Advertise Online

There are a variety of ways to advertise and promote your business online. Some of them are 100% free, and some require payment. You will usually find your best success with a mixture of both paid and free advertising. Some of the more popular free methods of advertising are in online Marketplaces, Topsites lists, and Plug Boards. Explore each of these options to see which might be the best fit for you.

Marketplaces

Marketplaces are also known as online malls or shopping directories. They are sites that consist of links to all sorts of online stores within a given theme. Most of the websites that are showcased in marketplaces have paid for their ads that you see there. But some marketplaces also offer some free types of advertising, either through text links, plugs, topsites, or something of that nature. There are a wide variety of marketplaces out there, and there are some for almost every online niche you can imagine. It’s important to remember that you should be advertising in marketplaces that have a niche that is relevant to your own products. Relevance is always important for the search engines!

It’s smart to be selective with your paid marketplace advertising. Most of us don’t have an unlimited advertising budget, so we need to pay for ads where we know it will do the most good. So in addition to advertising in a marketplace with a relevant niche, also be sure to utilize marketplaces that are well-trafficked and have higher page ranks. These are also important points for good SEO.

Topsites

Topsites are comprised of lists of banner links to online stores within a given theme. Store owners can place code on their websites that displays a banner, directing them to the topsite’s web page. When shoppers click on the banner, they are taken to that website, and in the process they are “casting a vote” for the site that they found the link on. When that vote is cast, that store’s website banner moves up in the topsite list. The goal for you, as a store owner, is to get your banner as near to the top as possible so that is seen by more people–because only a certain number of banners are displayed in a topsite list. The benefit for the shopper is that they are taken to a site where they can find links to other types of stores they may also like to visit. Note that advertising in topsites lists is not a means of improving your page rank with the search engines. Not all topsites are indexed with the SE’s, so it is not really for SEO purposes that you would advertise in topsites lists. Rather, it is more beneficial for generating human traffic to your website.

Also note some other guidelines for which Topsites Lists to join:

• Lists that are well maintained (i.e. free of dead links, red x’s in place of images,  and free of irrelevant links, etc).
• Lists that are updated/reset at regular intervals. Most lists show their update/reset dates at the bottom of the list; if the list hasn’t been reset in months or says “never,” then don’t bother joining because chances are your link will never be seen.
• Lists that have a fair amount of members, as those are the most likely to generate the most traffic. But a new site can be great to join too, since it will put you on the first page until a lot more members join! So don’t rule those out.

Be sure to join the Online Business Junction Top 100 Sites list!

Here’s a tip though: when linking to marketplaces, topsites, or just to other online stores, have your links set to open in a new window. You want it to be easy for the shopper to get back to your site. By keeping your store open in its current window, they are less likely to forget to come back to yours, or close the window by mistake and be unable to find you again.

Plugboards

What is a Plug and what on earth do you do with it? A plug is a small advertising graphic, usually 88×31 pixels in size. Plugs are added to Plug Boards on websites, which are basically large grids full of graphic links (plugs). Plugs can be animated or static. The benefit of having them animated is that they are more noticeable, but also that you can include more text. However, many people find animate plugs to be annoying and difficult to read. So I suggest that unless your website name is very long, stick with a static (non-animated) plug in most cases.

The upside of plug boards is that most folks will let you “plug them” for free. So it’s advertising that anyone can afford. The downside is that the plugs move through the grid as new ones are added, eventually knocking off the older plugs. So once your plug is no longer visible, you need to go back and plug again. And many website owners neglect their plug boards, allowing them to fill up with broken or irrelevant links, so avoid those. Also avoid the ones that have far too many plugs on them, because either the page will take too long to load or it will just be too annoying to look at. Either way it will send viewers away.

As with anything where your business and your budget is concerned, it’s best to do your homework and invest your advertising dollars wisely. And if a particular site or method isn’t working for you, then it’s time to explore other options where you will get the most bang for your buck.