advertising questions

Hi there, so Im kind of new and want to get my name out there. Are paid websites worth it? Do they generate alot of traffic? Or should I just stick with Facebook, Twiiter, gigsalad? Just wandering how much time and or money you all have put into this to get a good return on bookings. Any advice on websites?
Thanks!

Use any free listings, directories, classifieds. I have never paid - and I get inquiries every day from my Kijiji ads.

I tried Gigmasters for a year. It wasn't worth the $30/month or whatever it was...when I didn't renew, they offered me an option to just pay per gig request that I bid on. That was a little better deal as I only bid on the ones I really wanted. Haven't done it since though. There are a few free party entertainment directories out there that will get you comparable results for free if you do a Google search!

Thankyou!

website can always help, but not a necessity. There are several ways to go about getting a website. Wix is pretty popular, and helpful. I would not use WordPress.. I don't get why people like it so much. You would need outside help to build one of those.

the most important thing is your domain. Choose a domain and stick with it. You can transfer your domain to different hosting plans, or webbuilder sites.
a domain for ex, is www.facepaintingforum.com
what happens is, every time someone clicks on your website, you get a notch up in the google searches. Right now, when someone types in "Asheville face painting", to Google,mine is like number 8 on the list. (www.ashevillefaceandbodypainting.com) or (www.ashevillefaceandbodyart.com) At least it's on the first page of searches. However I want it to be #1 without it being sponsored. ( me paying google to put it there)

I recently changed the name of my business, from Asheville face and body painting to asheville face and body art. I bought an additional domain, (though godaddy) and I have BOTH of them pointing to my site. The reason for this ,if I dropped Ashevillefaceandbodypainting.com, then my site would no longer rank #8, I would have to start all over from the beginning. I will have to leave both at least for a few years, for the other domain to catch up.

I have the ability to see how many hits my website got for the day, and where that traffic came from. I've noticed that when I put an add on craigslist, that well I get no responses, however I may get 20 clicks on my website, which helps. Every little bit helps. post on facebooks, put links on other sites, tell your friends to check out your page. Just be careful because there is a fine line. google does not want you blatenlty telling people "visit my website so I can get hits" some people have developed some crazy ways of generating hits, so google will punish you severly if they find you cheating. you have to say "come visit my website because it's amazing" or I have a new look, or check out the photos I added.