Considering Banner Advertising? ... Better Think Again.
© 1999, by Harmony Major

If you're determined to succeed in your home business, you've probably tried, (or WILL try), just about every form of legal advertising out there. And, maybe even some that aren't so legal. But, before you waste valuable time and hundreds of dollars, let me let you in on a little secret.

If you're thinking of banner advertising, forget it.

Sure, banner advertising CAN be effective. But most of the time, it's just NOT. Banner exchanges don't work unless you're already getting hundreds of visitors to your website daily. And, even then, why would you run the risk of losing those hard-earned visitors to someone else's site? My advice to you Save that banner advertising space for your OWN banners -- banners that are going to make YOU money.

Increasing your profits with banners placed strategically throughout your website makes more sense. If you have a banner for an affiliate program on home employment, put that banner at the top of one of your home employment web pages. But, make sure to use the target=_blank attribute in your A HREF hyperlink tag to be sure that visitors won't be leaving your site.

What's that you say? You signed up for an employment-related affiliate program ... but you don't have a relevant page on your website? Well, I'll tell you right now, you won't be making very much money from that program. It's self-defeating to sign up with affiliate programs that don't have anything to do with your main website.

Not only does this make your site look disorganized and pointless, you're not going to be making any money from the program if you have visitors to your website that are looking for tomatoes, and you have banners and links to phone books. Get the picture?

So, if banner advertising doesn't work, then just what SHOULD you do? That's easy. Advertising in ezines is one of the most cost-effective solutions available. And, here's why:

1. It's easy to get the reader's attention.

If you have an effective headline, that is. Banners are easily ignored, whereas ezine ads are noticed more if you're advertising in a quality ezine. How do you know what to look for when choosing an ezine to advertise in? Get the details on maximizing your profit with ezine ads by autoresponder, here: mailto:FAT@homebasedheaven.com

2. Ezine ads are less likely to be intentionally ignored.

Like I said above, banners are ignored because website visitors KNOW that they're there for advertising. If you pick a quality ezine, your ad might be initially "mistaken" for regular content, thus increasing your response rate.

3. You reach a pre-qualified audience.

If you're advertising in the right type of ezine, its main topic should be relevant to what you're promoting. To make a long story short, don't get caught advertising those phone books in a gardening-related ezine. Your ad campaign has more "flop" potential when you don't properly target your audience. Again, read the article here for details: mailto:FAT@homebasedheaven.com

4. It's inexpensive.

Banner advertising can be expensive on higher-traffic websites, and results can still be very poor. With ezine advertising on the other hand, it's easier to earn back the cost of the ad with the revenue generated from running the ad! And, poor results can be virtually eliminated by testing your ad before you pay to run it.

5. Quick turn-around for profit

Banner advertising can still have this advantage as well. You normally don't have to wait more than four weeks for your ad to be run in your ezine of choice. And, most times, it will run immediately -- in the very next issue.

6. Ezine ads can go into greater detail on your offer.

Banners only allow you a sentence, if that much, to get website visitors to click. Ezine ads can often be as long as you need for them to. However, the purpose of your ad should always be to get your reader to request more information, visit your website, or subscribe to your ezine. It should NOT be used to get the reader to buy on the spot. Keep it short and sweet -- just long enough to spark the reader's interest.

For more info on writing dynamite ads, read the article by autoresponder at mailto:SuicideMktg@homebasedheaven.com

With all of those reasons, it should be easy to see why ezine advertising is more effective than banner ads. It's cheaper, you reach a more qualified audience, and it's more likely to get noticed. That alone should have you convinced. But, if you still insist on banner advertising, remember to use it to YOUR benefit, not the benefit of those rip-off banner exchange programs that steal more of your traffic than they send.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

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