Offline Advertising Ideas for Your Web Site

By Alan Grissett
Posted Monday, October 25, 2004

The "traditional" forms of advertising, such as television, radio, and print, can all be used effectively to promote a business' online presence, but for smaller businesses, they may not be cost-effective. What smaller businesses lack in budget, though, can be made up for with a little creativity.

The old standby, the business card, can be a great tool for promoting your Web site. Not only can you include your site's address on it, but you can also add additional information or incentives that can be used to entice people to visit your site. For example, you could print a coupon or special offer that would encourage the prospect to take follow-up action. You could also simply include information about your Web site and the benefits of visiting it. Where would all this copy fit though? If you don't have room on the front of the card, you could print the message on the back, or you could use a double-sized card folded over.

Another offline advertising technique that is used quite frequently, is the posting of Web sites' addresses on vehicles. This could work especially well for commuters or people who spend a lot of time in their car. Just by the amount of time spent driving in a single week, a site's address could be shown to thousands of potential customers. A site's address could be printed on bumper stickers, license plate frames, or even metallic decals (like the ones car dealerships sometimes stick on the back of cars). The actual domain name used should be chosen carefully though, so take your time in deciding what domain name to promote.

Last but not least, one of the best forms of offline advertising is almost certainly "word of mouth". Ideally, if your product or service is of good quality and value, your existing customers should be your best salespeople. To keep your product or service in the minds of your existing customers (and to help them remember to mention your company to others), you might consider offering some kind of discount or referral fee.

About the Author
Alan is the lead developer for InfoServe Media, LLC (http://www.infoservemedia.com/), a Web development company that specializes in Web site design, hosting, domain name registration, and promotion for small businesses.