sites?
First, create a list of search topics that
a person might logically use to find your listing. Then go to one of
the above websites and try searching on those topics. What advertisers
are listed? How much would you need to bid to get one of the top spots?
What sales pitches are they using?
Next, click on the "List Your Site," "Advertise
with Us" or "Advertiser" link. Follow instructions to
create your account and deposit money. You'll need to select topics,
create a sales pitch, and add a link to your Keen home page or your top listing. Then you'll be asked to enter a bid for each topic.
Measure your results! Several days later, go back to your
advertiser account and see how many people clicked on your listing.
If not many have, try changing your sales pitch or increasing your bid.
Are you getting more calls on Keen? Ask new customers how they found out
about you.
Other Ways to Advertise on the Internet
Most websites sell advertising. You need to
figure out which websites your potential customer are most likely to
visit. Here are a few ideas:
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Online yellow pages are similar to the Yellow
Pages book that's delivered to your doorstep. Some websites to experiment
with are www.Infospace.com,
www.MapQuest.com and www.Yahoo.com.
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Industry specific websites. Are there any websites
that cater to your category? See if they accept advertising.
- Email newsletters. Are there email newsletters
that cater to your category? See if you can purchase a sponsorship.
One place to start is Topica, an independent email aggregator, where
you can sponsor any of their email newsletters of almost any topic.
Check out www.topica.com/advertise.
Internet Advertising Lingo
Here are a few online advertising terms that
you might encounter and definitions to help you out:
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CPM - Cost per thousand
impressions. An advertiser pays this amount for every thousand times
a person views their online ad or text link.
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CPC - Cost per click.
An advertiser pays this amount each time someone clicks on their
online ad or text link.
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CPA - Cost per acquisition.
An advertiser pays this amount for every customer they acquire through
the advertising. The definition of "acquire" is mutually
agree upon by the advertiser and website owner.
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Sponsorship - General
term for purchasing an online ad on a website or email newsletter
for set period of time. Often email sponsorships are quoted as sponsorship
cost per thousand email.
What to Say in Your Advertising
Less is more when it comes to advertising. Keep your
sales pitch short and sweet -- customer have very little attention span
when they're on the Internet!
In your ad, you should essentially answer the question,
"Why should they call you?" Make sure you cover the basic information
about your services on Keen:
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