Advertising: Does it have to cost a lot?
This guest post is by HungryWolf:
Advertising, they say, is the lifeblood of any major business. On the Internet though, advertising is the norm rather than the exception, no matter what the nature of your business is.
You may be the owner of only a small informational web site or even a tutorial site, your effort is worthless without any visitors.
Promotional avenues like Google AdWords and other pay-per-click advertising ventures cost a lot of money unless you are an expert at deriving the maximum output (visitors) from a minimal input ($$$).
Your best bet if you are starting out is to quickly recognize the importance of social bookmarking sites like digg.com and stumbleupon.com. Although digg is now pretty ruthless in burying unwanted content, it still remains an important source of traffic. Stumbleupon is really a miracle. One stumble can go a long way in getting the initial recognition that a new web site always craves for.
These days targeted advertising is the “in” thing. Marketing gurus swear by it and us common folk can only scratch our heads in wonder.
Of course the best advertising you can ever do is let your web site speak for itself. Fill it with relevant content and ensure return value for new visitors.
That more than anything will get you more traffic than any costly promotional venture. Advertising per se need not cost the roof. Remember simple business acumen (otherwise known as common sense!) always wins the day.
