Given the state of the online market in the current recession, wasting money on website marketing might not seem like a very bright idea. In fact it might seem foolish to spend money when you have little hope of recovering it. Yet even now there is enough money in the market to make a decent living. I am not kidding when I say this.
* Get A Plan
All you need to know is the way to go about making money. Website marketing is very important to this plan. If your website is invisible you are not going to make any money. So you need to spend money to make money. You might now say that you have no money. You don’t need to spend millions, just a few dollars in the right places can Read more…
After the large number of views and responses on our past Craigslist posting articles, I thought I would follow up with a few more items and a real example of what we use to achieve great results.
You can see a perma-copy of one of our best performing Craigslist ads here: Vanivo Craigslist Ad. Here are a few things that make this ad effective:
1) Eye-catching, actionable title.
The asterisks (***) draw the attention to the phrase “web design.” We phrased the title as a question because the mental cue for a ‘yes’ answer Read more…
Lately I’ve been studying testing and implementing the best tactics for Craigslist posting. I’ve been experimenting for over 4 months now, and I’ve gotten measurably better responses (ad views and click-throughs to my website) by using the strategies outlined below, and for the first time ever, I’m sharing them with you.
Tip 1) Don’t Blend In.
Your first goal on Craigslist is to not get lost in the crowd. To view your ad, visitors have to find your title in the category page, which is easier said than done these days.
- Include the keywords for whatever you’re listing in the title. This way, users can search ‘titles only’ and still have your listing come up. Avoid the obscurity and confusion by Read more…
As a relatively new blog, I’m always looking for ways to bring in legitimate traffic and reward contributors for thought-out comments. Now, the opportunity is built in to this blog. I’ll describe how the nofollow process works in my next post…
I had been tossing around the idea for a while, considering the downside of losing my stellar pagerank – this blog is currently not ranked 
. I read up on the topic and decided to join the growing community of ‘dofollowers.’ There are quite a few reasons, many of which are Read more…
With so many ways to create titles on Craigslist, it’s sometimes a hit or miss getting people to read your ad. Keeping this in mind, we ran many different titles using an assortment of fonts, wording and symbols. Then, we used tools like Google Analytics and GetClicky to gather information by measuring clicks, bounce rates , new users and time at site.
GetClicky.com and Google Analytics both allow you to track what people are doing at your site. They tell you how long people stay, what actions are they taking, bounce rates, clicks, and their physical location - all of which is very useful information for trying to obtain more visits to your site. Both are really simple tools Read more…
There’s just so much good stuff in this book, I might have to turn this into a multi-part series. Chapter 4, “Direct Response Marketing” (from Guerrilla Marketing on the Internet by Jay Conrad Levinson) really got me thinking about how many sites I’ve come across that don’t do anything for the business. In very few cases, having the simplest of ‘brochure websites’ (strictly informational and usually for credibility purposes) may be appropriate, but there are so many opportunities to get your web site to do more for your business.
The easiest thing any website can do is collect your visitor’s contact information. This can be used as a targeted list for your marketing offers (as long as you have their permission of course). There are many things you can offer your visitors in exchange for their contact info (specifically, e-mail address):
People are inherently lazy. Especially internet users. They’d much rather put off until tomorrow (or next decade) what they could easily do today. Your website’s job is to motivate them to overcome their lazy programming and actually DO SOMETHING today.
Creating an effective call to action is necessary to get your visitors to take the next step – contacting you, signing up for your newsletter, buying your product, etc. There are a few main techniques to achieve this, and I will detail them below:
Make your offer timely.
By putting a time limit on your offer, it encourages your audience to take action or they could miss out. By saying ‘This Weekend Only!’ or another relevant time constraint, you’ll receive a much better Read more…
Having a website for your business is not an option – it is a necessity.Everyone knows that having a sharp website is good for business, but most people don’t really know why. In this article I’ll offer several reasons why they are vital to reaching your potential.
1) Credibility. Today, everything is online, and to even keep up in your industry, you need a website. When a customer types your name into their favorite search engine, they expect your professional website to come up. If that’s not the case, they second guess doing business with you. Read more…
Promoting your business during tough times is easier than you think. In my last post, I addressed a few case studies and principles of businesses that came out of tough times ahead of their competition by continuing and even increasing their advertising exposure. Today, I’m going to give you some specific examples of how you can apply this to your own business.
A recession is a perfect time to consolidate, refocus and become more efficient across all aspects of your business. Running leaner is a necessity for survival, but that doesn’t specifically mean budget cuts, it means finding out what’s working and what isn’t, dropping what isn’t working and pursuing what is.
1. Survey your customers.
Find out how your customers Read more…