Internet Marketing is important. Being serious about internet marketing and search engine optimize is a must for anyone who wants to run a successful online business. Internet marketing is a really  general term though. It is multi-faceted and a lot of different, carefully tuned aspects have to go into it. In order to help anyone just starting out in internet marketing, I’m going to break the process down into smaller, simpler portions.  In no way is this supposed to be a complete guide, but I thought it would be helpful to include some of the internet marketing facts that I find most useful.

What You’re Trying to Accomplish with Internet Marketing

I’m sure there are a lot of things that you want to get out of your internet marketing campaign. And that’s good—dream big. The goal of internet marketing is to drive web surfers to your site by increasing the status and stature of your site. In order to do this you can take hints from regular brick and mortar businesses. The most successful companies develop brand loyalty and a true presence in whatever community they’re in. This means being visible, not in just the sense that you offer low-low prices but that you’re participating in charity or showing that you care for your customers by doing something out of the goodness of your heart. This is a tricky thing to pull off online but it is the way that the most popular sites thrive. They provide content and information to their users that is truly helpful. For instance, if you ran an online comic store it would be smart of you to include relevant bonus content that your users would find useful. This extra content may be something as simple as the back story of a popular comic character or a list of recent issues. Whatever content you provide you will want it optimized for your specific business, but I’ll get into that later.

The main goal of internet marketing is to create a website highly regarded by your patrons and by the search engines, since they largely determine how accessible your site will be.

How to Succeed in Internet Marketing

Like all complicated things, there are a lot of approaches to internet marketing. I’ve often heard that the best strategy is to implement a little bit of everything.  But some things are more important than others and we’ll start at the top of the list.

• Great Content: One of the most effective ways to achieve higher rankings in search engines is by adding high quality content to your website regularly. By doing this you establish your website as an authority on your subject matter.
• Keep things simple: This may sound obvious, but the internet is popular because it’s easy to use. The whole world at your finger tips. That’s exactly how your website should be. It should be designed to be easy to use (no retina searing fonts please) and able to quickly give surfers what they’re looking for. Don’t make them search for your contact page, don’t annoy them with pop-ups. Potential customers don’t have the same commitment to your site as they would to a brick and mortar business. If they don’t like what they see they’ll leave in seconds and do it gladly.
• Keep your ear to the ground: What I mean by this is that you need to stay informed with what is going on within your industry. You cannot allow your business or your website to become stagnant. It is especially important to stay knowledgeable about what your competition is up to. Is one of them doing better than you in the search engine rankings? Try to figure out why and then implement the same strategy on your site. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Common Mistakes

There are a lot of these but I’ll only go over a few. The best tools you have against mistakes are common sense, information and experience.

• Improper Ad Use:  You should always be careful with the way you use your ads because they represent not only your products but your business. And as I went over earlier, it is vital how consumers and search engines view your business. When constructing ads avoid using misleading offers or deals. It’s unlikely you’ll fool anyone into buying the product and all you’ll be left with is a potential customer who doesn’t trust you. Don’t try to mislead anyone, whether it is in the copy or the picture. Trust the quality of your product and the consumer’s need for it.
• Under Utilized Keyword Research: Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of internet marketing. You should rely on this research when creating content for your site. By doing so you make potential customers easier to find you, since these keywords are how they’re searching for your products and services.

Feeling Overwhelmed? It’s only natural. I felt the same way when I started in internet marketing and that was only a few short months ago. Currently, I work for the CT Internet marketing company 3PRIME. We specialize in providing in-depth internet marketing plans to websites and businesses all over the country. If you need help with your website or if you just have various internet questions, I hope you contact us so we can help. And comment here if you have any questions or advice. I’m still learning myself and I would love to hear some good internet marketing practices that I left out.

Junk food manufacturers must remember that they also have kids.Money earned by spoiling children’s ( for that matter any one’s) health is Sin Money.
True, parents can not monitor mouse click of children.Solution lies with the Government, which could block this ads or penalize the companies, journalists/media and most importantly with the manufacturers with a conscience.

Amy Norton
Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:40am EST
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Advertisements for junk food may be cluttering many of the Web sites most popular with children, a new study suggests.

When researchers examined 28 of the Web sites most frequented by children, they found that the majority of food products advertised there met experts’ criteria for “foods to avoid.”

Ads for sugar-laden cereals, candy, soda or fast food populated a majority of the Web sites, which included sites one would not readily associate with food, like those run by Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network, among others, noted Dr. Lori Dorfman, director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group in California and one of the researchers on the study.

In contrast, of the 77 advertised products across all the Web sites, only five were foods that children should be encouraged to consume, the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Cartoon Network declined to comment on the study, and calls to Nickelodeon were not immediately returned. But a spokesperson for PBS Kids — cited for having “fast food brands represented” on its Web site — said that its representation in the study is “misleading.”

PBS Kids does not accept advertising, and “it does not market food products to children,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice-president of children’s media.

Instead, the site carries, at the bottom of some pages, the logos of various PBS sponsors — which include fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. “Children will never see an image of a food product,” Rotenberg said.

She also noted that PBS Kids has Web pages — Fizzy’s Lunch Lab and Don’t Buy It — designed to teach kids about healthy eating and avoiding media influences, respectively.

When it comes to the issue of media influences on children, TV ads have long been under fire for marketing junk food to children and teenagers.

But the Internet has provided a whole new outlet for advertisers — and companies are expected to keep increasing the proportion of their spending devoted to online marketing, according to Dorfman’s team.

“The public health implications are serious,” Dorfman told Reuters Health in an email, “because digital marketing such as what we found on Web sites popular with kids is much different than TV advertising, which caused the alarm in the first place.”

“Digital marketing,” she argued, “is immersive, interactive and incessant — rather than 30 seconds watching a TV commercial, children are spending 20 minutes deeply engaged with the brand.”

A recent study found that food manufacturers’ use of “advergames” — online games that companies use to boost traffic to their Web sites and promote their brands — may indeed influence kids’ eating choices.

When researchers had children play advergames that focused on cookies and chips, the kids wanted those same foods afterward. But when the games featured fruit and orange juice, the children tended to want those foods for a post-game snack.

For the current study, Dorfman and her colleagues assessed the nutritional quality of foods and beverages advertised on the 28 top children’s Web sites between July and August of 2007.

Of the 77 products they found, 49 met the “foods to avoid” criteria set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an advisory body to the federal government. Another 23 products fell into the neutral category because they were neither junk foods nor nutritious enough to be encouraged; such products included lower-sugar cereals and certain baked snack foods.

Only five of the advertised products — including oatmeal, milk and pure fruit juice — were foods that the IOM encourages children to eat.

“Parents should be concerned because much digital marketing flies under their radar,” Dorfman said.

But she also asserted that parents should not be given the job of monitoring the ads their kids see online.

“The online environment is not like watching TV, something a family might do together,” Dorfman said. “It’s unreasonable, and unfair,” she added, “to think that parents could monitor every mouse click children make.”

Instead, Dorfman argued, “food marketers and children’s media companies need to adhere to higher nutrition standards for the foods they market to children, especially when they do it out of earshot of parents.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, November 2009.

we are posting here some of the interesting presidentiable ads created by internet citizens.

Do any of you actually read the internet ads along the side, top, or bottom of the screen? Sometimes they are so poorly made and ridiculous, I can’t believe that anyone would click on them let alone buy something!!

Check out this one…my fave part is how it describes how a single mom discovers a trick to turn yellow teeth white at home. Note the prominent moustache on this sexy “mom.” If that is a woman, she better wax that upper lip so as not to ruin her gorgeous shining new white teeth!

Edit: Found this same ads with different pics!

This one is an old one from when that bridge collapsed in Minneapolis? The article discusses the human remains found in the wreckage. And what do you see underneath the article? A nice ad for Netflix featuring ZOMBIES! It kinda weirded me out so I saved it.

Hmm, I wonder what other weird ads are out there?

Oct 8, 2009 NEWBERG (Oregon) – A 44-YEAR-OLD man was accused of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and a variety of other sex-related crimes, including posting Internet ads to solicit others to join in group assaults on a teenage girl, authorities said on Wednesday.

An adult woman, who is an acquaintance of main suspect Darrin Vaughn Daily, also was arrested for having sex with one of the victims, police said on Wednesday.

Authorities learned about the alleged crimes on Sept 4 when a 15-year-old girl told police that Daily, of Oregon, had given her marijuana and alcohol and had sex with her.

Police searched his apartment and seized evidence, including his computer. Daily’s attorney, Bernt Hansen, did not immediately return phone calls.

Another girl, 14, later accused Daily of sexually abusing her and photographing the crime. That girl told them Daily had at times tied her up and forced her into group sex with men he solicited on the Web site Craigslist, and told police Daily photographed her having sex with his dog.

Detectives who analysed Daily’s computer found images of the girl having sex with adults and the dog. Images of a 4-year-old girl being sexually abused were also found. — AP

Satiric, fake news article I just published on my Humor Volcano web site

excerpt:

GREEDIS, OK – Ever wonder why there are sixty-nine ka-jillion web sites on the Internet? More than there are people on the planet? The answer is simple, poor, ignorant friends. Money. Oodles and schmoodles of money. Sexy, voluptuous money. There for the easy taking. From Internet ads. On your own web site. Duh.

So said the experts at today’s online conference, I’m Stinking Rich and You Just Stink. All you need to do is get a domain name, build a site, toss in some content, and load your pages up with ads. Just a few minutes up front and a few bucks a month are all that’s required. Then you can kick back and wait for those dump trucks full of ad cash to start backing into your driveway. Bwa-ha-ha-ha. With luscious, delicious money. For you. Pitiful, loser you.

But wait, there’s more here.

Is it just me, or are other people seeing the same thing: every single damn site I visit for the past several hundred months -except the farsi ones-  bears a huge banner ad: LOSE YOUR BELLY FAT, WITH THIS ONE WEIRD TIP.

This imperative is adorned with two pictures, close-ups of a revolting belly spilling out of tight jeans, and an equally  uninteresting flat stomach. It has been going on for so long that I feel if I if I ever see another close up of bellies, overflowing or not, I will vomit over my keyboard.

When will people rise en masse and kill the advertising industry? When will this parasitical, useless, unethical, moronic industry realise that heavy and intrusive advertising has a wholly negative effect ? To all advertising execs out there: please realise that not only do I, a potential client, NOT feel I must absolutely see this weird wonderful tip because I have seen the ad ten thousand times, I only feel extreme nausea and anger, together with a fierce desire to stuff your stupid, immoral, greedy heads in the belly fat and watch you choke to death. Look here, if saying the same thing to people a billion times actually made them believe it, all residents of Iran would have been devout state-worshippers now. And you can see they’re not.

“In a report released [Tuesday], the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) documents how thousands of illegal housing advertisements appear with impunity on the Internet every day. “FOR RENT: NO KIDS! How Internet Advertisements Perpetuate Discrimination” calls upon Congress to stop the flood of discriminatory housing advertisements on the Internet by amending the Communications Decency Act of 1996.”

Article:

For the second quarter of 2009, spending on internet advertising has been declined in United States and the recovery still way off. Spending of US is dropped to $6.2 billion from $6.6 billion at 7 percentage while the spending of worldwide is decreased to $13.9 billion from $14.7 billion at 5 percentage when compared with the year ago quarter as per the data released by IDC yesterday.
It was the second declination in as many quarters at the same time it was $5.5 billion for the first quarter of 2009, down a notable 5 percent from the $6.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Click to know about Official Kansas City Wizards

Moreover, the classified advertising format has seen the greatest tumble of decline at 17 percent in the second quarter while the display advertising has been affected by the slouch at just 12 percent.

[ Source ]
[ More ]

St. Petersburg, Florida – the test case for the Wild Wild West of political web ads?  Color me surprised.  Story here.

The Florida Elections Commission has decided a mayoral candidate’s ads on Google and Facebook appear to violate the state’s election law because they don’t include a disclaimer that indicates who bought them. Many other states, including Texas, Alaska, Connecticut and Ohio, also require similar disclaimers.

[Mayoral candidate Scott Wagman's] campaign, however, argues that the messages in question aren’t technically ads, but rather links to ads, and that it doesn’t pay for them unless a Web user clicks on them. When that happens, it says, the person is taken to a Web site that provides the appropriate disclosures.

[...]

“The irony of it is that it feels like we are being punished for being an efficient and an effective campaign[," said Mitch Kates, his campaign manager.]

And the irony of that is that Wagman’s campaign has been anything but.

Scott Wagman - courtesy Creative Loafing

The last link might seem a bit odd – most fundraising ever in a local election? – but given the fact that most of the money is his own this can’t be rated an accomplishment.  No slur against Wagman – I think he’s got some good ideas – but it’s always the trend for wealthy neophytes to fight every problem they face on the campaign trail with more money, the “best staff,” etc.  (I can’t help thinking of Mayor Bloomberg in New York, though lots of cases can be made – watch Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in California this year.)

Speaking of staff, I don’t know about Wagman’s (except a friend of mine or two who’re involved and are good local people) but somehow I sense that a lot of these mistakes are due to his hiring people unused to running campaigns on a local level/in this area.  Legislative campaigns are not executive campaigns and being part of a state or national organization isn’t the same as running a small one yourself.  It’s not even comparable.  And you can hire somebody with a great CV who just doesn’t get the area.  (An endlessly common mistake here in DC.)

It sometimes seems like Wagman’s matched all of this money with people who think it’s really necessary and desirable.  My instinct is that it all appears a bit tawdry instead.  But that could just be my own unemployment talking.

Is anyone else as sick as I am of the banner ads that pop up on every website you visit, announcing some method of whitening your teeth at home — usually “discovered by a MOM” — as if everyone in America were frantically seeking a way to whiter teeth?

Last I looked, most of us were more worried about our retirement funds, or health-care reform, and most people wanted a mate who was interesting or generous-hearted or honest more than they wanted one with perfect teeth, but the saturation bombing just keeps on — nearly always with that groveling attribution to a mom as if moms were somehow the most dependable, inventive creatures on the face of the earth, instead of simply being people of the female sex who have neglected to use birth control and expect to be congratulated for the dereliction. Feh, I say.

It’s the same with these ads for the perfect shampoo. How many times can cosmetic companies reformulate soap and perfume and pretend it will bring a whole room full of potential wooers to their knees?

Nobody cares if your teeth are slightly tetracycline-stained or perfectly white, except a Hollywood casting director. Nobody is going to swoon because of what you washed your hair in. And nobody believes that “a MOM” (there it is again) lost forty-seven pounds  “OBEYING one simple rule.” (I don’t get this repetitive use of the word OBEY in weight loss ads; is it supposed to evoke the hidden sub in Net surfers?)

Ads keep my weather forecast free and like that, but could someone change the pace and sell me screwdrivers or Euro washers or something?

EDITORS WEBLOG: Whereas the rest of the industry remains mired in recession woes, digital advertising is still going strong. Global spending for internet ads will increase by 10.1 percent in 2009, the only arena to see ad growth this year. READ MORE>

The revenue model for social networks, thus far, has mainly been advertisement.  LinkedIn is the only profitable social network and much of this is to attribute to healthy subscription revenue.

When was the last time you clicked through on an internet advertisement?  For that matter, when was the last time you consciously noticed an internet ad?  When click-through rates are measured in decimal points of a percent, does this define a winning campaign? 

Ad initiatives on the internet are an old-school media mentality (TV, publications, etc.) and they are trying to parlay this to an audience that has different behaviors and motivations.  Social Media Marketing MUST be about delivering true customer value – not throwing a million ads up and relying on 100s of  looks; not analysis of usage patterns and then uninvited spamming; not streaming ads that drive away users as reported by David Kaplan. (Streaming Ads Driving Users Away From Content: Report, By David Kaplan – Mon 21 Jan 2008 07:07 PM PST).

Internet ad challenges are even more prevalent on social networks than on other websites.  When users are on the internet, they typically seek information.  When users are on social networks, they are typically there to, well, socialize.  Thus the awareness of ads is even lower on social networks than other internet browsing scenarios.

JP Morgan has a study out called “Nothing But Net – 2009 Investment Guide” which paints a bleak picture for social network profitability.  They stated that social networks could not drive sufficient revenue from an ad-based model to grow profits. Furthermore, they did not expect broad adoption of advertising on social networking sites by large advertisers.  They summarized that for the near to medium term, several significant challenges remained to the ad-based revenue model for social networks. (JP MORGAN Global Equity Research, “Nothing But Net – 2009 Internet Investment Guide,” January 05, 2009. p.10.)

Google has struggled with how to make money through advertising on MySpace and other social sites.  Facebook’s “Beacon Program” met substantial backfire.  Many social network users are disenchanted with advertising practices.  They feel they are being spoofed, spied on, and spammed.  There is an unwritten law of social networks – equal benefit to all players.  Thus there is a need for parallel value for users and brands.

Monetization of social networks has failed thus far for one simple reason … vendors are focused on “what they do” and how to exploit “what they do” on a platform that serves masses (social networks).  Everyone wants to cash in, but they are failing to address simple marketing rules we learned back in Business Administration 101 – deliver value to customers.  This means:

1) Understanding the target market of customers served – Social networks gained adoption because it was a technological innovation that allows individuals with similar interests and backgrounds to connect and exchange “data”.  The two parties (or more) exchanged information without any side looking to have an “advantage”.  All parties are “serviced” equally.  Brands and advertisers now have a large pool of potential customers to market to, IF interest and demographics match.

2) Understanding how and why social networks are used – Many users are disenchanted by the possibility of being advertised and/or spammed to, based on “analysis” as is the case with behavior target (BT) advertisement.  So does this mean that social networks are still fertile ground for vendors and advertisers to reap success – ABSOLUTELY.  But one must understand how and why individuals use social networks.  They use it to socialize.   Attention to advertisements at a time of socializing is minimal, at best.

3) What can be delivered to the target market to give them incremental value that is distinguishable from what others offer – There needs to be a business model that continues to deliver on the unwritten law of social networks – equal benefit to all – users and brands.  A business model that delivers the highest ROI ever experienced and reduces sales close rates dramatically.  All while delivering unparalleled value to users.

 “Appropriating the model of consumer profiling from social networks might be an interesting path to take.  It gives the user true ownership of the process rather than management of the process, which is where we are now. Imagine a system in which consumers decide how to present themselves to the universe of marketers, much as they do on Facebook.  This is what I need you, the marketer, to know. This is what I want. Make it worth my while, and you can follow me!” (Steve Smith, “Is Opt-in The New Opt-Out?,” http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=102126.)

There is a model for fair collaboration between users and brands.  One where users can get what they want, retain privacy, and where brands have the highest targeted market.  I have defined a social network monetization model that addresses the challenges mentioned here and I am sure that I am not the only one.  It is just a matter of willingness of social networks and advertisers to play by user’s rules … understanding their behavior and catering to it as opposed to delivering a program that is not attractive to the target market.

Social Steve

不想再看到沒品味、讓人分心的網路廣告嗎？請你跟我這樣做：

1. 到 http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
2. 下載這個壓縮檔
3. 解壓縮
4. 執行 mvps.bat

這是利用windows\system32\drivers\ets\host這個檔案，把廣告網域的網址重新導向到 localhost 來避開廣告。國內網告商的網域似乎沒列在其中，但是已經可以擋掉大部分的廣告了。

Are you ready? It’s almost here! The Superbowl….ads that is. The advertisements running along the Superbowl are almost as celebrated as the game itself. This year, not only will the same wild ads be in full swing, but a big push for an online component will be as well. Check out the scoop here.

P.S. Go Steelers!

What I really enjoy about the webmercial (web commercial) at VODSouth.com is that they have restated the “obvious.” Except, in many cases, the obvious isn’t…well, obvious. Approaching advertisements from a completely different vantage point, it had me glued to the screen because of its presentation. You would be surprised when you see the actual webmercial

When using Google, many of us bypass the ads on the right hand side of the screen.  New Jersey resident Jenna Goddard found one such offer for “free ringtones” too good to pass up, and entered her phone number into a site offering free ringtones.  Her prize?  A monthly subscription fee on behalf of the fraudulent site.

The site had been placed using AdWords, a Google platform that offers pay-per-click advertising.  Businesses design their own advertisements, select which keywords or phrases will lead potential customers to the ads, and determine how much they are willing to pay-per-click.

Ms. Goddard filed suit against Google in federal court, arguing that she was a third party beneficiary to the  contract between Google and AdWords users and was harmed when Google violated its stated policy that ads must direct web users to sites with accurate pricing information.

San Jose District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel dismissed the claim, holding that the Communications Decency Act barred Google from any liability for such ads created through AdWords.  Fogel stated:

“Providing third parties with neutral tools to create web content is considered to be squarely within the protections of [the law].  Even if a service provider knows that third parties are using such tools to create illegal content, the service provider’s failure to intervene is immunized.”

Goddard is certainly not the only web user to be deceived by advertisements offering “free services” that end up charging on a monthly basis.  In fact, just last week, the Florida Attorney General accepted a $1 million settlement from Media Breakaway for not properly alerting web users to the prices associated with “free” media content.

Although such fraudulent or deceptively “unclear” sites frustrate consumers, Fogel’s decision seems to imply that citizens will find it difficult to fight providers who facilitate such advertisers in federal courts based on the application of the Communications Decency Act.  Thus, consumers only recourse may be to go after the advertisers themselves.

–Britt Doolittle

This Internet news is provided from the SK Holdings Company Ltd

Oct. 8, according to foreign media reports that the U.S. online advertising revenue was lower in the second quarter than in the first quarter, this is the result of economy deterioration. Earlier this year, the U.S. online advertising has increased by several quarters in a row.

USA Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released Tuesday a joint study shows that in the second quarter advertising revenue for the network 5,700,000,000 U.S. dollars last year in the second quarter of 5,100,000,000 U.S. dollars greater growth, but lower than In the first quarter of 5,800,000,000 U.S. dollars.

Analysts said that taking into account the economic environment, this is not the result of accidents. This is the second consecutive quarter of decline in the fourth quarter of last year, network advertising revenue for 5,900,000,000 U.S. dollars.

The two largest advertising network has achieved growth. Search advertising grew by 24 percent from a year ago, reached 2,500,000,000 U.S. dollars. Display ad growth of 13 percent to 1,900,000,000 U.S. dollars. Classified ad revenue was down seven percentage points, only 800,000,000 U.S. dollars.

IAC / InterActiveCorp boss Barry – Diller recently said that the worst economy may make the network advertising market landslide in the next two years. And the other forms of advertisement will fell even more. ZenithOptimedia data show that the present online advertising industry accounts for only 10% of the whole

Recently, in almost every website I go, a small MSN-or-other chat window appears with the picture of a hot girl saying “Hi! I want to have sex!”, in a clear attempt of making you think that a nymphomaniac got hold of your IM and is bugging you for a fuck, like, you know, it often happens to us all.

If you have ever, EVER clicked on one of these windows sincerely hoping that you would get into a conversation with said girl and that it would result in hot steamy sex… see that window on your bedroom there? Yes, go ahead, open it and JUMP, you fucking MORON. And if that fails to kill you, hit your head on the ground until your brains or whatever else you have instead of them is all over it.

I feel insulted someone actually thought this would work – and I know, deep down, that there are people that click on that shit. Mostly young kids, who click wondering what the nice lady is talking about. In that case, it’s forgivable. But I know there are adults who click on it. There are. And I feel ashamed to know I belong to the same species as them. TV ads are becoming more and more patronising, and so is the Internet. Everything and everyone automatically assume you are a retard.

For example, when a website has adult content and instead of asking you whether you are over eighteen or not, it asks you to enter YOUR DATE OF BIRTH. It CALCULATES for US whether we are eighteen or not, because it apparently believes we don’t know our own ages. And it really believes we would enter our actual date of birth if we were under eighteen and wanted access to the website aniway.

Either the Internet is an overprotective mom, or people are really this stupid. Please let it be the former.

Overwhelmed Trying To Put Together a Quality Advertising Campaign

I know how you feel,getting a quality advertising campaign together can take hours and frustrating days of hard work and in the end the chances of success can go either way without proper planning.

So, what does it take to put together a campaign that will make sales and build an opt in list of people that would like more information on your product or services?

Here are a couple of points to keep in mind while planning out your next advertising campaign.

First, lets make sure you are tracking and testing your campaigns along with split testing two or three different ad methods. You can use the test results to continually improve the response or open rate of any particular type of advertisement or web page. Tweaking these ads will improve your results dramatically and should be an ongoing process.

Next, let’s make sure that the campaign you are starting is cost effective with a reasonable ROI. If you have run a few test ads, you should have an effective CTR or click through rate from your test ads as well as what the rate of purchases were. Therefore if for instance, you sent out an email ad that you had tested to get the highest possible CTR and your percentage of sales to clicks is say 10% then some simple calculations can give you a fairly good idea of what to expect for your ROI.

Lets estimate that you want to send out 100,000 email ads and that the cost for sending them is $250. Through your test emails you tweaked it up to where your CTR was 1% and your purchase rate from these clicks was 10%. Here is how to figure your ROI based on a $10 product. Sending 100,000 emails and getting a CTR of 1% means that 1,000 people opened the emails. Then figuring that 10% of those 1,000 actually made the purchase or 100 people, the gross profit before the ad cost is $1,000. Remember the ad costs $250 so your ROI return on investment is $750. or your advertising expense is 25%. Not too bad.

The general rule of thumb is to NOT spend more than 40% of your estimated earnings on advertising.