Hello simchatree~
First, I?d like to suggest some free marketing strategies. These
require mostly time and little or no money. Then, I?ll end my Answer
with a direct comment about what kind of advertising will probably
best suit an online jewelry store.
Possibly the number one way people find online businesses is through
search engines. Therefore, your priority is to get your business
listed in them. Although there are companies that offer to submit your
website to search engines for you, you?re really better off doing it
yourself. Here's the link to Yahoo's submit page:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest
And Google's:
://www.google.com/addurl.html
Once you?re listed at these search engines, you?ll likely be listed on
most engines. It may take a few months for your site to appear on any
search engine, however.(If you want to submit to other search engines,
just go to their home page and look for a link, often at the bottom of
the page, that says ?submit a link,? or some similar wording.) Be sure
you follow some simple guidelines to make your site more search engine
friendly. (See this previously-answered question:
http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=391765 )
Also, don?t miss out by not creating a newsletter. An email newsletter
is a relatively easy?and entirely free?way for you to keep in touch
with your customers, enticing them back to your website again and
again. for your customers to keep them coming back to your site. Keep
your
newsletters short and informative. Include links back to your
website--links to articles that will help inform and instruct your
customers. Include special sales, just for newsletter subscribers. To
encourage subscriptions, advertise that all subscribers will be
entered into a drawing for a free piece of jewelry.
If possible, attend conferences or shows where you might meet
potential clients. Be sure to have lots of business cards with your
web address on them. Also be sure your web site has
testimonials/recommendations,
if possible.
Every letter, email, brochure, invoice, or fax that you send out
should also have your web address on it.
Importantly, find sites that aren't in direct competition with you
(jewelry collector sites, romance how-to sites, gemstone enthusiast
sites, etc.), but are still somehow related to your business, and be
sure to exchange links with them. Just email the webmaster saying you
want to add their link to your site...then suggest that they
reciprocate (and give them all the info they need to do this).
You may even be able to develop a relationship with these other site
owners, so that you can swap ads, free of charge. They would run an ad
for your site in exchange for you running an ad for their?s.
Now, all those ?freebies? aside, what kind of advertising is best for
an online jewelry store? The problem with most advertising (especially
on the web) is how well targeted it is. Unfortunately, it?s often not
targeted well at all, which means you?re wasting ad dollars.
Definitely do not buy "generic" space.
Because ads are difficult to target, I suggest you go for a
pay-per-click ad. These are affiliated with search engines (some of
the most visited sites on the web!), and your ad will only appear when
someone types in certain keywords. You only pay when someone clicks
the link to get to your site. That makes for pretty affordable
advertising, very well targeted to your market.
For more about pay-per-click ads, visit ?Promoting Online Business? at
Biz=wiz: http://biz-whiz.com/article246.html and ?Pay Per Click
Search Engines? at Online for Success:
http://www.onlineforsuccess.com/pay-per-click.htm Probably the number
one pay-per-click program is Google?s: ://www.google.com/ads/
You might also wish to review these articles:
For a good basic article on promoting online businesses, visit:
http://biz.howstuffworks.com/online-biz-promotion.htm
Also ?Promoting Your Site? at Home Biz Tools:
http://homebiztools.com/bizstart_finetune.htm
RESEARCH STRATEGY:
Researcher's personal knowledge
Google search:
promoting online business
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=promoting+online+business&btnG=Google+Search |
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