Internet Advertising  
  Advertising your listings on the Internet can be a simple, cost-effective to quickly get more and increase your earnings. If you've never purchased advertising before, don't worry! It's a lot easier to do than you may expect. We recommend that you experiment first without spending a lot of money. See which types of advertising work best for selling your advice.

Advertise on Pay-for-Performance Search Engines
Many advisors have had success advertising on pay-for-performance search engines like Overture.com. It's a great place to start experimenting!

How do they work?
When a customer searches on a search engine for a specific topic (e.g. tax advice), they'll see listings of advertisers for that topic. Listings are ranked by the amount each advertiser bid for clicks. Advertisers with the highest bids are shown at the top. When a customer clicks on an advertiser's listing, the advertiser is charged the amount they bid (e.g., $0.30). Note: this type of advertising is often called cost-per-click or CPC.

What are the largest Pay-for-Performance Search Engines?

  • www.Overture.com - The top advertiser listings for each topic on Overture are also shown in search on Yahoo, AOL, Lycos, Infospace and AltaVista.

  • www.FindWhat.com - The top advertiser listings for each topic on FindWhat are also shown in search on CNET, Infospace and Momma.com.

  • www.Google.com - Google is one of the top search engines on the Internet. They offer a variety of advertising options. The pay-for-performance option is called Adwords Select.

How do I advertise on one of these sites?
First, create a list of search topics that a person might logically use to find your listing. Then go to one of the above websites and try searching on those topics. What advertisers are listed? How much would you need to bid to get one of the top spots? What sales pitches are they using?

Next, click on the "List Your Site," "Advertise with Us" or "Advertiser" link. Follow instructions to create your account and deposit money. You'll need to select topics, create a sales pitch, and add a link to your Keen home page or your top listing. Then you'll be asked to enter a bid for each topic.

Measure your results! Several days later, go back to your advertiser account and see how many people clicked on your listing. If not many have, try changing your sales pitch or increasing your bid. Are you getting more calls on Keen? Ask new customers how they found out about you.

Other Ways to Advertise on the Internet
Most websites sell advertising. You need to figure out which websites your potential customer are most likely to visit. Here are a few ideas:

  • Online yellow pages are similar to the Yellow Pages book that's delivered to your doorstep. Some websites to experiment with are www.Infospace.com, www.MapQuest.com and www.Yahoo.com.

  • Industry specific websites. Are there any websites that cater to your category? See if they accept advertising.

  • Email newsletters. Are there email newsletters that cater to your category? See if you can purchase a sponsorship. One place to start is Topica, an independent email aggregator, where you can sponsor any of their email newsletters of almost any topic. Check out www.topica.com/advertise.

Internet Advertising Lingo
Here are a few online advertising terms that you might encounter and definitions to help you out:

  • CPM - Cost per thousand impressions. An advertiser pays this amount for every thousand times a person views their online ad or text link.

  • CPC - Cost per click. An advertiser pays this amount each time someone clicks on their online ad or text link.

  • CPA - Cost per acquisition. An advertiser pays this amount for every customer they acquire through the advertising. The definition of "acquire" is mutually agree upon by the advertiser and website owner.

  • Sponsorship - General term for purchasing an online ad on a website or email newsletter for set period of time. Often email sponsorships are quoted as sponsorship cost per thousand email.

What to Say in Your Advertising
Less is more when it comes to advertising. Keep your sales pitch short and sweet -- customer have very little attention span when they're on the Internet!

In your ad, you should essentially answer the question, "Why should they call you?" Make sure you cover the basic information about your services on Keen:

  • What advice you offer

  • How you're different from your competition (optional)

  • A strong call-to-action - tell them what they need to do next (e.g., Click here for more info) and how to find you on Keen
 
 
 
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