Cross Promotion Techniques Produce Real Results
by David Hudson
Published on this site: September 23rd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
”Cross promotion” is not a new idea. It has been
used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate
company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale. In turn,
the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. The system
is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system where people
traded items rather than using money. But how can anything
primitive fit into the online world of Internet Marketing?
Very easily! A cross promotion is, simply stated, the trading
of ad space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a
site, you simply place someone else’s business ad on
your page and your ad on theirs. There are many ways to use
cross promotions in your internet business that can equate
to effective and cost efficient advertising.
One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective
when considering cross promoting with a company that is similar
to yours. However, you should avoid linking to a page that
is in direct competition with yours. One of the biggest pluses
for using link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring
in hits from the sites that are linked to your page when determining
the ranking. Therefore, linking to a more popular site can
not only increase your advertising and traffic, but also your
search engine ranking.
When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezine,
you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions.
On the same page that the customer subscribes to your ezine,
make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s
ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines and provide
recommendations for those with whom you cross promote. You
may even want to exchange column space in one another’s
ezines.
Writing free articles that inform customers or potential
customers with information that is useful and accurate can
create a reputation for you and your business. Readers will
quickly come to know you as an expert on that subject. In
these articles, the author uses a byline to help promote his
site. Bylines are yet another way to use cross promotions.
You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend
someone else’s product.
If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture
could mean increased profits for you and the person you are
partnering with. Cross promotion through ebooks is an excellent
way to allow for a wider topic and promote both your business
and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain
information that will benefit both businesses but remain helpful to the
reader. A good example of using cross promotions through an
ebook is a site selling used video games partnering with a
site selling gaming devices: two subjects that would interest
the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.
You should keep in mind that the recommendations you make
are a direct reflection of you, so choose your’ cross
promotional businesses carefully. Also keep in mind that it
would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site
to another as a way to “shop around”. Also, never
link or recommend a site that’s in direct competition with you, since this is not usually beneficial
to you. Instead, recommend those that are similar, such as
health and life insurance.
David Hudson can help YOU start your own profitable
business on the Internet
within the next 24 hours... To learn more, visit: http://www.dreamsr.us/pips.html
|
