9 Tactics to Choose the Best Web Site for Your Advertising, Seattle Business Coach

July 27, 2012 - PRLog -- If you’re unsure which Web sites are the best for you to place your advertisements, Seattle business coach Terry Corbell provides nine tips to maximize your chances for success.

“The options are endless and can be confusing,” says Mr. Corbell, a longtime management consultant and publisher of The Biz Coach (http://www.bizcoachinfo.com). The business portal provides hundreds of business-coaching tips – proven solutions for maximum profits.

“The last thing you want to do is to market a B2B product that doesn’t reach the right businesspeople,” he adds.

Mr. Corbell says it’s important to consider numerous metrics for due diligence in online media buying.

His nine recommendations:

1. Reputation – Are you comfortable with the site’s image? Is it an authoritative Web site where serious journalism is practiced? If you sell big-ticket products or services, a major media site is often a safe choice. (See an explanation on the value of authoritative Web sites at http://www.bizcoachinfo.com/archives/2834)

2. Site’s focal point and content – You can carefully read the site’s content to see if it’s compatible with your marketing targets.

3. Keyword analysis – Figure out if the site’s key words are similar to yours by using a custom Google search.

4. Check the site’s advertisers – Look for the right signs. For example, if you’re concerned about maintaining a sophisticated image, you’ll want to make sure the other ads won’t embarrass your company. In other words, if the advertisers aren’t compatible with you, such as a consumer debt-lawyer, you might not want readers to cast you in the same light.

Also, check to see if the other advertisers are aimlessly targeting a vastly different readership.

5. Evaluate the site’s search-engine optimization results – Even though you’ve checked the site’s use of keywords, assess its prominence. The site should be No. 1 on the search-engine’s first page of results.

You should check its Google Page Rank (PR), which is determined by such factors as the site’s age, relevant value and quality, freshness of content and download speed, etc.

If you’re a small advertiser in a highly specialized niche, a PR of 3 (on a scale of 1 to 10) might be acceptable. But you have a more aggressive goal with a bigger budget to invest on an authoritative media site, look for a PR of 6 or higher.

6. Assess how the site promotes itself – Is the site up-to-date on use of social media? Look for the sharing buttons for readers to use, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

7. Volume of ads on each page – Make sure your ad wouldn’t be buried in a massive clutter of advertisers. Ask about the site’s ad-volume policy.

8. Check to see if the site sells ad space via networks – Make sure the majority of the site’s ads don’t have an “AdChoices” icon in the upper right corner. The icon means that the site makes ad space available to ad networks.

In which case, the site usually doesn’t get paid unless readers click on the ads. If this is the situation, this means you can buy ad space very inexpensively and indirectly through a network instead.

9. Look for the link to the site’s advertising information – Publishers usually have an information page for advertisers. If it’s prominent and easily spotted that’s a bad sign. It means the site has a lopsided focus to attract advertisers, instead of focusing on the desires of its users.

Mr. Corbell also provides tips to get top results from your marketing plan at   http://www.bizcoachinfo.com/archives/8911

As The Seattle Biz Coach, Mr. Corbell’s portal (www.bizcoachinfo.com) provides business-coaching tips in Planning, Operations, Marketing / Sales, Finance, Technology, Public Policy, Human Resources, and Wall Street.

Plus, the portal has fresh, informative news videos: World, U.S., Economy, Markets, Health and Sports.

All his Biz Coach columns and videos are free.