There are a lot of ways to advertise online. This article looks at Online Advertising, beyond Google Adwords. Not only is the Google way an expensive way to advertise but it’s also highly competitive.
A lot of experts suggest you run a Google adwords campaign, even if you have to start on a small scale with a small budget but it is a very good idea to develop multiple marketing strategies.
Less expensive (and even free!) options throughout cyberspace could bring about great results. Quite a few options exist such as banner and link adverts, blog ads, social network advertising, contextual advertising, affiliate marketing, email marketing, and more.
Below is a closer look at some options:
Banner Advertising
Create banners and pay to advertise. High traffic websites and forums will often let you place a banner ad for a low monthly fee.
To find great places to advertise, you should do some research to see where else your targeted keywords land. Some of those sites might not be competitors but could be content sites or forums and these could be great places to display your ad.
Another way to use banner advertising is to swap banners with other website owners. Display your banner on their site and their banner on yours. This works best if you have complementary niche markets, rather than competing with each another.
Blog Ads
There are sites that offer pay per posting services. You can post guest blogs or just insert ads, banners, or links on other blogs. You can seek out blogs to do this on your own or work with a marketing company that offers this type of service. You might be able to get a permanent link or banner on a high ranking / high traffic blog for as low as $5.
Online Advertising On Social Networks
You can put ads on social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, and others. Some of these sites offer contextual advertising so that your ads appear when people within a specific demographic are on that site, so you aren’t’ just paying for mass advertising but paying for targeted ads instead which can be much more productive.
Contextual Advertising
Like Google, other advertising services can show specific ads when particular phrases are used. This can apply to websites, blogs, and social networks.
If someone has an interest in a particular area in their profile, your ad might appear when they log in. Some of these services are much cheaper than Google.
Email Marketing
You shouldn’t go off and send unsolicited email to anyone but if you can get people in your target demographic to opt-in to an email list you can advertise in a newsletter.
Also, if you know someone who has a large mailing list you might offer to do a joint venture where you can advertise your product in their next newsletter and pay them either a fee for the advertising or for a percentage of the sales.
Videos / Podcasting / Articles / Press Releases
Placing videos, audio files, press releases, and articles online in directories can be low cost and can even be free. In some cases you can even earn income while you advertise because viral content sites can pay revenue sharing and bonuses.
Classifieds
There are a lot of classified networks on the internet that offer low-cost or free Online Advertising. Take advantage of these sites and you could get some great results.
Affiliate Marketing
If you create a few banners and some sales material as well as a webpage, you can set up your own affiliate program and pay a commission to people who bring you new sales.
You can do this on affiliate networks or on your own. Others might want to help you sell and this way you only pay fees if there’s an actual sale.
Other Search Engines
Google might be the biggest but they’re not the only player in town. Other search engines offer sponsored advertising opportunities and some of those are much less expensive and much less competitive than Google.
This is not an exhaustive list and as you can see there’s much more to Online Advertising than Google Adwords.
Implementing multiple internet marketing strategies can be cost effective and can help you get great results.
About Sean Rasmussen
There certainly are plenty of options. Worth investigating further
Hi Sean,
This is an amazing list and one I will work through. It’s like I’ve heard bits and pieces of these and learning to see the whole picture of how it all fits together is the key.
A very handy list indeed for online advertising. Will be interesting to find out more about contextual advertising. I agree with Jazz, bits and pieces like a series of jigsaws.
It is a case of the more you learn the more you need to learn and with a list like this — banner ads, link ads, blog ads, social network advertising, contextual advertising, affiliate marketing, email marketing, there certainly is plenty to do. and all worth it when it starts paying off.
Sometimes I feel so tired reading all of this information, but I also know that when you do things one step at a time…..step by step…..one foot in front of the other…… I will get there in the end. All of it is great advice and information…some I have tried and works well, others I have yet to do. Once again though, a great post.
Cath and Trev
Hi Cath and Trev,
I know how you feel. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information we have to learn to be successful. Not to mention all the strategies that we have to apply.
I think it’s easier if you choose a few strategies to start with. Then when you feel more comfortable, add in a few more. At least this is what I try to do.
Like anything, taking too much on at once will more than likely lead to failure. Focus on one step or strategy at a time and don’t change direction until you feel the time is right
The big G does have a huge hold…its part of everyday language…’don’t know something, just google it’ . There are heaps of other alternatives out there though…so mush so as writing aticles for ezines, free ads at noflies etc etc… Does anyone know if you can use affiliate links to ebooks on ebay?
G’day Sean,
You keep on amazing us with the variety of your knowledge. There is a week or two’s work in exploring these and digesting them. Lots more than just Google. Thanks Sean.
Head down Bum up STILL
Cheers
Harry
Love the short and sweet intro into the other advertising options out there other than Google Adwords. I’m looking to hone my skills with each of these (starting off with banners). Looking forward to you going into more detail in the future.
Hi Sean.
It is good news to know that there are multiple internet marketing strategies when it comes to advertising my product.
I like the idea of contextual advertising on social media sites and how the add only shows when people from a certain demographic area are on line. This way the add is pointing to a specific group of people. However, this would only work if my product was pertinent to a local area?
There are many nifty ideas here about how to advertise. Google adwords is not the only way.
There are many other demographics other than just location Elly, like gender, interests, age groups etc.
Just reread your blog Sean…as all have said there are so many options it seems hard to choose just a few to get going….