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Classified Ad Sites Can Drive Traffic To Your Site

June 6, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

Some of the biggest and established classified ad sites are visited by millions of people daily! Generally you wouldn’t really care about this piece of information, but if you are looking for a way to promote your own website, then you most certainly would want to find out how to drive traffic to your site for free.

For starters, let’s take a closer look at what the classified ad sites actually are: they are the digital version of the newspaper classified sections, where individuals and businesses can post just about any kind of ad they want either for free or for a small fee. These sites are by far the fastest way to reach a large audience in a matter of minutes; whether you have a business website, a personal site that promotes your services or an online shop, you can post classified ads, drive traffic to that site of yours and at the end earn more money.

Of course, you will have to learn not to cross the line between advertising and spamming; most of the biggest classified sites have pretty good spam-protection tools in place, but you can still play by the rules and increase your website exposure. Before you start putting your online ad together, you need to do a bit of research; find out which are the biggest classified ad sites since they are the ones that can send most visitors your way; however, do not ignore smaller or local sites – placing an ad there is usually hassle-free and much easier. Once you have compiled a list of sites that you would want to place your ad on, take a closer look at the different section – writing and publishing your ad takes time and might cost money, which is why you would want to make most out of it; make sure that you find the section that is visited by people that are looking for whatever your website has to offer.

If you are an auto dealer and you have a business website, then it is more than obvious that you would want to place your ad in the cars for sale or cars wanted section; if the classified site that you are placing your ad allows you, make sure to post a direct link to your site and if at all possible include an image with your logo or website’s address. If your site is used to promote a business that is not bound to particular geographical area, then you might want to post your ad in other states and other big cities, as long as this is not against the classified ad site’s rules.

When played right, you can increase and even double your website traffic in a matter of a few weeks or months; as long as you don’t overpost, use your common sense and your website offers great service or value to its visitors, the online classified sites are a great way of getting free traffic!

Alex Wu operates a classified ads website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their job listings.

Promote Your Business On The Free Online Classifieds

May 23, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you most certainly have heard of some of the biggest online classifieds like Craigslist, Backpage, Oodle, Kijiji or Gumtree. These are certainly some of the biggest free classified sites in the World; however, there are thousands of others that might be less known, but can help you sell your car, house or fridge, find a job and promote your business.

If you are running a large corporation with a massive marketing budget, then you wouldn’t have a problem running expensive TV ad campaigns or placing ads in the large national newspapers. However, if you own a small software company, local restaurant or landscaping business, then you can use the online classifieds to grow your enterprise and increase your earnings.

Some of the big classified websites are amongst the most visited in the World, which means that your ad will get an enormous exposure; before you get overexcited though, you will need to apply some common sense and make sure that you get it right the first time. It is more than obvious that the best-known sites attract way more visitors than their smaller counterparts, but bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better; smaller websites can be exactly what you are looking for – sometimes placing an ad in your local city classified website will bring you as much business as placing one on Craigslist. Keep in mind that the bigger sites have to fight a constant battle with spammers and scammers, which is why they have to place quite a few restrictions; this quite often means that in order to place even a single advertisement, you will have to jump through many hoops.

What do you need to know in order to place the perfect ad?

First of all, make sure that you keep your ad short and sweet. It is well-known fact that most people have a really short attention span, so you have to make sure that once a person reads your ad he or she will get your message from the first one or two sentences. If that person is interested in your services, then he or she can always contact you by email or phone and discuss the details with you later on.

Target the right audience: the big classifieds have many sections that are usually categorized by city, state, or region. If you are running a grocery delivery service in Boston, make sure that you place your ad in the right section as you most certainly don’t want people from LA calling you about your ad.

Always include your contact information: the rules are different on the different online classified, but if at all possible include a telephone number in your ad; this way a person that is interested in the services that you offer can get in touch immediately and have all his or her question answered: if that person has to wait for you to email back, he or she can be already talking on the phone with your competitor.

Alex Wu operates a free online classifieds website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for people to conduct their job search.

Market Your Product through Classified Advertising

May 17, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

If you are looking for new ways to market your product or services online, then you should never underestimate the power of online classified advertising. You can generate very good amount of fresh and targeted leads just by posting daily ads on one or more of the large classified sites and in most instances this will cost you absolutely nothing.

Most of the online classified sites allow free advertising for individuals and business alike, while some of them are paid or at least have paid sections; this gives you the opportunity to spread the word about your business and find prospective clients, customers and even business partners. Getting involved in classified advertising requires some preparation, but not necessarily technical knowledge; all you have to do is register an account on one or few classified sites, verify that account through email or phone and you are ready to roll.

Once you have the accounts registered, it is time to compose your ad: online advertising is quite different from placing an ad in your local paper, so you will have to make sure that your ad is clean, catchy and straight to the point. Your ad should also clearly state how the product or the service that you are selling benefits your customers and why it is better than the one offered by your competitors. Do not try to go into too many details while advertising on the classified websites; include only the main features of your product or service and then lead your prospective customers either to your own website, where they can learn more, or leave a contact phone number or email, where you can be reached and answer all their questions.

A picture is worth a thousand words: if the classified site allows you to post picture, by all means include one in your ad; a picture in your ad will increase the responses considerably!

When you engage in online classified advertising, always keep the geographics in mind; if you are running a local business, then advertise only in your own city, but if you offer online services such as say website design, then you can advertise nationwide or even globally. Regardless if you are running your online business from your house in New York or your apartment in LA, you can have customers in London or Toronto and many more cities all over the Globe; classified sites in English can be found in no less than 50 countries and there is no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of this fact.

When done right, online advertising can help you rapidly grow your customer base; the saying “build it and they will come” might have been true a few decades ago, but today if your product or service does not get wide exposure, your business might fail miserably. Of course, once you have run a few ads and have replied to a few potential customers, you will gain experience and can scale up your advertising campaign by placing more ads on more websites; you can also tune up your ads and responses in order to attract more customers and ultimately successfully grow your business.

Alex Wu operates a classified website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their jobs.

Classified Ads as Free Advertising Media for Home Business

April 28, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

We often hear about the budget constraint of home business. In fact it is common to hear this in every organization. Even non-commercial organizations are restricted in term of money they can spend on prospective resources. In general, home businesses are small-scale business ran from residential houses or small factory centers. They range from manufacturing labor intensive products such as crafts to skill intensive ones such as counseling service.

Many online retail shops are also home businesses which can run their operational activities efficiently and professionally. Yet cost is still a constraint and everyone wants to reduce it without selling less. At the middle point, we know advertising can takes a big proportion of your budget. And we also know that advertising is crucial to get sales and reach new customers. But thanks for the growth of Internet utilization that we now have many more choice to advertise products and services. Have you ever heard or used online classified ads to market your business? If not, you should consider it as one of the feasible ways to market online on Internet.

Almost similar to offline classified ads, we prepare ads draft based on the allowed character (which is usually big enough), find online classified ads sites to post ads on, and measure your ads performance. First of all, they are almost all free. Home business can advertise their products and services without worrying of paying too much. Secondly, they are easy to manage.

You do not have to waste time on talking to classified ads agencies, handling your ads drafting to them, or waiting for weeks and months until your ads is published (in case of free offline classified ads). If you pay for your ads being posted, then you still have limited exposure because the traditional classified ads are usually posted on one or few editions only. There is less possibility that people will read your ads and get the information. This is not yet to mention the cost you incur, from managing the first contact with the classified ads agency to paying your ads cost.

It takes much longer time and waste much more energy, obviously. The case is much different when you manage online classified ads. Would it consume time? Yes, if you are just starting it for the first time. But it is not that much at all. Posting ads on classified ads sites is as easy as signing up for a new email or social networking account. And the ads stay there for a long time or even permanently! With the unlimited exposure provided by online classified ads, you can expect better performance too. Of course, they need to be measured for effectiveness, as usual. Bu the time and cost you spend is much less.

This is a big opportunity for home business. As they have more focus on creating more sales and attracting more buyers, they can utilize the advantages of online advertising media. Well, of course classified ad is not the only one media to use. There are still many others such as social media, social networking sites, niche forums, online business directories, online ads listing, search engine marketing, and so on. But classified ads can be a great start for ever business, especially if you are not that familiar with the other available options yet.

Alex Wu operates a classified ads website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their employment.

Email Marketing Campaigns for Free Advertising

March 14, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

Businesses keep their customers’ email addresses carefully. It is mainly for database purpose. But do you realize that it is also a big potency for email marketing campaign? If your business gets high volume of emails, then you have a good resource to start email marketing campaign as one of the free advertising campaigns. When it is done right, it is also one effective way to retain old customers and build brand awareness. Business owners should know that is saves more time and gains more future benefits to deliver good focus on old customers.

Obtaining new customers from competitors or a newly-born market is costly and not easy. That is also the reason for you not to lose the already in-hand birds. And hence, the email list is precious as an optimization to free advertising strategy. In fact, contacting people in your list, where they have you too in their list, is much more effective than contacting people who have not conducted business with you before. You do not want to be marked as spam marketer which later ruins your brand reputation, do you? Moreover, email marketing is virtually free. Here are some tips to make more from the free email marketing campaign.

1. Make email subscription offer for every new sign-up. This way you obtain the permission to send email and promotional offers. They can sign up for periodical updates or special offers, you just know in advance that they want to hear the news and do not feel annoyed at all. This is a contrary of the spamming technique many do, which usually results in really tiny conversion rate and ends up with worthless effort.

2. Determine the frequency of sending email campaign. Depending on the product and service type, it can be immediately or weeks or months later. If it is immediately, then make sure you have great offers included in the email. At any time when your business is offering special discount or program, however, it should be perfect to contact them or even let them know earlier. This will create a sense of personal attachment which results excellent in long term.

3. Make record of your customers’ last purchases. Information about what they bought before, when they made the order, and how they reviewed the product or service provide good resources for you to target the re-selling time. When it is the time, send them new offers and deals to remind them of your company as a great place to spend bucks. It is great to if you can remind what they bought the last time, if the purchasing time is already months ago or longer. This will also builds good impression of your business.

4. Make segmentation of your customers, as well as for their email list. You can group previous buyers based on their purchasing preferences, valued attributes, and needs so that the email campaign is relevant to what they want.

5. Measure the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. You can measure the open rates and conversion rates when different types of offer or email are sent. This is one of the most effective marketing effectiveness measurements. When it comes to special offers, you know what types pf offers that gain their interests the best. When it is email material, you know what kind of messages, headlines, or closing that is more effective. It is fine to send the test email to few customers first to find out the best result.

Alex Wu operates a free advertising website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their employment.

Free Business Advertising for Business Owners

January 5, 2010 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

Free business advertising is an affordable yet effective choice for almost every kind of businesses. For small businesses, it is a great method to get to the market without burning the scarce cash. For start-up businesses, it is one of the methods to learn about the market and manage the limited capital. For big firms, free business advertising can widen their market range with low cost, improve credibility, and improve marketing efficiency. Free business advertising is indeed too good to let pass.

Small and start-up businesses have more flexibility in choosing their free advertising methods. The rapid growth of Internet users has open unlimited worldwide opportunities to their product or service. Business owners can start their own blog or website, join online groups, list their business in directories, advertise at free classified sites, do link exchange with supplier, customer, or same-niche’s websites, etc. Starting your business blog or website is great to spread any information you wish. Customers will have more trust and also better information reference if you have one.

There is no limitation on what you can write or post. Many business activities such as doing customer service, introducing new product, confirming sales, advertising the existing product, explaining product description, uploading pictures and videos, and handling orders can be conducted via website. Imagine the cost saving and efficiency you can get in one place. Big firms also do great with the company website. The wide range of customers now has a centered location to find information and get the services they need. Having a website is the main tool for free advertising on Internet.

Besides website, business owners can also consider advertising their product or service at classified ad sites and business directories. Both are usually managed well with specific categories and other features that help your business searchable by potential targets. You just need to create the ads once plus some adjustments for future updates and see how it works. Good advertising words and design should lead to sales increase. But business owners should pay attention to choose the right business directories and classified ad sites.

Lastly, business owners should not pass the online groups. Building community is vital for long term growth and survival. Besides, online groups are also great media to spread information, build reputation, respond to customer needs, receive feedbacks, and maintain customer relationship. The social networking sites, forums, and other online groups are good options for online groups. More people are fond of the power of social networking sites and forums over time because we all need community and connection. You can write anything to describe your product and respond to questions. It is also easier to build personal connection through this media.

Free business advertising is not something customers will regard as “inferior” to your business image anymore. They actually offer great options to run and manage your business better by enhancing interaction, communication, service, efficiency, and effectiveness. All should support your initial purpose of free advertising.

Alex Wu operates a free business advertising website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their employment opportunities.

Classified Ads – The Advertising Solution For The Man On The Street

April 14, 2009 by  
Filed under Home Based Business

Classified advertisement is a category of advertisement particularly tuned to meet the common mans advertising needs. The main advantage of classified advertising over the traditional one is that it is cheap and anybody can post an advertisement. Thus, private tutors and parents of children who need tutoring can find each other through classified ads. In the print media, such ads are classified into different categories to make it easy browsing for the pursuer.

The main categories one would usually find in the classified ad section of a newspaper are real estate, rent, automotive, pets and situations vacant etc. Certain magazines and papers like “Freeads” and “Admag” are dedicated entirely to listing classified ads. These ads are also found in the yellow pages section of many popular publications.

A classified ad may consist of a few lines that sometimes generically describe the product, services or goods that are to be sold and at other times go into specific details. For example, there are ads that sometimes list automobiles for sale but don’t include the pricing or make of the automobile but only a contact number. There are also other kinds of ads that state specific details such as the color, year, make and model and price information for the product that is on sale. The reason for this kind of variation is the mechanism employed by the publisher to charge for these ads.

This diversity can be attributed to the cost factors that are involved. The cost of placing a classified ad is usually determined by a variety of factors like the number of words used, the size of the font, the color of the text, the space consumed by the ad on a page as well as its position on a page. The use of graphics or pictures or even highlighting an ad might end up costing the advertiser more than usual.

The classified ads industry generates an annual income close to 100 billion dollars worldwide. This is not just from the ads displayed in the printed media though. There are television channels that air classified advertisements during non prime time slots. Cable television operators also make a quick buck out of selling local precuts of the cable network in the neighborhood. Radio stations also air advertisements in between programs that are sometimes funny and ear catching.

The classified advertising business that is focused on print media is increasingly facing competition from the emergence of web based advertising portals like craigslist, gumtree, sulekha etc. These sites allow the posting of detailed ads which are more specific and do not depend on short monosyllabic sentences to convey their meanings compared to the print media publications.

The good thing about such websites that most of them are free and ensure easily accessible to the public by enabling options to browse through categories or search using key terms. These portals generate their income from online banner based advertisement and pop up advertisements that convert each click into income for the website.

The cost effectiveness and accessibility that these online advertising solutions offer contribute to their immense popularity among advertisers. As more and more people become net savvy every day, these sites continue to draw more and more advertisers from traditional print media advertising.

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