Google adwords just isnt cutting it. Where is the best place to advertise and generate sales from the ad?

I know others have tried overture and a few more PPC search engines but do places such as web hosting directories work?

Any help in this area is much aprreciated. Thank you.

Advertising in web directories works! I won't say better or not than google and PPC engines - because it has to do a lot to the nature of the campaign itself and what you're trying to accomplish...

So in general advertising works everywhere you have quality traffic - especially on host directories, now the next step is to plan the campaign well, and to find an affordable place to advertise.

and of course you are not biased in anyway are you?

Maybe a little bit of self promotion there but thanks for the advice.

Hello Alan

Why do you start this kind of discussion - I am talking from an experience - I have been dealing with many campaigns, am I not allowed to answer this question because of the site that I have?

Let me just say that if advertising on web directories didn't work - you wouldn't have dozens of web directories and having site like tophosts.com getting 18K uniques per day.

Lonny,
What sort of plans do you offer that will generate sales? Can you give me some options? Thanks.

J

More websites must link directly to your website then you will have a very good link popularity...then only you will get traffic from yahoo and google

Most high quality visitors come from yahoo and google and are free!!! whereas you have to pay $ 5 per click in goto etc...


<<Removed: Forum guidelines cover why>>

phpjames - some things you may wish to consider when trying to determine the;

'nature of the campaign itself and what you're trying to accomplish'

1) have an objective;

- increase in sales
- build awareness
- build brand
- etc

An increase in awareness and or brand, I would guess, cannot be successfully measured so could not be a valid objective. I say this because I doubt you have the resources to determine where you are now with those 2. You could of course hope or guess or be persuaded otherwise by someone who is selling you advertising space, but you may want to consider writing your URL on Dollar bills and throwing them out of your office window

Most business schools would teach the following:

An objective should be SMART:

S: SPECIFIC
M: MEASURABLE
A: ATTAINABLE
R: REALISTIC
T: TIMED

Specific would mean raising awareness from 1% of web surfers to 2% - can you measure this?

2) Work out your 'Cost per Sale' at the end of your campaign - not so easy huh?

People selling you advertising space will wax lyrical about those click throughs that come back 3 months or 6 months later and buy from you and about how more people are aware of your site etc etc but they don't have the evidence whereas you do - you have your present customers.

I would really suggest getting as close to your present customers as you can, find out why they purchased from you, how they found you etc, it will pay you great dividends. Being an ex-advertising industry guy I know the sort of resources needed to get awareness and brand information both before and after a campaign - I can also tell you that advertising on web host directories will work if you can throw money at it but for the average small business that isn't an option

so, to answer your question:

'Where is the best place to advertise and generate sales from the ad?'

try your present customers, advertise to them, keep close to them, build a good relationship, get them referring clients - that is an investment that will have a good ROI - or get ready to spend big bucks

The above is intended to help phpjames not as a flame against web hosting directories which I think provide an fantastic resource to all web hosts

Sheesh, since you guys obviously know that email exists -- since you're asking to receive it -- why don't you just email Lonny to ask for information instead of posting those requests publicly? :)

<<MOD NOTE: Agree (and have always wondered this myself). I've removed about 6 or 7 posts either telling that someone has sent an email or someone requesting an email. Please contact eachother directly.>>

Anyway...
More websites must link directly to your website then you will have a very good link popularity...then only you will get traffic from yahoo and google
Search engine traffic is certainly valuable, but that's a little off-topic in a thread about where to best spend advertising money. That said, since it's been raised, it'd be a mistake to think that link popularity is the key to good positioning in Google. PageRank is just one element in the algorithm... think of it more as a tiebreaker: if there are several sites that would rank about evenly, the one with the higher PR will rank first. But a good PR won't help you without accompanying optimization for your key search phrases.

And links from FFA sites are especially bad news if you want good Google positioning: such sites have low PageRank themselves to begin with, so they'll contribute little PR to your site, and Google specifically states that you shouldn't use them. The effect of getting caught doing so -- which could happen if a web map view points a red flag at your site and prompts a manual viewing -- would at best be reduction of your PageRank to zero, and at worst a de-listing.

If there's any a value to FFA's (which is debatable) it's not in connection to Google. I couldn't put it more clearly: if you want solid, risk-free Google positioning, stay away from link farms and FFA sites!

With advertising you get what you put in.

A 10 dollar google campaign will get nothing. Same with a 10 dollar hosting directory link at the bottom of a page.

Spend well and spend wisely and you will be surprised with the positive results you will get.

Heres my suggestion:

Large scale banner campaign.
Large scale newsletter campaign.
PPC search engines.
Hosting Directories.

With all of the above do not put all your eggs in one basket. Go to different firms. One for banners, one for newsletter, one for PPC, etc...

Trial and error and money will get you results.

Just posting this again, so everyone sees it:

I've removed about 6 or 7 posts that were either someone telling that they've sent an email or someone requesting an email. Please contact eachother directly.

I think for hosting advertising your best bet is to target the market. (IT Sites such as Download.com/Email.com/Netscape.com/Hosting Directories/ISP Directories/HostScripts.com)

If you are advertising for the internet why advertise on FarmLand.com? :D

Originally posted by Neo3Net
If you are advertising for the internet why advertise on FarmLand.com? :D
Because chickens... need hosting too! ;)

Apologies in advance for the bad joke :p

:puke: Because chickens... need hosting too! :puke:


:D

Can anyone post cost vs results here and where they found the deal? I want specific proven results. Thanks.

I've been seeing alot of domain names written on the bottom of dollar bills. Is that even legal?!? :eek: :eek: :eek:

--Tina

A little off topic but...
if anyone found the secret to advertising would you share it with everyone?
I know this board is here for all hosts to help each other out and such but if you had a sure fire way of atracting customers with very little outlay how many of you would share it?

Originally posted by jgriff64
A little off topic but...
if anyone found the secret to advertising would you share it with everyone?
I know this board is here for all hosts to help each other out and such but if you had a sure fire way of atracting customers with very little outlay how many of you would share it?

I think that there are enough customers for all of you :) wouldn't you agree?

I would definetly agree there are enough customers. I am quite amased with the amount of customers there are. I just thought it would be an interesting question.

Originally posted by phpjames
Can anyone post cost vs results here and where they found the deal? I want specific proven results. Thanks.

I think thats what everyone wants.. :)

Originally posted by AffordableHost
I've been seeing alot of domain names written on the bottom of dollar bills. Is that even legal?!? Technically, defacing bills is illegal only if it renders the bill unfit for circulation, or if it's done with that intent: http://www.bep.treas.gov/document.cfm/18/104

So yeah, it's a legitimate way to advertise!

Originally posted by JayC
Technically, defacing bills is illegal only if it renders the bill unfit for circulation, or if it's done with that intent: http://www.bep.treas.gov/document.cfm/18/104

So yeah, it's a legitimate way to advertise!


Damn. I only have $3 in my purse. :D


--Tina

Originally posted by AffordableHost

Damn. I only have $3 in my purse. :D


I'll take them :D. Go ahead and send them to me, and I promise to think aboug signing up for AffordableHostING ::ducking::.

:D

Originally posted by JayC
Technically, defacing bills is illegal only if it renders the bill unfit for circulation, or if it's done with that intent: http://www.bep.treas.gov/document.cfm/18/104

So yeah, it's a legitimate way to advertise!

But what if they don't see it the same way? Can you imagine having the secret service knocking on your door with a stack of one dollar bills with your domain name on it? :eek:

so how do we write our domain names on our coins here in canada? sticky tape?

hehehhe

Karen

Anybody ever heard of Where's George?

http://www.wheresgeorge.com/

Its a fun site to track where you one dollar note has gone
:bawling:

Joe

Thanks, Joe, I'll write my domain on that dollar & see where it ends. Too bad it can't track how many hands it has gone through.

If you want to use a search engine successfully, you will have to pay for pay-per-click feature.

Google has this feature now on their website. You can bid on your placement of .01 - .10cents per click.

Definetely do not use email lists that are not opt-emails. You may find cheap email lists, but most are unusable and will most likely get your business in trouble. It is illegle to "spam" mail.

Originally posted by shorty
try your present customers, advertise to them, keep close to them, build a good relationship, get them referring clients - that is an investment that will have a good ROI
I think that's the best single piece of advice in this thread so far.

Trouble is, it will only suit if your approach to your business is one of long-term steady growth. It is unlikely to yield big short-term gains.

It does have a very valuable added side-effect, that of developing an ever-deeper relationship with your existing customers.
_ _ _

As regards advertising, one effective tactic not mentioned so far is offering good information to interested parties. eg publishing helpful articles for newsletters, websites and local newspapers - offering to give a talk to your local chamber of commerce, fruit growers association, radio station etc.

There are thousands of such outlets available, and they offer good returns if you can write or talk well. After a while, you can become regarded as an expert - which should result in a steady stream of clients.