| Targeted traffic: the demographic | | | | backpacks, I'll look for advertising opportunities on |
| Assuming your business is motorcycles, my first | | | | websites related to backpacking and hiking, such as |
| guess at your target demographic would be 16-25 | | | | outdoors guides and wilderness survival websites. |
| year old males and 50+ year old wealthy retired | | | | Web traffic at some content based sites is not |
| couples. Breaking it down further, if you sell Suzuki | | | | particularly targeted, while others have a specific |
| crotch rockets, you can safely discard the wealthy | | | | topic, like a gardening tips website. Finding a website |
| retired group. Narrow the demographic as best you | | | | with a very specific interest may or may not be as |
| can to target potential customers. Paying for traffic | | | | important, depending on what product you're selling, |
| that isn't dense with people interested in what you're | | | | or what service you offer. T-shirts may sell well on |
| selling is a waste of your advertising dollar. | | | | lots of different content based sites, while the |
| Once the demographic is well defined, you can begin | | | | gardening weasel isn't likely to do well on places not |
| identifying and sorting out perspective advertisers. | | | | related to gardening. |
| Determining whether a particular advertiser or | | | | An update schedule of content based websites |
| marketing group is going to work for you can be | | | | you're considering advertising on is rather important, |
| rather difficult, unless you've personally used them | | | | depending on how you advertise. A website that |
| before. This is where experience and networking with | | | | updates every other day or weekly will have many |
| other webmasters comes in very handy. Talk to | | | | visitors who come for the updates and leave. A |
| other webmasters who've advertised with the | | | | website that updates sporadically will have more |
| company, find out what they were advertising, and | | | | people who come just looking for something new. |
| ask them how the campaign went and if they plan to | | | | When there is nothing new they're more likely to |
| advertise on that website again. I don't generally use | | | | look for other related links, which is where good |
| an advertiser unless I've heard very good things from | | | | advertising kicks into high gear. Of the three major |
| other webmasters or they have a trial ad setup, | | | | advertising types, I tend to believe in doing my |
| where you can commit a small amount of money to | | | | homework and paying flat rates for given periods of |
| testing out the traffic before you make a real | | | | time. This seems to work best, because it depends |
| investment and buy several weeks or months of | | | | more on you to build an intriguing advertisement, and |
| advertising with them. | | | | rewards you for doing so. |
| An important consideration when buying ad space on | | | | Buying ad space on a per click basis can be a better |
| a specific website is the focus of that website. If | | | | bet if you're trying to build a brand name, because |
| you're considering advertising on a service oriented | | | | your ad might get 50,000 impressions before the |
| website, make sure your product or service | | | | 1,000 click-through you paid for happen. |
| compliments that website's service. For instance, if | | | | Conversion rates are key |
| you sell shoes, advertising on is going to be very | | | | For most of us on the web though, our main goal is |
| inefficient and expensive. You'll be paying to advertise | | | | to sell the product or service. This is why I contest |
| to a bunch of people, the mass majority of which | | | | doing your research, finding the best websites, and |
| aren't looking to buy shoes. However, if you're selling | | | | purchasing ad space on a weekly or monthly basis is |
| a spyware removal tool, email services could be a | | | | the best method of promotion in the long run. If |
| great place to advertise. Most internet users have | | | | you're smart, you'll monitor your traffic from |
| spyware on their computers, and most are aware of | | | | different sources and determine the cost per sale to |
| and concerned about spyware. | | | | see which sources are providing the best conversion |
| Advertising on content based sites | | | | rates. In the case of buying click through traffic, the |
| When I need to advertise, my favorite place to go is | | | | monitoring program should give you the traffic |
| still a content oriented site with a close relationship to | | | | conversion rate. |
| my product or service. If I'm selling Gregory | | | | |