When you run your own online home based business, you will want to generate traffic, gain visibility in the niche your website falls into, improve the websites search engine rankings, and other things that will promote you sight and get your name out there.
It takes a small investment to get some of these techniques up and running and paying off, but it is worth it in the long run. You need to spend a little bit of money in order to make a little money, and here are seven ways that you can use your initial investment money to promote your website.
AdWords This billion dollar business from Google combines AdWords and AdSense into one package to help you promote your business. AdWords is the more effective of the two as it generates raw traffic straight to your website. To use, you set up an account, add the keywords related to your website to it and set the maximum rate of one cent to the Pay-Per-Click option.
Raise your rate by an additional penny each week until you get the amount of clicks you want each day. The lower rates may not generate any hits in AdWords, but it will generate traffic from
AdSense.
Site-Specific AdWords When you work with AdSense you will see units that are labeled with 'Advertise on this website'. This allows you to create customized advertisements for your website that will be displayed on specific websites using this option.
They work on what is called a CPM method - cost per 1,000 impressions - meaning that you get paid for every 1,000 times the ad comes up. You don't get quite as much exposure, but you do get highly targeted traffic because you are in control of where the ad shows up.
StumbleUpon Ads This unique book marking website allows users to find websites using a browser toolbar. The users click on 'Stumble' and they are delivered to websites that match those that people with similar interests have positively rated. The user can then rate the website themselves.
You can also launch advertising campaigns with StumbleUpon Ads and your website will go right to those 'stumblers' for viewing.
Text Link Ads - You can increase you search engine ranking by using text link ads.
You purchase a few of these ads, word them creatively, and then place them on relevant and authoritative sites that go along with your own. These ads can generate a good amount of search engine traffic on their own, but even more when they are hooked to those other websites. Sometimes these work better than banner ads.
Direct Banner Sales For a structured weekly or monthly fee you can purchase banner ads that display directly on other websites, usually at the top of the page. These can be bought from established websites and the rates are based on the number of clicks of impressions the banner generates. Banner ads are great because they create visibility as well as spread awareness of your 'brand'.
The users of the website your banner is placed on will automatically associate your ad with your website and if the see the banner enough times and your services are something they could use, they may click on it and see what you are all about. Banner ads also lead the consumer to believe that they website you advertise on is directly related to your product.
