Where do you advertise your online business

[Dugsmom]

I am going to open an online shop. I attempted running an online business a couple of years ago but I really didn't know how and where to get the word out. So nothing came out of it. I am really going to work hard to get this to work but I was wondering how and where do you advertise your business. Is paid advertising the best and if so, which are the best places?
I am planning on opening a business page on FB, advertise on craigslist, mamapedia, social forums, blog. I do have some money to invest in advertising but I want to make sure I don't waste on advertising that doesn't work. I would also like to advertise on free sites too but not sure which are good and which are a waste.
Your advice would be greatly appreciated!

[janet444]

I experimented with Facebook ads and I was happy with the results. I set a limit of $30 to get "likes" for my Facebook page, and I did get a few. I can't remember how many now, because it was quite a few months ago, when my page was new.

Here's what I like about the Facebook ads:

* You can target your audience pretty narrowly, including narrowing it to people who "like" certain pages. For instance, I'm a huge Mike Dooley fan, so at one point, I narrowed it to only Mike Dooley fans. But you can choose fans of several pages.

* As you narrow your audience, Facebook tells you how large that audience is.

* It's relatively inexpensive.

* You don't have to just advertise your Facebook page. You can advertise your website or blog if you want.

This is much more economical, I think, than Google AdWords, which can get very expensive.

I still haven't done more than that $30 ad a while back, but when I'm ready to advertise again, I plan to use Facebook ads.

Janet


Janet

[Stacy Moore]

I recently signed up for USFreeAds' "Premium" membership at $9.99 per month. I've heard mixed reviews, but figured for $10 per month, I'd give it a try. You can also set up a "featured" ad with a redirect to your site for an additional $17 or so a month. I did that too, but it's only been a few days, so I don't have enough information to pass on.

My own website which does really well for some relevant keyword phrases is by far the best advertising I've found yet. But, that didn't happen by accident.

Facebook advertising sounds intriguing. That may be my next experiment. I didn't have much luck on Mamapedia.

[wtaylorhi]

Start a Facebook page for your business and invite people to "Like" your page and Twitter is really good for branding yourself and your business. Wish you much success!

[cleverlyorganized]

Thanks ladies, these are all great tips!

[jandamom]

There are many free (or low cost) ways to market yourself online. Yes start a Facebook FanPage. There are many Facebook groups which you can join or Pages you can like whose sole purpose is to market your business. Some pages have "strolls" or you can join where you can increase the "likes" to your FanPage or on some Pages you can post links to your website or FanPage.
You might also set up a website (not necessarily your shopping site) and/ or a blog with links to you shopping site. Again there are blogging groups and directories you can join to get traffic your way.

[allwyn]

Taking the money and investing in some training may be the best approach for your biz and money. There are many free and effective marketing methods, as well as paid marketing methods, but you want to have your own sites you are marketing with directly and indirectly.

For example Facebook fanpages can be great but you want to ultimately get that traffic to your own website/blog and mailing list. Why. If you own it you control, if you don't then someone else can take it away.

Many have lost their Facebook list/friends accounts, Youtube, Twitter etc. after working hard and building them up. At the end of the day, if such happens it's a lot easier to bounce back using such hot platforms if you own and control you own marketing sites and list.

[dagaul101]

Paid advertising can work if you know what you are doing (or it can be extremely expensive very quickly). ideally if you can get backlinks to your site from authority sites in your niche, then it will stand your site well for long term traffic

[keeee691]

Forums, Ads, FaceBook... They all are Good!!!

Good Luck

Kevin

[karie]

Hi,

I get the vast majority of my sign-ups and sales using list builders/safelists. You can think of list builders as "instant lists" of people you can advertise to. When you join as a member of a list builder, you give permission to receive ads from other members through email marketing, and in turn, you can also send email offers to other members of the list builder. The key to success with list builders is to use good ad copy, and strong attention-grabbing subject lines. Consistency is also very important.. send your ads out as often as your membership allows. You can choose a free membership at list builders, or, you can choose to upgrade your membership, if you want to mail to way more members, and much more often.

If you use list builders, you will want to get a new gmail email account to use just for your advertising, because due to the very nature of list builders, you will receive alot of email ads from other members. List builders are "credit-based" which means that people will open up your email ad and click on your website link because they receive advertising credits when they do. This ensures that your email ads are being seen. Hope it helps, good luck!

Karie