There is a huge range of online advertising channels to choose from. The trick is to test, test some more and then test again.
Once you have launched a new website the next task will be to get a range of targeted visitors. Many people will opt for Search Engine Optimisation to stream relevant traffic. If you don’t have the knowledge or patience to go down this road there are plenty of other ways to advertise your site and maintain a reasonable return on investment.
Press Release
Just launched a new product or service? Send out a press release announcement if your website is newsworthy. This can help you build valuable links back to your site; it will also help stream relevant traffic. You can sometimes get coverage with online news sources if the content is unique enough.
Google AdWords
This advertising method is tried and tested. You can set up an account and place ads next to relevant searches. Users are actively searching for your product which means you can achieve a high conversion rate. You bid on chosen keywords and only pay if a user clicks on your ad. Alternatively you can advertise on other sites through Google (known as the content network). This is useful for brand building as you can use banner ads and text ads.
Facebook Advertising
Similar to Google AdWords you can set up an account to place your ad next to relevant searches and content. Facebook users tend to be quite passive as they are not actively searching for your product – this can lead to a low Click through Rate. The benefit is that you can target users by gender, job title, location and much more.
Twitter Advertising
Twitter advertising is a great way to grow your social media audience. You can set up an account and display promoted Tweets next to relevant searches; this can be done on a Cost-per Engagement (CPE) basis. Alternatively you can feature in trending topics and follow suggestions to grow your audience. The benefit of this advertising method is you can grow a list of users which you can re-market to.
Display Advertising
Banner advertising can be an excellent way to grow a brand and increase conversions. Other than Google AdWords there are plenty of other networks where you can advertise on premium websites. Manual bidding lets you pay for each 1000 impressions your ad receives, this is known as CPM. There are a range of networks which can target the Comscore top 500 websites. One useful network to try is AdJug.
Yahoo and Bing Advertising
Similar to Google AdWords, Bing and Yahoo have their own networks where you can run Pay per Click advertising. The volume is not as high as Google but this is still a good way to target appropriate searches related to your business.
ReMarketing
The latest sensation to hit the web is ‘remarketing’. Using Google AdWords or additional premium networks you can place a piece of code on your site and retarget visitors to your site. If a user (who previously visited your site) then visits another site within the network they will be subject to your advert. This can work well when you are running a time sensitive offer.
Conclusion
If you can work out your CPA (Cost per Acquisition) for each product then online advertising can be as successful as Search Engine Optimisation. Google AdWords remains the best network for conversions but social sites and premium networks can help grow your brand and build up a list of sustainable users.
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