Posts Tagged ‘advertising’
Advertising on Craigslist
October 29, 2011 | 
Author Advertising on Craigslist is worthwhile for just about any business offering products or services. Whether these products are offered through ecommerce websites or physical stores, the business owners can see financial gains through advertising on Craigslist. Firstly unlike other advertising opportunities there is very little risk involved in posting on Craigslist. With the exception of job postings and housing postings in specific markets, advertising is free on Craigslist. Users are asked to agree to the terms of service of the community and are expected to follow specific guidelines when posting advertisements but there are no financial obligations to those placing advertisements on Craigslist. This means those who post advertisements do not have to be concerned with whether or not the advertisement they place will meet their expectations in terms of sales generated.
Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist
Another reason why posting advertisements for products or services on Craigslist is so worthwhile is the likelihood of reaching a large audience of potential customers. A review of the Craigslist fact sheet reveals pertinent information regarding the amount of traffic the website receives. According to this information Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views each month with ten million people using Craigslist each month. From these statistics it is clear that advertisements placed on Craiglist are likely to receive at least some attention from potential clients.
With so many visitors using Craigslist each month the advertising possibilities are limitless, however, there are no guarantee any of these visitors will be interested in your products or services. Like any marketing campaign, your advertisements on Craigslist must be intriguing, informative and in a location where you will reach your target audience.
Finding Your Target Audience on Craigslist
Weve already discussed the number of visitors using Craigslist each month but the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to target your advertising in a way aimed at reaching your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It is much more worthwhile to reach a small audience of those with a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience of those who are not interested. Those who have an interest in your products or services are your target audience.
The key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist is placing your advertisement in the most appropriate locations. Craigslist has a specific section for businesses to advertise their services. This section is broken down into a number of categories. Those who are in the business of computer repair would be wise to place their advertisement in the computer section as opposed to the automotive section because individuals looking for computer help will naturally migrate to the computer section. It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section.
If there is not a specific section for the products or services offered by your business there are a couple of options. Business owners can place an advertisement in the section for small business advertisements where it might be found by those doing a search in this section. Alternately the business owner can contact Craigslist to suggest the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if they believe this category warrants an addition.
The Difference between Advertising and Spamming
Advertising on Craigslist is one thing but spamming is quite another. Placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable; however, placing the same advertisement in nearly every section of Craigslist websites for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all potential customers who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations are likely to recognize the spamming techniques and be less inclined to patronize this business. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming they may delete all of the postings and could potentially ban advertisements from the individual in the future.
Written by Hiero
Pay Per Click Advertising is Highly Targeted And Results Are Quantifiable
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. According to Forbes Magazine, by the year 2008, companies will spend Billion a year on PPC advertising.
No wonder, almost every keyword search, especially related to products and services that are for sale in market, yields host of sponsored links in the top, side and bottom column of all the major search engines. This clearly indicates the growth and popularity of PPC advertising among online marketers.
The growth paired with success is always threatened by increased competition. PPC advertising is no exception. The number of firms offering PPC management services has mushroomed in recent times.
According to a survey by Reprise Media, not only is the PPC advertising market widening for the past three years, the growing interest in PPC advertising has caused a rise in keyword costs of some markets by as much as 25 percent. This means the average cost per click (CPC) rate is also increasing rapidly.
Factors fueling growth of PPC Advertising
PPC advertising is helping many businesses to grow and thrive. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising offers a new and cost effective way to attract potential customers to your business. Besides others, some exclusive factors propelling to the growth of PPC are:
Geo Targeting Customers: Pay Per Click allows you to publish your ads in selected geographical area. This helps you in regulating the flow of your investments in right directions and to reach only the right customers.
Organic advertising on internet does not have that edge of limiting publications geographically. Pay per click in that case becomes a cost effective choice for marketers who want to limit their web advertising to particular region(s) state(s) or even nation(s)
Instant Result: Organic listing of website at top slots of search engine can take months, whereas the PPC advertising can place you at top within minutes. This means you get nearly instant traffic.
Pre-Qualified Customers: The best part of this advertising campaign is that you don’t have to look out for your customers but your potential customers will find you. Prospects use certain keywords or phrases to search for your products and services on internet. You need to have those keywords in your PPC advertising campaign and bid to ensure that your ads get top spot in the sponsored listing of search engines.
Compelling Ad Copies: “Small and smart” is the mantra here. Creating PPC ad copies is a challenge for any copywriter because in the space of a very limited number of characters you need to appropriately position your product/service for your customer.
That tiny ad needs to be compelling enough to attract the customer and encourage him to click. So your professional PPC advertising company or in house PPC management team must highlight the key benefits of your product/service, place in the keywords, mention special offers if any and put in a call to action, all in the space of those few characters. Its tougher than it sounds!
Plus, strategically designed ad copies can filter unwanted clicks and ensure qualified visitors on your website.
Tracking The Success: Using various analytics tool, you can check how people are responding to your ads in both qualitative and quantitative way. The measurability factor attached with pay per click campaigns makes it a favorite advertising strategy for online marketers.
You can exactly calculate metrics like click through ratio, cost per click and cost per conversion, ensuring almost complete control on your advertising budget.
Flexibility: PPC campaigns can accommodate any budget. If your budget is low you can still launch an effective PPC advertising campaign by incorporating less popular but still relevant keywords. Less popular keywords are less expensive.
But in case your goal is to maximize visibility in top search engines you can have wider range of keywords from most popular and expensive keywords to least popular and less expensive keywords.
PPC advertising campaigns, if designed professionally can propel business growth. It definitely is a complicated task that requires constant professional attention and analysis.
Every click from visitors is costing you money, hence to get optimum results and better ROI, ensure your PPC campaign is being handled by professional PPC Advertising Company.
Written by nishantbaxi
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Posted in Advertising | 
Tags: advertising, click, Highly, Quantifiable, Results, Targeted | 
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