Free Targeted Advertising

Free Targeted Advertising

If you are starting an online business you know that one of your main objectives is to get people to see your website or blog. But how do you do this? Chances are that you may not have a lot of money to put into advertising your blog or website and you want free advertising that really works and gets you the best results. What you are looking for is free targeted advertising.

Targeted advertising is advertising that attracts customers who really are interested in your product or service, rather than just a whole lot of other website owners who are looking at your advert so you will look at theirs. Three forms of free advertising which you can use in marketing your website are: forum marketing, article marketing, and email groups.

Do a quick search on the Internet and you will find forums related to your website topic and where you may be able to post useful advice for others. If what you say proves to be useful, people will be interested in learning more about you -- so add a link to your website in the signature of your forum post. Forum marketing is targeted advertising because people come to your website because they like what you have before they even get there, so you can get real quality traffic. A large number of these forums are free to join and therefore give free advertising if you do not blatantly post SPAM. The critical rule when using forum marketing is to be helpful and post information related to the topic that is being discussed.

A second form of free advertising for your website is article marketing. Write or get someone to write articles for you that you can put your name to. Once again, people who read your articles will know already whether they are interested in your subject and so will represent targeted advertising – if they like what you have to offer they will visit your website and buy something.

The third form of free targeted advertising is the use of email groups such as Yahoo groups or Google groups. These email groups are focused around different subjects and you can find ones that are best suited to your product. Don’t just go for general advertising groups. Try to look for groups that have something to do with your product or target market. For example, if your website or blog sells pet related products - join pet related email groups that allow you to post to them. Once again with this form of free advertising, you need to be relevant so if the group is posting about a specific problem they are having, try to offer helpful advice before promoting your product, don’t just sell, sell, sell. As people build up trust in you they will be more likely to buy your product, so concentrate on building the relationship first.

As you can see, with free targeted advertising your goal is to build relationships with people who will be interested in your product - either through forums, articles or email groups - and then to suggest (without over-selling) how your product can help meet their needs. By following these simple marketing rules you can see excellent results using just free advertising.