Advertising websites

[Mare333]

Hello everyone, Marianne here.
I am at the point where I am looking into acquiring new clients through advertising. The most obvious choice seems to be craigslist, but I also looked into Thumbtack and found it pretty good too. Has anyone here used Thumbtack, do they really bring significant business? What other advertisement websites have you used? I would appreciate if you share your experience. Thank you very much,
Marianne

[Manfred M]

Marianne - most of the site members are primarily amateur shooters and do not advertise their services.

[William W]

Hello everyone, Marianne here.
I am at the point where I am looking into acquiring new clients through advertising. The most obvious choice seems to be craigslist, but I also looked into Thumbtack and found it pretty good too. Has anyone here used Thumbtack, do they really bring significant business? What other advertisement websites have you used? I would appreciate if you share your experience. Thank you very much,
Marianne

What rationale are you employing such that you default to websites as being the best advertising medium to acquire new Clients?

1. What, specifically, is your Product and/or Service?
2. What is your Sales Region?
3. What is your Target Market?

My experience is that my businesses websites have generated fewer new Clients than any other forms of advertizing we have employed.

Websites have been useful to confirm, validate and reassure the Prospect that our Business is bona fide.

The salient point apropos a website for the purposes of advertizing to create new Clients is that it (the website) is passive and relies upon the viewer to make an action: many other forms of advertizing are similar. However, targeted advertizing can produce results. Websites (for small businesses) are very difficult to target, even with good SEO.

On the other hand, various forms of Marketing may be more interactive and by nature any interactivity creates an initial relationship between Prospect and Vendor.

Once RAPPORT is created, then it is possible for a NEGOTIATION to commence.

Research the author, Herb Cohen.

WW

[Mare333]

Marianne - most of the site members are primarily amateur shooters and do not advertise their services.

Ok, got it, thank you.

[Mare333]

What rationale are you employing such that you default to websites as being the best advertising medium to acquire new Clients?

1. What, specifically, is your Product and/or Service?
2. What is your Sales Region?
3. What is your Target Market?

My experience is that my businesses websites have generated fewer new Clients than any other forms of advertizing we have employed.

Websites have been useful to confirm, validate and reassure the Prospect that our Business is bona fide.

The salient point apropos a website for the purposes of advertizing to create new Clients is that it (the website) is passive and relies upon the viewer to make an action: many other forms of advertizing are similar. However, targeted advertizing can produce results. Websites (for small businesses) are very difficult to target, even with good SEO.

On the other hand, various forms of Marketing may be more interactive and by nature any interactivity creates an initial relationship between Prospect and Vendor.

Once RAPPORT is created, then it is possible for a NEGOTIATION to commence.

Research the author, Herb Cohen.

WW

Thank you.

[rpcrowe]

Directing clients to your business website is a convoluted affair involving many levels of cost to the website originator. If you want your website to pop up first or at least on the first page of the Google search results, you will have to pay Google to get it there.

Other ways that people (at least in California) find businesses is to use YELP which ostensibly rates businesses. However, I have learned that the rating has more to do with the level of YELP pricing to the Website owner.

I sometimes use craigslist to research a business or someone to do some work for me but, that is very seldom. In the very local area in which I live, we have a "town crier" type of website on which we can propose a question like, "Does anyone know a good photographer?" I have a bit more confidence in the results of that query than I have in any other way, except the old and true "Word of Mouth!" I have been successful in finding a handyman using this method and I have advertised my gardener whom I know does a good job...

When I shot weddings part time, I always carried business cards and was very successful in getting business by the word of mouth advertising...