how much does it cost to advertise on the internet?

Question

I'm looking into a home based business and I need to know roughly how much I will need to invest in advertisment

Answer 1

It depends -- you can be advertise for as little as $1 (see the various pixel advertising websites such as http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com ) or as expensive as tens of thousands per month.

The key is to set a budget that you are comfortable with, and work within that budget by finding websites where you can advertise and get the best returns within your budget.

If you advertise, do you want to:

- buy banner ads?
- buy text links in other websites where your target audience goes?
- advertise in pay per click search engines such as Google Adwords http://www.google.com/adwords
- advertise in a ezine or newsletter?
- use new modes of advertising such as pixel advertising

Before you think of spending money, I suggest you first consider if there are ways you can market your business for free, without doing advertising. You can combine your guerrila marketing tactics with advertising to be able to reach your customers better

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:

1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement - if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important -- and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more - that's additional traffic that you get for FREE!

Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com's "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day." http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

SEO for Google http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/google.htm
SEO for Yahoo! http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/yahoo.htm
SEO for MSN http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/msn.htm
Tying It Together: SEO For The Big Three http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/seo.htm

4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481

6. Improve your conversion. Getting visitors is one thing; getting them to buy your products is a whole different story. Read the article "10 Ways to Convert Visitors to Buyers" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/072005/conversion.htm for tips on how to improve your conversion rates.

7. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/...
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/

Answer 2

This depends on where you advertise at, you could advertise in the search engines for free. You could advertise using PPC (Pay Per Click) for little as 5 cents per click. To get started advertising I would say you need around a 1000 dollars each month.

Answer 3

Hi, perhaps you can try Google adwords to market your service/product.

Google adwords is a text-based system for advertising on its site and its partner sites. The service allows you to create your own ads, choose keywords to help match your ads to your audience, and control the cost of your advertising—you pay only when people click on your ad (a cost per click plan). Anyone wishing to promote a product on Google can enroll in this program.

you can get a 5 detail pages information about Google adwords at :

http://www.adcenter.net.cn/google-adwords/

Good Luck && Best Wishes!

Answer 4

any "FREE" adverting isn't going to be of much value - you get what you pay for join related discussion groups, forums - that's how I sold some of my products check out delphi forums - some of the groups allow a "marketplace" or buy/sell listings (free)

Answer 5

if you go to godaddy.com you can get info....I think you can link your business flags or banners onto other web sites. that is what i did with my business.