[slubu]

I'm simply overwhelmed with this. I recently launched a website that provides a particular service online. I'm not selling a product, I'm not doing any IM or affiliate stuff, no clickbacks, no blogging and so forth. I know there is a lot of info on here and elsewhere on this type of internet money making. I did a search and el mech's thread was somewhat relevant, but his focused on a local business. My business has no location, it is all online.

Roosh's twitter link on making money online led me to find out you can pay people on fiverr to do all this random shit to generate traffic to your website. However, I think searched here and people said doing that is basically SEO death and to not do it. So now I'm back to the beginning.

What are the best ways to let people know my website and, more specifically, my service exists? My target demographic is California as my service is not available elsewhere. Some ideas I've either had or heard of:

- Google adwords [worth it? don't know much about it]
- Somehow getting ranked by google high so people find me [how to do this?]
- Hire a PR firm to get an article put in the paper locally here about my business
- Radio advertising
- Print advertising
- TV advertising
- Ads on other internet sites
- Yelp

I already have a website designed and launched, complete with authorize.net payment structure, and it's a WordPress website. I just need customers. I am clueless on this front - don't know the difference between backlinks, click this bank that, automation, adwords, adsense, SEO, SEM...my head almost exploded just trying to figure out which subforum I should look at at this website. I think that this stuff is not what I'm looking for and/or need, but I could be dead wrong.

Any and all guidance is more than appreciated.

[worldwidetraveler]

It is kind of hard to help unless you start spitting out some demographics.

I can't believe every person in California will be interested in your service.

If you can narrow it down then:

You can use google content to hit websites these people frequent.

Facebook is awesome at delivering ads based on the info the user submitted. I am shocked at how much information people put about themselves on Facebook. Hell, if you can figure out what type of books your customers read you can even narrow ads to those books on Facebook. It is a crazy what you can use for placements.

Any type of journals, newspapers they have in common.

Blah, blah, like I said, it really depends on the demographics of your customers.

[Blackmagic]

Slubu, the best way to advertise an online only business is online. We'd need to know a little more about what your offering is, or at least, how much your service costs in order to map out a marketing strategy that would get you the best ROI. Social networking, search engine optimization, and blogging are some of the best low cost options but you will likely not see results from those specific marketing sources for months. With a business that is just starting out, you're going to need to spread some money around to different advertising methods to get a feel for what works best for you.

I do online marketing consulting (mostly search and display) and have some experience with offline (radio, direct mail, etc.) if you need further guidance. Shoot me a PM if you don't want to drop all of your business info on the forum.

[slubu]

Thanks guys. I can explain a bit. Think of something along the lines of legalzoom, how if people want to use a low cost service where they would normally have to pay an attorney a lot of money for. Average purchase would be about 100-200 or so. I guess the most specific demographic would be an individual who needs legal help for cheap.

worldwide I'm looking into google content, thanks. Not sure how I'd advertise that on Facebook.

Blackmagic, hopefully the description above helps?

[worldwidetraveler]

(12-13-2012 06:24 PM)slubu Wrote:  

Thanks guys. I can explain a bit. Think of something along the lines of legalzoom, how if people want to use a low cost service where they would normally have to pay an attorney a lot of money for. Average purchase would be about 100-200 or so. I guess the most specific demographic would be an individual who needs legal help for cheap.

worldwide I'm looking into google content, thanks. Not sure how I'd advertise that on Facebook.

Blackmagic, hopefully the description above helps?

So legal advice or docs?

Do you have any data as to how much each customers is worth or demographics? For example: a lot of dui's are done by white males, professional, around 30 years of age, uses baking soda for everything and visits the Roosh forum. You can tap into this on facebook and other marketing streams.

If you can find forums for legal advice and they use adsense you can show ads through google content.

Besides that, I would start break down what type of services like dui, divorce, etc..

Look at what lawyers are doing to advertise their practices. I know they use a lot of television commercials during the day time. Even if you don't want to do something like that it may give you more insight into what type of customer you want to focus on.

[Carmo]

Subu,
Unless you have a substantial bankroll, or wealthy investors that don't mind throwing their money around, most of the advertising channels you mentioned are off the table for the immediate future.

The truth of the matter is that in order to run a legit tv, print, or radio campaign you need a very large budget which it doesn't sound like you're sitting on. $25k would get you started for a week or so on TV but really you would want $100k+ ad budget before you even want to think about tv or print. I work in accounts at a substantial agency, and unfortunately most of these campaigns fail, especially those directed around some sort of a call to action that tries to intice users to go online or pick up a phone and do something.

Not being negative, just letting you not to waste your time thinking about that form of adverting for now. Instead, concentrate on learning the basics of e-commerce. Read a few books on SEO, marketing, copy writing, etc and you will start to get the hang of it. By that time, start thinking about cheap and efficient ways of promoting your site for free or cheap and try to grow it a pace that makes sense.

[worldwidetraveler]

I wouldn't even think about television or radio until I got down my stats.

Direct marketing is more effective. Forget about building a brand and concentrate on getting paying customers.

[username]

I was think about starting a thread like this because I have the same question about launching two new sites.

I plan to run Adwords for related keywords for each of the sites and keep my bids low, like under 30 cents a click. Site #1 will target a certain city so I was thinking about getting some cheap signs or poster made and put them all over the city in high traffic areas. Lots of other businesses do this in that city. Site #2 is nationwide targeting a certain niche so I might buy cheap offline advertising that reaches this group in addition to Adwords.

Each site will feature a free service and I want to have 1,000 users on each site. To me, it is worth it to pay $2k or $3k to get those 1,000 users. Once it reaches 1,000 users then hopefully it will grow by word of mouth. Eventually I can then upsell on other products/services.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Slubu,
How big are your profits margin and per sale figures roughly? If they are high enough, which I sure hope, then look into offline ads, such as ads and full page ads in targeted newspapers and magazines. If the service you offer has a high value/cost, then I'd say you'd be better off looking into offline ads versus online as that would give your offer more legitimacy and credibility. That's my experience from promoting and selling a 3k and a 5k membership. I'd say over 4 years, about 95% of my sales came from my full page ads in targeted mags versus very little to none from online ads. For high end offers, the good old newspaper and magazine still holds a looot of power.

All in all, I'd say it depends on the profits margin of your service/product. If you're selling a low cost item (say under 500 bucks) then it'd be more challenging to find a targeted magazine that would justify the higher cost of the full page ad. But if you're making at least 1k/sale then by all means, full page ads in targeted magazines is the way to go. At least from my experience. Has anyone else noticed/experienced the same?

[Carmo]

Full page ads are great but they are super expensive, especially in mags. If they have the capital i'd say do it but if they dont have the cash, it doesn't matter how great his margin is.

[slubu]

(12-13-2012 07:34 PM)Carmo Wrote:  

I work in accounts at a substantial agency, and unfortunately most of these campaigns fail, especially those directed around some sort of a call to action that tries to intice users to go online or pick up a phone and do something.

Not being negative, just letting you not to waste your time thinking about that form of adverting for now. Instead, concentrate on learning the basics of e-commerce. Read a few books on SEO, marketing, copy writing, etc and you will start to get the hang of it. By that time, start thinking about cheap and efficient ways of promoting your site for free or cheap and try to grow it a pace that makes sense.

Thanks, I appreciate the insight into the failure of those campaigns. I'd love to read these books if I had time - I probably could make time but this is my 2nd business and I'm also trying to juggle may things at once.

Wouldn't the books be outdated? Seems like whatever these SEO algorithms are they keep changing every few months.

(12-13-2012 07:41 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

I wouldn't even think about television or radio until I got down my stats.

Direct marketing is more effective. Forget about building a brand and concentrate on getting paying customers.

I have a hookup at a pretty large radio station where I live, that's why I can potentially go that route. For about 1-2k I can get some "online presence" at their website, whatever that means.

In a general sense I understand Direct marketing - which I presume means targeting your advertisements to the specified demographic. But how do I implement this specifically?

(12-14-2012 01:21 AM)username Wrote:  

I plan to run Adwords for related keywords for each of the sites and keep my bids low, like under 30 cents a click. Site #1 will target a certain city so I was thinking about getting some cheap signs or poster made and put them all over the city in high traffic areas. Lots of other businesses do this in that city. Site #2 is nationwide targeting a certain niche so I might buy cheap offline advertising that reaches this group in addition to Adwords.

Where is there cheap offline advertising?

(12-14-2012 02:18 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Slubu,
How big are your profits margin and per sale figures roughly? If they are high enough, which I sure hope, then look into offline ads, such as ads and full page ads in targeted newspapers and magazines. If the service you offer has a high value/cost, then I'd say you'd be better off looking into offline ads versus online as that would give your offer more legitimacy and credibility. That's my experience from promoting and selling a 3k and a 5k membership. I'd say over 4 years, about 95% of my sales came from my full page ads in targeted mags versus very little to none from online ads. For high end offers, the good old newspaper and magazine still holds a looot of power.

All in all, I'd say it depends on the profits margin of your service/product. If you're selling a low cost item (say under 500 bucks) then it'd be more challenging to find a targeted magazine that would justify the higher cost of the full page ad. But if you're making at least 1k/sale then by all means, full page ads in targeted magazines is the way to go. At least from my experience. Has anyone else noticed/experienced the same?

My costs per month are about 600-700 and they stay fixed based on things I need to operate. My average sale will be between 100-300. So three to four purchases a month covers my costs, the rest is profit. And since I'm selling a service and not a product, there is no inventory, shipping, goods, etc. type costs.

[TheGreatKTC]

Ever heard of HireAReporter.com(HARO for short)? It's basically a free e-mail newsletter, Monday-Friday, 3 times a day, asking people to provide their expertise on different subjects. They get a story and in return, you get a mention and a link back to your site. It's potential to have free PR if you know where to find it. I think there are a couple more of these types of websites available.

I'll have to agree on what everyone else has been saying about blogging and using social networks to generate some traffic your way. Maybe an affiliate program as well?

Oh, and business cards. Can't forget those. You never know who you'll end up networking with in real life.

[Carmo]

What is your budget? What are your goals, cost pert visit, cost per lead, etc???

I hate to be one of those guys but it sounds like you haven't really thought through your business model, so when you ask for advice it sounds like you are asking for a magic bullet, which does not exist. Advertising is expensive, and if you don't know what you are doing and if you dont have a sound infrastructure to support you campaign you are pissing in the wind man.

My advice is really simple. Figure out what it is that you offer that nobody else does, or how you do it differently which is called a USP(unique selling proposition). Hopefully it is good. Now, figure out who your target market is, e.g 18-34 m(43KMHHI) and target them. You still haven't explained so we cant help you specifically.

Honestly man, do your work. Nobody gives a s**t that you have a blog with authorize.net. What is your value proposition?????

I didn't want to get into the negative but it sounds like you really dont know what your vision is. Follow the below steps to create a business.

1. What do I do
2. How does my product or service help people
3. Create a name(dont spend money)
4. develop a profitability plan(dont spend money)
5. competitive research( does my product or service exist?)
6 Do RESEARCH
7. Do more RESEARCH
8. Do more REACH
9. Develop a budget
10. Get the money
a. business plan
b. Find private investors(RECOMMENDED)
11. Produce your product (you should be doing this yourself unless its manufacturing)
12. Now you have a product, start thinking about how to sell it
13.Website/SEO/SEM/e-commerce, (learn everything you can)
14. Take everything you learned, forget it and start looking and the data you are collecting
15. Take your data and figure out how to optimize your spend to get the most customers
16. Maybe start thinking about branding, logo, etc
17. Take your experience, customers, etc, and now spend a little money on your brand, logo, etc
18. Get new investors and use the money to advertise

[Carmo]

(12-14-2012 11:53 PM)Carmo Wrote:  

What is your budget? What are your goals, cost pert visit, cost per lead, etc???

I hate to be one of those guys but it sounds like you haven't really thought through your business model, so when you ask for advice it sounds like you are asking for a magic bullet, which does not exist. Advertising is expensive, and if you don't know what you are doing and if you dont have a sound infrastructure to support you campaign you are pissing in the wind man.

My advice is really simple. Figure out what it is that you offer that nobody else does, or how you do it differently which is called a USP(unique selling proposition). Hopefully it is good. Now, figure out who your target market is, e.g 18-34 m(43KMHHI) and target them. You still haven't explained so we cant help you specifically.

Honestly man, do your work. Nobody gives a s**t that you have a blog with authorize.net. What is your value proposition?????

I didn't want to get into the negative but it sounds like you really dont know what your vision is. Follow the below steps to create a business.

1. What do I do
2. How does my product or service help people
3. Create a name(dont spend money)
4. develop a profitability plan(dont spend money)
5. competitive research( does my product or service exist?)
6 Do RESEARCH
7. Do more RESEARCH
8. Do more REACH
9. Develop a budget
10. Get the money
a. business plan
b. Find private investors(RECOMMENDED)
11. Produce your product (you should be doing this yourself unless its manufacturing)
12. Now you have a product, start thinking about how to sell it
13.Website/SEO/SEM/e-commerce, (learn everything you can)
14. Take everything you learned, forget it and start looking and the data you are collecting
15. Take your data and figure out how to optimize your spend to get the most customers
16. Maybe start thinking about branding, logo, etc
17. Take your experience, customers, etc, and now spend a little money on your brand, logo, etc
18. Get new investors and use the money to advertise

[PhilE]

someone needs to contact Alpha Mind....

[Drazen]

Look on the other side of the coin...if you were a customer that wanted your services, how would you find out about it? That's really the core issue

What are the phrases you would type into google if you think people will find you on google.

If you are targeting a business customer, find out where they hang out or find put how they would find you.

I think starting out you will need to establish yourself..and if you are only targeting local markets, I'd start small like target an area in california and develop some marketing or networking strategy. The best advertising for locally targeted businesses are referrals even if its online only

[Drazen]

Don't do the banner ad at the radio station unless your target audience are people who visit radio stations, although it is a link for seo....but even then, I wouldn't.

I'd try to find some bloggers in your niche and approach them to see if they can promote your product...depends on readership.

Advertising on podcasts may be good if its business related as well.