Every Bit of Advertising Counts - Even Free Ads - and nowhere is there more free advertising than in the online network marketing business where it comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. I guess it might not be too wrong to say there are more free advertising opportunities than there are paid ones!
Since the one cardinal need of every online marketer is advertising it could be true to say that most every marketer worth his free electrons has at sometime or the other made use of free advertising.
But can you build a business on 'free advertising'?
I would say NO! From all the claims I have read about I have yet to read one that attributed the success of the business totally to free advertising.(excluding free exposure through article writing though).
Maybe a few hits here and there, some sign-ups, and finally some pay offs too in affiliate sales BUT that is about it.
So What Good Is Free Advertising Then? and... How Can It Be Used To Maximum Effectiveness?
In my opinion, free advertising can be put to terrific use but it's limitations must be clearly understood and accepted. It will most probably be a very long and very steep uphill climb hoping to build a complete business based only on free advertising.
Instead, free advertising lends itself very suitably to one very specific end-use - as a testing-ground of a certain specific marketing community.
But to make the most effective use of free advertising a few ground rules should be understood first.
1. What is the mind-set of the community you are directing your free advtg to? That will depend on where you are doing your free advtg. The same individual could exhibit different characteristics depending on what he is when he is reading your advtg. As a safelister his mind- et will differ from that of his as an ezine subscriber or as a banner exchange or traffic exchange member. Or as a forum member.
One things for sure the majority of viewers free advtg. attracts are definitely not buyers sitting with credit cards in hand just waiting for our free advtg to start buying.
2. Another thing you should figure out is why are they looking at free ads?. What is it they are looking for? Your Ad? Or the one they themselves submitted. While they are in this state can your free advtg. disrupt their search and redirect them to your opp?
3. How much should you read into the nano-sized responses free advtg draws. There's a huge difference in giving something away free through paid advertising and getting responses and doing the same with free advtg. and not getting responses.
Answer these questions and you can formulate a plan to effectivise your free advtg.
For starters, your plan should consider the following:
1. All free advtg (and any other too) should circle back to your main opportunity. One way of doing this is by having your own website which, if required, could be modified to showcase whichever opportunity you are current with. In this case the url of all free advtg you do will circle back to the same site - less room for errors, more opp to display related and relevant info, making your site 'sticky'. (A stats counter will add to the data you can mine from your site)
2. In the rarefied atmosphere of literally negligible response to free advtg, especially for amateur onliners who can't come up with 'killer headlines' or 'killer copy' it makes extremely good sense to capitalise fully on any and every click free advtg. can generate. The one best way to do this is by using autoresponders and offering something free over a period of time. Once a live lead is 'captured' you enter a completely different phase of your online business, you can now say something more and reasonably hope to be read too!
3. Beyond this, another excellent use of free advtg. could be as a testing ground for ad-headlines and ad- opy BUT the results will have to be evaluated in a whole new light. If you are placing free ads in ezines what is open-rate of that ezine? How many subscribers read the ezine? Out of which HOW FEW look at the free ads section?
If you achieve even one single click here how should you interprete it. Does it mean your ad-copy is of exceptional quality. Maybe it is, maybe not, but you now have a pointer! There is something to that ad. You could try it someplace else too! (Remember the standard - it requires atleast 6-7 views before an ad is clicked upon) Keep in mind, very often, ezine editors click on ad urls to satisfy themselves they are not including obnoxious material in their ezines. Should such an editor go further and join your opp - You've Got A Live One, Baby!
All in all, free advtg. should first be used for testing purposes and this can best be done at sites where free advtg. comes with free stats plus the opportunity to modify and resubmit various versions of the same ad.
Jerome Dsouza
To help experiment with ad headlines and ad-copy at no cost Jerome invites all to one of the most visited classified ads site giving Free Ads and Free Stats! Place from 3 to 20 free ads, checks stats, make changes and submit again - Repeatedly! Visit: http://www.freebookongettingrich.com and surf to: Free Advertising - Part One.
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