Indirect Advertising

By Warren Contreras
Posted Friday, December 17, 2004

I am reasonably sure that anyone reading this article is familiar with all the free online advertising resources such as the all too familiar Sp-m, Classifieds, FFA pages, Banners, Text Ads, Traffic Exchanges, Newsletters,Guaranteed Visitors, Paid to Read, Paid to Join, Link Swaps, Pop-ups, Other 'In-Your-Face' Ads, and the list goes on and on.

The question I would like you to consider is, when you see this kind of stuff yourself what is your 'Frame of Mind'?

My guess is you know what's coming and your shields go up. You pull up your waders and trudge on through, oblivious to the thousands of messages ricochetting off your armor just so you can collect a few more hits for your own website or offer. With Millions of would be online marketers doing this hour after hour and day after day, is it any wonder that the Internet slows down to a crawl and even stops at times?

So what if you could put your message on hold for a time when your prospects finished their 'Direct Advertising' chores. They have returned to their curious wanderings online, a time when they are now open to checking things out. Instead of shoving your material in their face, they come looking for you to see what you are doing. Maybe even ask a few questions. Kind of like stopping off for a cold one with the gang after work.

The online equivalent to this scene is being played out today and every day and you can participate for free. It is called 'Social Networking' or even more appropriately for us, 'Business Networking' and is easily found with your favorite search engine.

Since this can hardly be considered blatant advertising (at least not directly) I will say the one I am most familiar with and use myself, is the Ryze Business Network. With a free account they allow you to create a 'Home Page' where you can display whatever you want other members to see. I suggest you tell about yourself instead of wasting it on more advertising. Those that visit know that they are on a Business Network and know you are here because you have something for sale.

Now, think about what 'Frame of Mind' you would be in if you dropped by a potential friends page to sign their guestbook, looked over their 'Home Page' and decided to click a few links trying to gain more insight into their personality. You might even be considering an alliance or joint venture with them. Can you see the difference?

You are no longer perceived as a 'Salesman' but a 'Fellow Businessperson' instead. Chamber of Commerce 'Mixers' have been an example of this approach for years and been very successful. Now you can accomplish nearly the same thing for your home business from your computer.

If this all sounds complicated and too hard to understand how it could possibly work, I would suggest getting a free account and give it a try. There is free 'Interactive' on the job training available through sub-networks that fit every imaginable interest, where you can ask questions and read the answers from your peers.

There are facilities to search out those you have a common connection with and they have already given you permission to subtilty contact them by virtue of being a member. Blatant advertising is prohibited so you will not be bombarded with junk ads. It's more like receiving an invitation that you can read privately and decide if you want to attend.

So now it is all up to you. Continue contributing to the degradation of Internet bandwidth with huge numbers of attempts required (many not even reaching the target) to get a single response, or try something new.

About the Author
Warren Contreras is just another online marketer that puts his pants on one leg at a time just like you. Learn more about him at (http://lead-network.ryze.com/)