Free Online Advertising - Does it Work?
October 9, 2008 by Eldon Beard
If you’ve started your network marketing business, and are planning to work your business online, you’re probably wondering where you should advertise your opportunity. Today, let’s discuss four advertising methods that are usually “free” and frequently used by people promoting home business opportunities. I see a lot of network marketers using these methods over and over. The question is, do these free advertising methods really work?
These four types of ads are free classifieds, FFA lists, Safelists, and Traffic Exchanges.
Free Classified Ads
There are a lot of free classified ad sites on the web. For the most part, they are ineffective for advertising your network marketing business. Most of the ads on these sites are submitted by automated software programs. Real humans rarely see them. The sites were created to collect email addresses from people who post ads. Once your sign up and post an ad, your email address will be flooded with spam daily.
There are a few free classified ad sites that are okay, but results will vary. One such site is USFreeAds.
FFA Sites
FFA (Free For All) link sites were once the rage of Internet marketing. There are not as many of them as there used to be, but they still draw people who use automated software programs to submit to them. Basically, they are sites with hundreds of short one-line ads with links. People start these sites to collect email addresses for sending spam. The email addresses collected are often sold to mailing list brokers as well. Like free classified sites, FFA pages are rarely seen by humans and are a waste of time for network marketers.
Safelists
Safelists are mailing lists that people subscribe to, with the understanding that they must receive ads from other members of the list in order to send their own ads out. Essentially, everyone on the list is sending everyone else on the list their offer. It isn’t considered spam, since everyone has agreed to be on the list. Many people sign up to safelists with junk email addresses they rarely check. They are mostly a waste of time.
Traffic Exchanges
Traffic exchanges are the programs where you click links to surf web pages that belong to other members of the traffic exchange. You typically earn one exposure of your own page for every 1-2 pages you view. Traffic exchanges can be effective promotional tools if you use them correctly. Everyone is on there clicking links to earn credits so other users will see their site when surfing. They aren’t really interested that much in what they are viewing.
The best thing to promote on traffic exchanges is…..traffic. Ways to get visitors to your site, get your site listed in search engines, this type of ad does best in these programs. If you are advertising your network marketing business, your best bet is to create a small page that offers a free report or some other freebie in exchange for people joining your mailing list. You can then promote your business to your list in various ways. This is a topic I plan to cover in an upcoming article.
The Verdict
With the exception of traffic exchanges (and only if you use them correctly), most free advertising methods are a waste of time. To effectively reach prospects for your network marketing business online, you need to use paid advertising or participate in message boards and social communities. You have to be where people will see who you are and what you are offering. Future posts here will go into detail about how to advertise online effectively. Stay tuned.
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Hi, my name is Eldon Beard. After years of seeing all the hype and misinformation used to promote network marketing and MLM, I created Last 3 posts in Network Marketing and MLM Online
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Hello Eldon,
For the most part, I agree with the things you wrote about. The one form of advertising that I disagree with you on, is SafeList. I have been using them for awhile now and I have had good results.
Now I must say that, I do not use SafeList to promote the MLM company I am with. I use them instead, to funnel visitors through, capture their name and email and add them to my list.
Once on my list, I can start to form a relationship and offer small ticket items for them to purchase. Once the relationship if formed, then I introduce them to my MLM business.
I have had a great deal of success with this method. I have added over 30 prospects to my list in the past 2 weeks and have made enough money to purchase other forms of advertising. And yes, I even sponsored 2 people.
Hello A McNeil,
I appreciate your comment! I do know some people who have worked with safelists and found them to be useful - this is why I said they are “mostly” a waste of time. Some network marketers will just go in and broadcast their opportunity pitch to safelist members right away, and of course this does not work. The system you are using (capture name/email, build relationship, then introduce your opportunity) is the only way I know of to get any benefit from safelists.
Eldon