Online Advertising

I can't say it enough. USE IT! It's a resource you should really take advantage of. Most sites are free to use, and I got three phone calls today from prospective clients who told me they "googled it" and found my ad. Not my website. My ad. Meaning the online advertising sites are working! Do it! Doooo eeeeet!!!

like google adwords? i sign up but couldnt figure out what to charge and whatnot. it got confusing. thought about using the facebook ads to, but again, I dont know how to budget or understand the concept of ppc or ppi.

I have a few out there but I am curious which ones you are using?

I would like to know also. I tried to sign up with a few yesterday, but then I couldn't even find myself on their sights

I know it can sometimes take a few days to show up, perhaps that is the reason for the delay?

yahoo local, yellow pages.com (i think it's yp.com), supermedia, um... my google places account isn't published yet (that have to MAIL you a confirmation code, grrr...) and I of course have a page on facebook, but that's not really an ad.

and yes, mine didn't show up for a couple days after i created the accounts.

I use google adwords... you don't need to figure out what to charge per click, let it automatically do that. All you have to do is set a daily budget... a dollar or two per day is plenty for me.

I am only listed on free sites. I don't pay for anything. I have managed on my own to take my page from a page 10 sometimes page 12 ranking when I first started to now being listed on page 2 or 3 and sometimes depending on what is typed in the search I show up on the first page. You gotta be sure to have the "right" keywords and meta tags in your site.

I have found even in my own personal experience in looking for things/services on the net most times I don't go beyond page 3 or 4 of a search unless I am really trying to find something specific. Obviously everyone wants to be on page 1 but not everyone will be just due to how many listings there are per page available. But if you can get in those first 3 you will see a difference.

You just need to keep track of the sites you are lsited on and periodically maintain/update them. It may be tedious and mundane at times but the payoff in inquiries/bookings far outweighs that.

Alot of my bookings come from people that found me on the web. I always make it a point to ask ..."How did you hear about us?" Helps me see what sites are working and which ones aren't.

The other part is I talk up the business every chance I get no matter where I am. Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Even in the most random spur of the moment conversations I will find a way to bring up what I do. That particular person might not be in need of my service but most likely knows someone who is and will take a card.

I signed up yesterday and got TWO inquiries today from Gig Salad! An ex coworkers husband works for Mitsubishi and booked me for 2 events! One of the gig salad leads already confirmed that she is def going with me for a bday party, and booked a bday party thru a fb friend! Finally, things are starting to get rolling. Exciting! Feel like buying more STUFF! lol

Gigsalad is rockin for me these days, google places and yahoo local have brought me a lot of work also. I also have ads with manta, superpages, yellowpages.com, and superads.