How To Make Money: Your First $1000 Online? - ImranQureshi.com » Advertising

Free Advertising That Works For Your Business

Imran Qureshi — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:45:48 +0000

When you’re just starting out in the online sales game, you need as much help as possible. You need to do everything you can to drive as much traffic to your site as possible. More bang for the buck works, but free advertising that works is much better. You can never go wrong with free, especially when you’re just getting on your feet.

There are many ways that you can advertise your goods for free online. The first is through free internet classified advertising sites. There are literally hundreds of them. Since they are free, take the time to thoughtfully create an ad or two and then post them on every single site that exists. It’s free, what do you stand to lose? Most of these sites break down categories for the visitors so they can easily find what they’re looking for. Make sure you are careful to put your listings in the correct category.

Many free online advertisers are now working hard to reduce spam and spammers from advertising online. Many times these spammers are advertising illegal activities or goods and the classified websites are doing their best to protect them selves and the buying public. They have automated systems that scan all ad listings for duplicate content and fraud, not to mention illegal information. Unfortunately, this software is a bit over zealous. Many times, honest and decent advertisers have their listings deleted by the automated system. Stay mindful of this as you post your ads and try not to appear as a spammer. If you need to repost your ad when it’s been removed, you’ll want to change details or it will get deleted again immediately.

Creating blogs is a wonderful way to advertise for free. By creating your own blogs, you can draw attention to your web page and drive traffic home. Most blogs can be created quickly and easily and won’t cost you a penny. Making your very own blogs is not the only way that blogging can be used to your advantage.

Find blogs that discuss products like those you sell or stores like yours. Make comments about your own store on these blogs but don’t be pushy. You may or may not want to mention that you are the store owner when posting. Don’t give the impression that you are trying to promote your site. Be sneaky but be honest.

Social networking sites are a great way to create buzz and stir up business. Create a page for your business. Talk about your business on your personal pages. Get friends and family to talk about your business on their pages. Word of mouth is contagious, take advantage of your friends.

Drop links, it’s quick and easy not to mention free. Put a link to your store in the signature line of any and all of your email accounts. Ask your friends to do the same. If you send lots of emails or forward lots of jokes and things to others, this will get your store’s name out there like wild fire.

There’s nothing wrong with a little shameless self promotion. Everyone should get as much as they can for free. Advertising your business for free creates a cycle that will fall like domino’s, landing you in the big game.

Advertising on Craigslist

Imran Qureshi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 11:03:33 +0000

Placing an advertisement on Craiglist is a good idea for practically any business that offers goods or services. Businesses who place advertisements on Craigslist will see financial increases, whether they sell online or in actual stores. Posting an advertisement on Craigslist carries very little risk, unlike other methods of advertising. Advertising is free, accept for job and housing postings. Users must accept the conditions of service of the community and also must comply with particular rules while placing ads, but there are no costs to individuals inserting ads on Craigslist. People who place ads here should not be be worried about whether or not their ad will meet any sales expectations.

Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist: An additional fact about the value of posting ads on Craigslist is the fact that you will potentially reach a large group of customers. The Craigslist fact sheet shows important data about the traffic to the website. This sheet shows that nearly four billion people look at Craigslist every month, and ten million people are using Craigslist every month. With the help of these figures, it is obvious that ads positioned on Craiglist will probably been seen by some potential customers.

Even though there are many visitors to Craigslist each month, and the advertising potential is nearly endless, that is no guarantee that they will be looking for your particular product or service. Advertisements on Craigslist must appeal to a reader’s interests and be informative, just like an advertising campaign that will be read by your potential customers.

Reaching Your Target Market on Craigslist: Finding a way to augment your advertising by using Craigslist is fine, but not to the point where you expose all audiences to your message rather than just your target market. It is far more valuable to reach a small number of viewers with an interest in your products or services than to reach a large number of readers who are not interested. A target audience consists of those who are interested in what you are selling.

The secret to attracting your intended viewers on Craigslist is inserting your ad in the most suitable spots. Craigslist has certain areas for companies to get the word out about the services they offer. This section is further separated into several different classifications. Individuals who are offering computer repair should place their ads in the computer section instead of the car repair section, the reason being people looking for computer repair services will go the the computer section first. There are times when it makes sense to place your advertisement in multiple sections. That is satisfactory to the extent that it does not become a spamming technique.

If you can’t find a specific section for the goods or services that your business provides, there are several options available. The owners of businesses can place an ad in the small business section, where it could be readily found by people searching this section. As another option, the owner of the business can contact Craigslist and suggest adding a new category. The moderators of the site might be inclined to add a category if they think it is helpful.

Spamming versus advertising: Spamming is different from advertising in varying ways. Inserting an ad in a suitable section of Craigslist is fine, but putting a similar ad in almost every portion of Craigslist for different geographical regions is spam. There are several reasons why spam is not effective. Spamming techniques may lead to potential customers getting sick of an advertisement and avoiding this business altogether in the future. Spamming, if detected by Craiglist, may lead to the banishment of this poster’s advertisements in the future.

Craigslist for Newcomer

Imran Qureshi — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:37:09 +0000

Although Craigslist has been around since 1995 in one way or other, the are a few people who still do not know how to use it. These individuals are missing a wonderful chance to be a member of a continually growing and evolving online community. If you are seeking information, a job, a reunion with friends, a date, goods and services to buy and sell, or intelligent discussion about important issues, this community is for you. This piece of writing will give a concise foreword to all of the main sections on Craigslist.

Community Section: The community section is extremely helpful for locating a lot of information about a particular location. It may inform you about activities, events, lost and found item, and other local news. Looking for something to do or see in a particular area? Then you will definitely want to check out this section.

Personals Section: If you are looking for a platonic friend or a romantic partner, check out the Personals ads. This section is organized with several different categories enabling both heterosexuals and homosexuals to find potential mates. You must be over 18 years of age to advertise in the personals section.

Discussion Forums: The discussion forums provide a place for those who want to express their opinions, answer questions for others, or otherwise trade information. This segment is separated into certain categories to assist users to locate others who are interested in the same things. There are some categories that permit users to post without logging in, whereas other segments demand that users sign up and log in prior to posting.

Housing: This section offers a number of housing opportunities. Those who use this section can find apartments or homes to lease, opportunities for subletting, roommate situations, house or apartment trades, real estate sales, and vacation rentals. You can also find storage space, parking space, and office space for lease or purchase.

For Sale Section: The “For sale” section of Craigslist really doesn’t need any further explanation. Similar to most sections, it is divided into several distinct categories. All these categories explain the kinds of goods that are presented for sale in this category. Additionally, there is a “wanted” section, where those looking to buy specific items can post an advertisement. Not every one of the items that are listed for sale have a cost attached to them. Some of these items can be acquired for free or through a bartering arrangement.

Services Section: In the services section, service suppliers can put advertisements for the kinds of services they are selling. You will want to make sure your advertisement appears in the appropriate category, but there is a small generic business section for those advertisements that don’t have a separate category.

Jobs Section: The employment section is by far Craiglist’s most comprehensive section. There are several sections with different categories so you can locate what you are looking for easier. There are both full and part time openings in this section, and also positions that allow you to telecommute or work under contract.

Gigs Section: This section is like the jobs section, but here you are only supposed to advertise for one time only jobs (“gigs”) as opposed to ongoing work. For example if you need volunteer staff for a one time event, the ad should be placed in the gigs section, but if you are looking for individuals to fill full time long term positions, the ad should be placed in the jobs section.

Resumes Section: This is the section where those looking for a job can post their resume. The primary way to get attention in this section is to use an eye-catching headline for your resume. Craigslist does not offer different categories for the resumes section, so it is tough for users to search through them.