Internet Marketing - Advertising Your Website

People opt for internet advertising methods because practically half of the world's population knows HTML. If you have your own business, you need to decide which internet advertising methods work best for you. You need to decide what you can afford - money or time because your choice will dictate whether you use the expensive internet advertising methods or the cheap ones. Although many believe that only the expensive internet advertising methods work best, don't be mislead into thinking that cheap internet advertising methods are useless because they can attract great benefits as well.

This is a quick review of various internet advertising methods. This article is not intended to take you through the ins and outs of each of these advertising methods but merely to bring them to your attention. By no means is this an exhaustive list either - it is meant to highlight some of the more popular methods of advertising.

Pop-ups are not only expensive, but because it is so annoying visitors close pop-up windows without even bothering to know what they're all about. This is an internet advertising method that you can do without.

Fly ads are derivatives of pop-ups which are also equally irksome to your visitors.

A new method that has been gaining popularity is called the "Pop-under". Inside of appearing over the website you are looking for, it appears beneathe it. Readers don't see these until they close the window they were looking at. They are viewed at a time when your readers are more willing to take a look at what your pop-under has to offer instead of being annoyed by your pop-up that delays them from getting to the information they are really hungry for.

A pod cast is to the internet what a Broadcast is to TV. It's one sophisticated internet advertising method that can hamper your budget. But if you're thinking results, pod casting is worth the money.

How does this one work? When someone types in a keyword related to your site, your URL is automatically included in the first page of the top results. By paying a fixed price to the search engine, you can jump to the top of the search engine without having to waste time building up your search engine ranking. This is expensive, but if you're looking at Google and Yahoo, it can be well worth the price.

This is associated with another internet advertising method: the pay-per-click system. Pay-per-click is great because you only pay for your ads that have been clicked on so you don't waste money on useless advertising.

Ezines are basically online magazines. Just as a regular magazine sells ad spaces to companies, you can also purchase ad spaces on Ezines. You can purchase a variety of ads on magazines such as banners, top sponsors, and solo ads based on your budget. Ezine ads have the advantage of allowing you to target a specific audience and they cater to a wide budget range. Obviously the more attention you want your ad to have, the more it will cost you, similarly to a double page, colour ad in a regular magazine, versus a quarter page, black and white.

Hop onto the bandwagon and blog about your website. This is an internet advertising method that has gained popularity in recent times. All you have to do is sign up for a blogging account, post and voila! You don't even need to pay - unless you want to host your own blog. Blogs are well received by the search engines and can help increase a website's ranking because they are frequently updated with fresh content (search engines love websites that are constantly updated).

This is cheap and dependable. If you submit your site to smaller search engines, you have a bigger chance to get bigger results. Remember that the search engine giants can dwarf and overlook your site easily, so this internet advertising method might just be right up your alley. And if you target several small search engines, the sum of the results can add up.

Not only are text-links cheap, they can be free! All you have to do is get someone to text link your site and return the favor. This is also known as a link-exchange. You can also purchase text links for a price, or you can go one step further and purchase a blog review - Smorty, SponsoredReviews, Linkworth, Payperpost, Blogsvertise.

The more links you have pointing to your website, the more traffic you can generate. Additionally, the search engines also reward sites that have lots of quality back links with a higher ranking. Just make sure that the site linking yours is relevant to your website's topic.

This is a free but very effective alternative to purchasing ads on ezines. There are many content websites online that are open to receiving articles contributed by individuals. It is usually free to submit your article, although there may be some requirements to meet. If your article is accepted for publication, it will be accompanied by a resource box that contains a link back to your website. Since you will be the one providing the resource box, make sure it is well-written and sufficiently enticing to invite readers to click on your link.

Join a forum and contribute useful tips and feedback on it. You can then add a link to your website in your signature. If other members of the forum find your posts useful and informative, they may click your link back to your website. It takes a bit of work, but this is a great free way to create traffic to your website. Just a word of warning, though, make sure that whatever you contribute to the forum is useful and relevant. Posting rubbish posts and attempting to sell your website or products is not only annoying but it can get you blacklisted from the forum. So if you do choose to apply this technique, make sure you do so carefully.

By optimising your website for the search engines, you can increase your website's ranking through search engine optimisation. This method can be challenging and requires a bit of work but if you succeed in getting your website ranked number one for relevant keywords, it can be an extremely effective way to advertise your website.

If you don't know much about SEO Marketing, there are plenty of courses out there that you can take to learn more about it. Alternatively, if this sounds too complicated for you, you can pay someone to optimise your website for you, but be prepared to pay a lot to get the job done properly.

(e.g. Instant Buzz, Traffic Swarm, Hits2U)

These are free to join and provide an easy way to promote your website to others. The results can be a little "hit and miss" though. They also offer the option to upgrade with various benefits that make your website links more prominent.

If you have a mailing list, you can send them an email inviting them to visit your website, promoting a product or offering useful, relevant information. It is important, however, to get permission before sending such emails, otherwise your emails can be labelled as spam. If you don't have your own mailing list, you can buy them from companies like Rent-a-List or Push-Button-Leads.

In the field of internet advertising, you may have to work out which methods work best for you, your website and your business. Sometimes it may require a bit of trial and error before you can settle on any method, and while some methods work for you at present, the ever changing world of the internet requires you to be flexible and adaptable. When a particular method no longer works for you, change it and look for something else that will work. Go for what you want as long as the results are there.