Foreword By The Editor

The following article by Alex Wu will be of interest to those who want to consider the Internet as a form of advertising media for their online business, semi-online business or even their wholly offline business. Some form of advertising is crucial to every commercial concern and here he mainly extols the virtues of classified advertising. Be sure to read his bio at the end of the article (headed About The Author) and follow the links he provides.
Mike Alexander
Author of ‘Internet Traps, Ripoffs And Pitfalls‘

The Need

Both new and existing businesses need advertising. For an existing business, it is mostly about attracting more sales, creating more leads, and maintaining brand awareness. For a new business, the purposes are usually focused on making first sales, introducing products or services, and creating brand awareness. None can be isolated from marketing work and that is why companies need a good marketing mix strategy if they want to survive regardless of the competition. There needs to be ever more urgency since use of the Internet as an online  advertising media increases.

Dynamic Information

The Internet matches the business world in many cases. It is dynamic, loaded information, potential for anyone from any part of the world, and it is highly competitive. The Internet has created many free advertising opportunities for semi-online business, solely online businesses, and even the traditional brick-and-mortar shops. Companies and retail stores utilize the Internet as an extension of their marketing campaigns and the outcome Internet advertising provides has proved its effectiveness, both in time, method, and cost.

Free Media

One major free advertising media that works for businesses of all types (online, semi-online, or offline) is classified ads. We are all familiar with traditional classified ads printed on paper. Among the advantages of classified ads are that they are targeted to specific readers, are cost effective, and are informative. The advantages are almost the same with online classified ads. However, you do get more to enjoy. Online classified ads are mostly a free advertising media you can employ to market products and services. They also have more exposure, since your ads are posted online and everyone can find them.

Categorization

Yet this does not sacrifice the targeted-market attribute because classified ads are usually categorized pretty well and searchable based on what Internet users are looking for. When people search on search engines using specific keywords, they may arrive at your ads or the classified ads you are posting. Or, they may remember a specific classified ads site which they often find to be useful and visit it as a priority when looking for a specific product or service.

Performance Measuring

One big advantage is that you can post the same information at various classified ad sites simultaneously. There is no queue and there is no cost based on character numbers (though you may face character limitations). What you need is to write a draft of effective online classified ads, find some working classified ad sites, and post there. The next step will be more or less the same as elsewhere: measuring ad performance. You can do it by measuring the number of ad viewers (impressions), the amount of sales made from an ad’s performance, or the amount of conversion. It depends on your target.

Summary

Businesses that are more into improving brand awareness would better focus on impressions or how many times the ad has been viewed, while those who focus on sales and revenue would rather measure the conversion or leads created by the ads. With so many advantages to enjoyit should be worth it to start marketing your business with free advertising media such as online classified ads.

About The Author

Alex Wu operates a free advertising website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their jobs.