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How to Market Your Small Business Online
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Article 7: Banner Advertising and Other E-Marketing Tools
Banners ads, which visitors can click on to be directed to an advertiser’s Web site, are pioneers of online advertising.
But they aren’t cost-effective for small businesses, says Holly Berkley, a San Diego-based new-media consultant and author of “Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business” (Self-Counsel Press, 2005). One reason: Banners that are extremely successful achieve just a 2 percent click-through rate, which measures the percentage of visitors who click on an ad.
If you’d still like to give them a try, think about the Web sites your target consumers are likely visiting.
“Download the media kit, talk to a sales representative, and ask for demographic information to make sure that is the right Web site for you,” Berkley says.
Some sites will help you create the ads. Test different calls to action and creative to see which ads work best, she suggests. Banner ads are typically sold by number of impressions, or the amount of times the banner is displayed.
Also, be as targeted as you can.
“You never want to buy an ad on the homepage of Yahoo!,” Berkley says. “Drill down and get as specific as possible to where your audience is going to be. It’s about the quality of traffic, not the quantity.”
Banner advertising rates vary. “Sometimes it really depends on the quality of the Web site content and how targeted the audience is,” she says.
Here are some other online options worth considering:
- Submit information for online maps. On Google Maps, for example, your company’s details and location can be displayed in search results and on map markers. It’s free, you don’t need a Web site, and you can offer printable coupons.
- Buy ads in online phone directories like Yellowpages.com. Listings may include mapping features.
- Purchase promotional space on Web sites, perhaps on those of trade magazines related to your business.
- Use online business networking sites like LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), Ryze (www.ryze.com) and Spoke (www.spoke.com). In your profile, include the same keywords you use in your Web site, Berkley says, and provide links to your sit
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How to Market Your Small Business Online
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