Getting Traffic to Your Website From Beyond the Internet

One place you may not be looking at for getting traffic to your website is outside the Internet.  While it’s true that information travels faster on the World Wide Web and that you can reach far away places, the value of promoting your website “in the real world” shouldn’t be underestimated.  There are many opportunities for this, and you don’t have to rely on search engines.

Put Your Web Address on Business Cards

Business cards are a great place to start “real world advertising” for your web address.  They’re inexpensive, and you can take them with you wherever you go.  You can often leave them on store displays and counters.

Let’s say that you’re going to a marketing convention.  You will naturally want to have business cards there to get your name out among your peers.  It only makes sense to have your web address included.  Your phone number may be optional, but you’re missing a great chance if you don’t include your web address.

Advertise Your Web Site in the Newspaper

Many people still use the newspaper, and it’s still a valuable advertising medium for your website.  There’s a good chance that you’ll have to start small if your business is new.  Start with the local papers and expand to the more national ones as your budget allows.

Magazines are also a great place to advertise your website.  Just like with the newspapers, you’ll want to start off local and expand to the larger ones as your business grows.  You should particularly focus on the magazines that are local business oriented, especially if they relate to your niche.

TV Commercials Too Expensive?  Try Google TV Ads

Of course, having TV commercials would be awesome, and now Google TV Ads makes it affordable to most marketers.  Until a couple of years ago, TV advertising was cost-inhibitive for fledgling Internet marketers.  Here’s a basic idea of how Google TV Ads works.

If you’ve used Adwords, the interface for TV Ads should be familiar to you.  Much like in Adwords, you auction for your niche.  You use keywords to find the appropriate shows that you can advertise in, and you bid for time slots.  Once you win your time slot, you can upload your video and you’re ready to air.

This is, of course, assuming that your video meets their technical specs.  They’re not terribly hard to follow, but they have the option for you to let someone in the Ad Creation Marketplace make it for you.  It’s your call if you want to use it, but I’m willing to bet that you can find someone to make your commercial for you cheaper than what you’d find in the Ad Creation Marketplace.

The expenses in TV Ads follow the same basic patterns as in Adwords.  The hotter your niche and the better your time slot, the more expensive it is.  Just like Adwords, your TV campaign will be a compromise between your budget and your desired results.