7 Inventive, Low-Cost Advertising Strategies That Prove Webvertising Is Not Dead

By Marnie Pehrson
Posted Friday, October 29, 2004

The decline of traditional Internet advertising options gives birth to creative, low-cost strategies that are win-win for both advertisers and web publishers. As a founder of OurAdNetwork.com, a co-op of over 40 web sites, I can attest that the webvertising glass is half FULL, filling up more every day. Companies are advertising, and entrepreneurial site owners need to be creative to take advantage of these changing times.

Banners no longer yield good response rates; seasoned surfers largely ignore them. Buttons don't fare much better. As a result, advertisers are not paying the high CPMs of the past, and often blame web publishers for low click-through rates. Having a high-traffic site does not automatically equate to high income. I know one site owner who, previously basking in 5-figure monthly banner income, now cashes checks averaging $50/month for banners. So, is it gloom and doom for this publisher? No way! She just doesn't depend on banners anymore. And you don't have to either.

The following seven advertising strategies are cost-effective for the advertiser and profitable for the web publisher, a win-win for both! Share Top-Of-Site Ad Space with Other Advertisers. We started this strategy a couple years ago on IdeaMarketers and found it highly effective for promoting our own products as well as those of our clients. At the top of the site, there is a pull-down list of options that the visitor may choose from. On IdeaMarketers we have a pull-down box that says, "Check Out These Great Articles." The visitor clicks on this box and may choose from ten different articles to select one of interest. Once the visitor clicks on a title, the browser takes them to the article.

These have worked so well, that we've expanded on this principle and have several sites within OurAdNetwork running similar pull-down boxes on their sites. On a business site, they might say,"Check Out These Great Business Tools." On other sites they might say, "I can't believe this is FREE!" and a series of free offers are listed. We call this the Ad Select Program.

The benefit of this type of advertising is that you're featured on prime top-of-site real estate while sharing the cost of advertising with others. It's an affordable way to reach your target market.

Sponsorship Page Advertising. Some sites offer pages where they list sponsors that relate to the theme of their site. For example, Lovestories.com, which primarily reaches writers and poets has a sponsorship page where their visitors can find Print On Demand publishers. Within the first week of this new section being launched, two of the POD advertisers on this page received clients – more than paying for their listing. Make sure the site you advertise on prominently features the sponsorship page. For example, go to (http://www.LoveStories.com) and you'll see a link at the top of every page that says,"Self-Publish" which links to their POD Sponsor page.

Product Spotlight Page. Some sites will create a page on their site specifically for promoting your product. An example of this is how IdeaMarketers promotes Gebbie Press' media databases of magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations. This is a perfect fit for the writer, coach and consultant market that IdeaMarketers reaches. Click here to see what a product spotlight page looks like. Look for sites that will prominently feature this page for you. For example, you'll notice that there is a link on the IdeaMarketers menu that says "Get PR." This directly links to the page about Gebbie's media databases.

Text Links. Many sites sell low-budget, non-targeted text links that appear in the header, footer or side panel of every page of their Web site. Text links give you the potential of reaching millions of buyers by paying an economical flat-rate monthly fee for a text link in unsold advertising space. You'll find these on the bottom of many of our network sites.

Ask for the Ezine Ad – If you purchase Web advertising – for example on a sponsorship page or on a product spotlight page -- ask the Webmaster for an accompanying ezine ad that will alert their subscribers to the fact that you're now being feature on their site. Many Webmasters will do this for you at no additional cost.

Mini Infomercial Ads. We call them "Expert Tidbit Ads" and we've been using them for a couple years on IdeaMarketers. We've found that informational tips or tid-bits pull a higher click-through rate than a blatant advertisement. At OurAdNetwork, we serve these expert tidbits onto targeted Web sites. For example, the following expert tidbit ran on self-help related articles on IdeaMarketers and pulled a 1.85% click-through rate for coach, Jack Cronan:

Do You Often Feel As Clueless About Your Life as Alice in Wonderland? "One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take? she asked. Where do you want to go? was his response. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter." ~ Lewis Carroll. Learn how to set goals that bring clarity, vision and direction to your life – Click here.

Articles Make Great Advertisements. Are you an expert in your field? Perhaps you've written a book or have specialized knowledge in your industry? Write an informational article about your industry and then use a brief blurb at the bottom to tell about yourself and link to your Web site. Then submit your article to Web sites that reach your target audience. Sign up for a free writer account at IdeaMarketers and submit your articles. This will give your article exposure to thousands of webmasters and ezine editors who are looking for content. They can request to run your article along with your brief bio and link to your Web site.

So, that's it! Seven effective, yet low-cost methods of advertising online that even small businesses can afford. And, web publishers... forget the old math of banner views x CPM. The new math of total revenue per site calculated by maximizing your site's potential ad power will get you back in the black fast!

Marnie Pehrson helps talented professionals deliver their messages to the online world. She can help you identify, create and promote cash flow centers that work for you automatically, without taking up any of your valuable time. For more information on any of these advertising methods or help promoting your product or service, visit (www.pwgroup.com) or (www.OurAdNetwork.com) .

About the Author

Marnie L. Pehrson is a writer, content provider and marketing coordinator who helps coaches and consultants get the online exposure they need to turn prospects into clients. She is the author of "10 Steps to Fulfilling Your Divine Destiny" and can be reached at (webmaster@ideamarketers.com) or (http://www.pwgroup.com).