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Cost Effective Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing gives you a return on your investment (ROI) and it's better than advertising in the yellow pages or with Dex.

Small businesses spend money marketing themselves in yellow pages, coupons, direct mail, internet advertising, radio and TV spots, newspapers, and an array of other marketing mediums. But how much should you be spending overall on marketing? And then how much should you allocate between each of the different advertising mediums?

The ROI calculation is more complex for small businesses, since some types of advertising are more measurable than others. The web should be the easiest, since you can track directly when customers see your ad (impressions), which of them clicked on it (clicks), how much you paid (cost), and whether those folks took action (conversion) - filled out a form, called you, or came to your office. If you want to learn more on ROI and see a video click here.

The Yellow Pages - Ouch!

But what about the yellow pages? Let's say you get a phone call or walk in; you must ask the classic question: "How did you hear about us?" And of those folks who came in, how many turned into customers? Let's say you're a real estate agent. Of the people who walked in the door last month, 20 of them said that they found you in the yellow pages. Assuming they ALL became paying customers and bought homes through you, and assuming you were willing to pay $100 to get a new customer, then the yellow pages drove $2,000 in value. If you're paying $1,500 per month on your yellow page ad, then you were clearly better off to advertise in the yellow pages. Although it will depend on how your site is setup, you can learn about determining your willingness to pay for a new customer here.

But what if only 10 of your leads became paying customers? In this case, you've lost $500 per month because they brought in $1,000 but your ad cost $1,500. Worse, you're locked into a year long contract, so you're going to multiply that loss by 12 and there's nothing you can do to adjust for it. It's a leaky faucet that you're only allowed to touch once per year - even if you know it's dripping, you have to wait a year to fix it - the next time the book is published.

With internet marketing you can see almost instantly what is working or not, and you can make adjustments to the budget immediately. Maybe as a real estate agent you find that folks who search on "Eugene, OR homes for sale" are worth 5 times as much as those who search "Eugene, OR properties". In that case, you can pay more for the latter and less for the former. Or maybe the majority of your customers live within a 50 mile radius of your office. Then you can set up the campaign to show ads only to people who live and work in that radius. And you can turn the dial to adjust as often as you like with no additional cost.

There's no risk to internet advertising as long as you are able to measure your results and are also able to react quickly. At Bravo Web, our experts have already built successful campaigns for real estate agents, restaurant owners, artists, and small business owners of all different types. Our system monitors your campaigns 24/7 to make sure they are producing for you. And when you have thousands of keywords spread across multiple search engines, it's probably not the best use of your time to do that.

Contact us for a no obligation analysis, or learn more about Bravo's advertising - we're certified. We'll help you figure out what's right for your business.