Here’s a quick list of 60 online advertising tricks I’ve learned over the last 13 years of online marketing and setting up marketing campaigns. There is no particular order, just some of the do’s and don’ts I’ve come across along the way.

Do….

1. Be persistent in continuing to learn advertising and marketing.

2. Find a proven marketing coach to help you.

3. Learn, and practice simple copywriting as soon as you can.

4. Be familiar with different advertising tactics.

5. Use articles for website promotion.

6. Write and submit a consistent 3 to 5 articles a week.

7. Be an expert author at EzineArticles.com.

8. Submit articles to individual ezine publishers.

9. Get started with social media marketing.

10. Start a blog dealing with your niche.

11. Be a consistent participant in forums.

12. Comment, comment, comment on other blogs in your niche.

13. Provide quality content through weekly ezine or newsletter.

14. Send traffic to landing pages for capturing email and preselling visitors.

15. Be active on Twitter

16. Learn solid pay per click strategies.

17. Spend time optimizing webpages for higher search engine rankings.

18. Use an email signature in all your emails.

19. Seek out relevant sites and ask to exchange links.

20. Spread some ‘link love’ in your own articles and blog posts.

21. Give away a lot of free information in reports, ebooks, and email courses.

22. Keep landing pages up to date with relevant information and web copy.

23. Always test new copy, landing pages, headlines, and ads.

24. Participate in webinars, internet radio shows, and teleconferences.

25. Hold contests to increase web traffic.

26. Focus your advertising on one single action.

27. Go Viral in your advertising.

28. Have a plan and work diligently on it.

29. Use email ads in relevant ezines for targeted marketing.

30. Think of how you want to be thought of (brand) and build your online presence from there.

31. Experiment with buying targeted ad space on relevant websites.

32. List your website with all major search engines and directories.

33. Work hard in creating effective, stirring, and “pullable” headlines and titles.

34. Keep a ’swipe file’ of other advertising to learn from.

35. Create a social media landing page.

36. Do budget your advertising dollars to spread out over several areas.

37. Write guest posts on other blogs.

38. Form partnerships with other people within your niche.

39. Use social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg for further exposure of your site.

40. Have a multi-pronged attack in your advertising.

41. Use coupons and time limits as incentives.

42. Write and submit press releases on newsworthy events in your business, or affiliate company.

43. Use offline advertising methods (business cards, newspaper ads, etc.) to promote your website.

The Do Nots

44. Get discouraged if you don’t see overnight millions.

45. Write over-hyped sales copy for landing pages.

46. Get started with PPC advertising without really studying it first.

47. Just post your own links on Twitter.

48. Only participate in forums when you want to advertise your website.

49. Only publish your newsletter when you want to sell something.

50. Use pre-written, company supplied landing pages and ads.

51. Comment on blogs with “Great blog!” and leave it at that.

52. Spam publishers and site owners with your content on a daily basis.

53. Focus only on selling a product.

54. Limit yourself to just one advertising method.

55. Waste your money with safelists and paid “guaranteed” traffic sites.

56. Jump into social media marketing without a plan.

57. Use only free blog hosting for your blog.

58. Spam your ezine subscribers with daily issues or ads.

59. Try to do everything yourself.

60. Present an answer to your target audience’s problems.

The Biggest Marketing Do Of Them All

You can really get lost in the do’s and don’ts of advertising website and kind of lose the fun of it. (Yes, advertising and marketing is fun!)

You can also get so wrapped up in what you should and should not do that you kind of get frozen and don’t know where to go. But, I think I can lessen the anxiety a little bit with the number one marketing “do”.

Just do it.

You simply won’t achieve any type of traffic to your website if you don’t do something. Get started slowly and begin to build as you learn, work with someone, and see some results. But… you must do it!

What about you?

Do you have any tips for the “do” and “don’t” list? I’d love to hear them. Why not jotting it down in the comment section?

Recently I wrote a quick post about what I believe internet marketing is. In that post I did a two things. First, I defined internet marketing as…

Internet advertising is being a loud voice to your market where you solve their problems with your products or services and build continuous, long lasting, and mutual relationships.

The next thing I did was lay out a quick formula that I think simplifies, and brings that definition, down to its most basic form.

Internet Marketing Formula = P + R = T

In that formula is the basic ingredients for your success with internet marketing. Doesn’t really matter if you’re into network marketing, affiliate marketing, adsense marketing, or marketing your own product or service. If you’re doing it online (or offline really) then these three variables are the main ingredients for your success formula.

But, what does it mean and how can you use it in your own marketing strategy? Just like any other type of algebraic equation, you plug in the numbers you know and solve for the one you don’t.

P = Problems

Or you could also substitute the words ‘need’ or ‘want’ here too. However you phrase it we’re talking about the things, solutions, services, goods, and/or information that people need or want. This is your contribution to their life.

You find out what people need, what they are struggling with, what they are buying now and you offer it. When I first started with copywriting and providing advertising services it was because of two things. First, I knew I wanted to help people. Second, I saw an overwhelming need for a real, personal, low-cost, and creative advertising service. I saw the problem and provided a solution.

Most advertising campaigns are built on trying to get the most traffic to a website so you can monetize that traffic in some way. When you build your advertising around a problem, or a want, or need, that traffic is already pre-sold into buying. Much more effective.

R = Relationship

Think of your favorite places to shop. Think about the people you buy things from. What makes that place, that person, so special?

It’s the relationship you have with them.

I’ve been teaching my clients this for a long time. This is something that I think a lot of affiliate marketers miss out on when they try to go for the quick buck. Long lasting relationships are a very powerful, and beneficial, tool in online marketing. Really for any type of marketing, online or off.

The recent boom in social media and the emphasis on building relationships people are finally realizing this for the first time.

When you think about it, building relationships with the people who visit your site is really one of the most important things you can do. Everything you use should be geared towards creating a foundation for future repeat business and referrals. Social media enables you to put more personality and build those relationships.

If you’re wondering how to build those relationships, here’s just a few different ways:

1. Weekly email newsletter
2. Videos
3. Blog posting and commenting
4. Connecting on Facebook and Twitter
5. Joint Venture partnerships

When you take the time to cultivate these relationships you are in effect stretching your advertising dollars. People want to do business with people they know, like, and respect. They will also refer that person to others.

A lot of my business comes from repeat clients and the people they refer. Relationships is a very powerful variable in the Internet Marketing Formula

T = Traffic

The end result of working with the first two variables is traffic. Every person online wants their share of the billions of people who actively surf the internet. This is the answer to our equation.

When you add both the problems (needs, wants) and the relationships you have built and are building the outcome is traffic.

You can’t have one and leave out the other. The formula isn’t P = T, or R = T. They are not equal or compatible.

P + R = T is the equation to have cemented into your mind as you begin planning, evolving, or implementing your advertising campaign.

Sample Internet Marketing Formula In Action

To get a perspective on what a marketing plan would look like using the P + R = T formula here’s a mock example.

Joe has started a new website focusing on movies. He wants to get traffic that will do a few things while at his site.

1. Sign up for the RSS feed.
2. Interact with comments.
3. Click on product links from Amazon.
4. Click on other related ads.

So, let’s work the formula.

Problem, Want, or Need

Joe sees an opportunity to provide real movie reviews, news from someone who really loves movies to an audience that isn’t as internet savvy and more wholesome. He sees that bigger movie sites are geared more towards a younger crowd.

Joe builds a site with this problem in mind and writes articles and posts directed at this type of audience. He is putting his personality into the posts in an effort to be real, and hopefully people will trust when looking for real movie news and reviews.

Relationship

Joe is thinking this site needs to be more like a family instead of random traffic from search engines. So, he is building relationships on StumbleUpon, Digg, Twitter, Facebook and in movie forums. He is also setting up a weekly email newsletter with special information on movies, dvd releases, and other information.

Another major component to his relationship building is going to be found in the comments on his blog and the comments he leaves on other blogs. He interacts with the people who leave comments on his blog so that they will want to come back. And by commenting on other blogs he is extending his reach to a bigger audience and engaging in the conversation going on there.

One more relationship builder that Joe is going to use is writing articles for article directories. These articles are going to be different from movie reviews and be like ‘10 Best Family Movies’, or ‘What Movies Should You Watch This Summer’. This will provide a jumping off point for people to get to know Joe. The perfect relationship builder.

Traffic

By concentrating on the problem (real, relevant movie reviews from someone who truly loves movies) and the relationships (through interaction and information) his traffic will begin to build over time and actually multiply at a good rate.

P + R = T

The Internet Marketing Formula isn’t some kind of gimmick or get rich quick scheme. It is a process by which you can “plug in the numbers” to help you create an effective internet marketing strategy.

I often tell my kids when they get stuck on an Algebra or Geometry question to do just that. I tell them to remember the formula they had learned to solve the problem and “plug in the numbers”. That’s what I’m telling you now. Use this formula and “plug in the numbers.”

Effective website advertising, when done correctly, is a thing of beauty. In fact, it is almost like watching a perfectly choreographed play in sports that is run to perfection and wins the game. Flawless. Perfect. Without any glitches or mistakes.

In online advertising there are several factors that you must keep in mind and focus on to ensure the perfect advertising campaign.

And before you begin asking if you can possibly have the perfect advertising campaign , let me tell you upfront; It can happen. It has several times for people who have launched a brand new product and have seen hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of dollars in profits in one day.

Effective advertising is a culmination of several factors all working together. Some at precise times and others on a continuing basis. Now, to make this process a little bit "user friendly" and not to overwhelming here are ten of my best tips for an effective advertising campaign for your website.

1. Have a concrete, but flexible advertising plan. Effective advertising is not a mistake. It is something that is cultivated, thought about, planned for, and even foreseen. You should be able to see where you are going (what you want from your efforts) before you even get there. So many people throw up random ads here and there, buy ad space in various newsletters, do some link exchanges, write a few hap-hazard articles, and even do a hit or miss PPC campaign.

Failure to create a concrete plan will result in spotty, if any, results. However, you must also keep in mind that the plan should also be flexible enough to make slight changes here and there when you see something is, or isn’t, working.

The best way to create a plan for your online advertising is to just do it. You could follow a certain advertising how-to in creating your plan , but it isn’t going to do you any good unless you sit down and do it.

I always begin creating plans with a blank piece of paper . The power of a blank piece of paper is unlimited. In that piece of paper there are no restrictions, no boundaries, no preconceived misconceptions. Your opportunities are limitless.

Want to begin your effective advertising plan off on the right foot? Sit down and create a plan.

2. Have a multi-pronged advertising attack. A lot of times when people begin to think about advertising they do one of two things. First, they get so overwhelmed by the many ways of advertising that they freeze and don’t do anything at all. Or, two, they close their eyes, pick one of the methods, and throw something at it. As you can probably guess, neither one of these approaches does much to the overall effectiveness of your ad campaign.

An effective ad campaign incorporates several different advertising methods, and materials, so that a maximum number of people will have contact with your link. Fortunately, that is so much easier now with social media marketing. An ad campaign that uses email ads, articles, blog posts, blog comments, forum postings, twitter tweets, facebook notes, and several profiles on other social networking sites is like having a huge bat signal flashing everyone to your website.

3. Create conversational style advertising materials vs. hard sell. One of the things I’ve been telling my clients for years to do is to write conversational style ad materials. For example, let’s say you want to send an email notice to your list or a list you bought ad space in. Instead of writing this over the top, super-hyped hard sales letter your marketing materials should engage the reader in a conversation.

Response rates increase sharply when your advertising is conversational. The reason that social networking is so powerful is because of the conversation. How do you engage in a conversation in a one dimensional ad?

Simple. Create it like you’re sitting across the table from the person reading it. Write it like you would a letter. Leave room for the person to answer questions in their mind, respond to statements out loud, and be led to click on your link.

4. Always keep a main point in focus. A focus is the end result you want to happen because of the advertising. Throughout your advertising campaign there should be one central theme or focus. Keep in mind your focus must be consistent through the entire campaign. Your emails, newsletter issues, landing pages, ppc ads, ads on blogs, comments, social networking should have the same focus. The end result you want to come through should be the same. New RSS subscriber, new email subscriber, buy a low priced report, join free membership portal… whatever your focus is, keep it consistent.

5. Have at least three different sets of advertising materials with different goals. As an athletic coach I always go into a game with a few different game plans just in case our original plan doesn’t really work for our team. In basketball, for example, I usually have the team drill hard on four to five plays we can use during the game. To me, advertising is much like playing sports. And having several different “plays” that you can run is key to an effective ad campaign.

With several concise, and focused, advertising “sets” (this is just a way to say that each on is distinct and should be regarded as separate) you are able to do a few things.

Have three different goals each corresponding to a completely different landing area on your website.

Create new opportunities to connect with people depending on your focus.

Test to see which “set” is more effective and put more energy there.

Find out why some “sets” aren’t working and make changes.

6. Become friends with others in your niche. Effective advertising has always been through word of mouth and alliances with other people doing the same thing. For instance, a hunting guide I know that shows his clients where the best hunting grounds are so they can go home with their trophy buck told me a few years ago that at least half of his new clients come from referrals by other guides.

Internet marketers often feel that everyone else is their competition and should stay away from them all, or in extreme cases, talk bad about them. When just the opposite is true. You should create friendships, alliances, joint ventures, mutual advertising, or anything else you can think of with others within your own niche.

Selling ebooks? Great! Create a friendship with someone else who sells ebooks much like yours (Facebook and Twitter are great for this) and refer traffic to them. In turn, they do the same for you. This will, and can, work for anything you’re selling online.

7. Concentrate on social media marketing. Advertising on the internet is constantly changing and social media wouldn’t have been on the radar of advertisers five years ago. Or even two for that matter. But, today’s age of relationship building and emphasis on transparency and authenticity, social media marketing has become one of the most effective traffic sources.

Starting out slowly with the most popular, and easiest, social websites like Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon can get you started with networking, relationship building, and a great source of traffic.

8. Learn the fine points of blogging and article marketing. Effective marketing on the internet means information. The easiest form of information is the written form. No specialized software needed. I do realize that to say that writing is easy would not be accepted by those who find it a struggle. But, if you take time to learn about blogging and article marketing, then it does become easier.

Writing for the web is the way that you become known. It is the way that people get to know you, see what you are about, find out what you know, and then be drawn into your website. Articles are a very powerful way to do that. If you did nothing else, but write articles and blog a few times a week, you would begin seeing large amounts of traffic and long term, repeat customers.

9. Add new advertising “avenues” each week. This is where a lot of people begin to lose steam a little in their advertising. It is easy to see how this can happen, but you must keep moving ahead rather than staying static. Here’s what I’m talking about.

A lot of times people will just pick a few different ways to advertise and stay with them forever. They don’t venture out and try anything new. More than that, sometimes people will find a forum, some blogs, a social network and do the same thing… stay there instead of actively looking for new places. Effective advertising means that you never stop looking for new places to be active in. New forums to participate in, blogs to comment on, social networks to socialize on should always be found.

I try to find new places on a weekly basis and begin working with them. This helps me not only be a part of different conversations, but also spread out who I am and what I do.

10. Get away from it. Effective advertising means a fresh outlook. This fresh outlook energizes you to continue advertising and not get burned out or turn it into a despised activity. Getting away from the computer, your business, any type of marketing at all will only give you a greater desire to accomplish more when you return. One day away is not going to kill you. Some might disagree and think you need to be advertising 24 hours a day. While that might be productive it is counterproductive to your effectiveness.

Just get away from it every once in awhile. Take a day off. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Enjoy your family. When you get back to work the next day you’ll accomplish more and enjoy it more.

Yes!

I just put the finishing touches and published my first ezine issue in a few months. I don’t really know why it has taken a back seat but it did.

In fact, I have recently been shown the importance of list building and keeping up with it through fellow bloggers, marketers, and people I have connected with in social networking. I’ve been wanting to get started again, but never really set aside the time to do it.

But, a recent conversation with Liz Martinez of Your Million Dollar Breakthrough and her own marketing that prompted me to put my ezine back to the top of my to do list.

So… you can catch the latest issue of Marketing Success and Profit here or you can subscribe to it here. This issue has a primer for social media marketing and a listing of top social media networks to get started with. I hope you check it out.

Online advertising is complex.

There are so many methods that one can use in advertising a website, or blog, that it can easily overwhelm someone and cause inaction. But, it doesn’t have to be that complicated.

One of the things I always tell my advertising package clients about advertising is that the key to advertising is to pick a few advertising methods and work them until you feel comfortable with the whole marketing thing and then test other methods.

The question I usually get from clients is “What strategies do I start with?”

Three MUST Do Marketing Strategies

In my opinion there are three marketing strategies that you MUST use each and every day. Whether or not your are a new online marketer or have been doing this for 10 years, these three must always be there.

Number 1 Online Marketing Strategy.

Write articles.

This has been pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed for years. Everyone knows that writing articles for advertising your website is the most powerful marketing strategies you can use. Unfortunately there are still those that don’t bother with it or are marketing rather poorly with articles.

Article marketing works when done consistently and within certain boundaries.

Article marketing pointers…

1. Be consistent. Write at least 5 to 6 articles a week and submit them to major article directories.
2. Write short, easy to read articles instead of long, drawn out ones.
3. Spread your articles around the web but don’t submit each one to every directory.
4. Write original articles for blogger.com and wordpress.com
5. Link back to relevant pages on your site, or landing page, in the author’s info box.

No matter where you are in your internet marketing adventure, article marketing is absolutely essential.

Number 2 Online Marketing Strategy.

Get social.

Whatever you think about social networking there is no denying the fact that it is quickly becoming a very powerful form of marketing. However, it’s still in its infancy and a lot of people are not very comfortable with this new strategy. My opinion is that in the next year the emphasis will swing towards even more social type networking. But, I could be wrong… that happened once…. I think.

Anyway, going social is not as hard as one would believe, but it can be very intimidating. Especially if you are a naturally shy person like me. But… it can be done.

Social Media starter tips.

1. Set up profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon.
2. Check out what others are doing, saying, and networking on each of these sites.
3. Begin following and friending people on each site.
4. Start connecting with your followers and friends by engaging in conversation.
5. Sprinkle a few links within your conversations.
6. Be active and relevant.

That’s about it to start with. After you feel more comfortable with engaging in conversations and meeting new people then you can begin to branch out into other social media marketing type websites.

Number 3 Online Marketing Strategy.

Blogging.

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you will wonder why my other favorite online advertising method is missing. That being solo email ads. Well, I do think they are essential but for this post I wanted to focus on free strategies for those just getting started or those who have been marketing for a long time but are still bootstrapping it.

Blogging is a marketing strategy. You can start a blog for free at blogger.com or wordpress.com and write posts about any topic you choose. It’s basically a great way to test niches and products.

Anyway for marketing purposes it is absolutely necessary. Here’s why.

First, search engines love blogs. Especially Blogger. With some very basic SEO techniques and informative posts you can begin ranking high in search engines.

Second, you have another powerful advertising technique built in. One of the reasons that blogging is very popular right now is because of the ability to leave comments. Through leaving, and receiving comments, you are building a huge network of links back to your website, or blog. Plus you’re starting to be achieve some name recognition which is the main goal with any advertising campaign.

Third, it’s fun. You get to be a little more loose with your writing than you would be if you were just writing articles. Sure, you are going to keep your blog updated with great information but you also get to let your personality come out more.

Get started with your advertising campaign today with these three marketing strategies.

Write articles.
Get social.
Start blogging.

Three things you can start doing without spending any money and will lead to a tremendous increase in traffic and profits. Give it a try.