Want to reach 40 million consumers with one trillion dollars in buying power? Then consider advertising to the African American market. This is a vibrant, growing, consumer market with plenty of households making $100 thousand or more in annual income.

Have I convinced you yet? If so, then check out our list of the 35 Best Websites for Advertising to African Americans.

For example, this “best of” list features celebrity gossip and entertainment news sites including Bossip, The YBF, and (our friends) EurWeb; lifestyle sites such as Hello Beautiful, Madame Noir, and King-Mag.com; hip-hop music sites such as Vibe and Hip Hop Wired; and lots of (local and national) news sites like BlackAmericaWeb, Atlanta Post, and Chicago Defender.

So, plenty to choose from depending on the profile of your target audience!

The complete list of the Best Websites for Advertising to African Americans can be found on our Leadtail blog – Best Online Advertising Stuff.

So invest some advertising dollars in the African American market. And let us know which websites work best for you!

The lowly and misunderstood ad banner has been around since the dawn of the (commercial) Internet… and it’s still plugging away today. Even though newer and cooler forms of advertising like paid search, social media, and mobile advertising, have (seemingly) passed it by.

Why should you still care about banner ads? Well, for starters, brand advertising is coming back in vogue… shocking but true!

Seems that marketers have finally figured out what consumers have known all along – we buy from brands we’re familiar with! That’s why eMarketer now forecasts growth in online display ads (i.e., banner ads) will outstrip that for paid search through 2014.

Said another way, banner ads may not generate many clicks… but they do generate the kind of “awareness” that makes us: click on a brand’s link in search results, mention a brand to friends, and notice a brand when shopping (online or offline). All of which, sooner or later, results in the cash register ringing!

Here are six essential tips to building your brand with banner advertising:

• Bigger truly is better. The more website real estate you cover with your ad the better. This ensures that more people see your ad (whether they realize it or not) and are influenced by your brand message.

• Keep it moving. Our eyes are designed to notice small movements on a Web page. So get your ad moving, but do it in a way that engages not tricks (please, no blinking ads!). Maybe a graphic that builds or changes its message… you get the idea!

• Aim really high. Get your advertising as high up on the page as you can. More people will notice it plus it helps your chances of always being “above the fold”. This is why everyone competes for the number one slot in Google search results.

• Context is king. Design your advertising to fit in with the content and design of the website(s) your ad shows on. This keeps it from looking too much like advertising. Believe it or not, many prospects don’t like reading ads.

• Not a one-time shot. Building your brand takes time, so plan to keep your ads running for at least a few months… or as long as you can! Think about it. When was the last time you acted on an ad the first time you saw it. Never. That’s right.

• Change it up… but not too often. Prospects notice your advertising the first few times but then stop seeing it. So change up your ad every once in a while (think monthly). But be careful of changing too often… otherwise your brand message won’t sink in.

Now we’re not saying don’t do paid search, mobile marketing, or whatever the advertising flavor of the day is (iPad anyone?). We are saying you need to also invest in developing your brand in the minds of customers and prospects. And that’s where your newly empowered ad banner comes to the rescue!

Have your own tips on banner advertising? Let us know!

Want to learn more on this fun topic? Check out these posts:

Creating brand awareness is critical to your online advertising strategy

Where to advertise online? Well that depends…

Want to learn how to write Google ads? Read on…

And don’t forget, we’re here to help… give us a call at 888-330-3236.

It’s hard being an entrepreneur. It really is (we know). Entrepreneurs are the underdog, the little guy. Yet, somehow they still have aspirations to change the world… and maybe make a ton of money along the way!

Have a product or service that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to succeed?

Then check out our list of the 26 best websites for advertising to entrepreneurs. (It’s also a great list to reference if you’re a budding entrepreneur!)

For example, this “best of” list features technology news and opinion websites including TechCrunch and Silicon Alley Insider, startup websites and blogs that help entrepreneurs, well… startup, such as Inc., Startup Nation, and PowerHomeBiz.com, and also those that offer a sense of community like (our friends at) Young Entrepreneur and Ladies Who Launch.

Hey, want to meet real, live entrepreneurs? Then consider sponsoring a startup networking event coming soon to a city near you. TECH cocktail and Startup Weekend are good ones (and are on our list too!)

The complete list of the Best Websites for Advertising to Entrepreneurs can be found on our Leadtail blog – Best Online Advertising Stuff.

In any case, let’s keep supporting our favorite entrepreneurs since: “Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them” – Anonymous

Which three letters bring on sweaty palms and sleepless nights for business owners and web masters everywhere? IRS?  FBI? Good guesses, but the culprit is… SEO.

If you do it wrong or put it off, then your website will spend its days lost in the endless pages of search engine results, like a message in a bottle floating in a vast, dark ocean.

But what if you crack the code on the secret language of meta keywords, H1 tags, and inbound links? Will all the riches and glory of Page One Google Ranking await you?

Well, no.  As with most things, good SEO is less about uncovering “the secret”, and more about taking the time to understand and implement best practices… and then to keep applying them religiously over time.  (Sorry!)

This leads to the big question regarding your website’s search engine optimization… do it yourself or hire an SEO expert?

According to a recent Marketing Sherpa report, just over half of businesses manage their SEO in-house, while about 45% use an outside expert or are considering one… So whichever way you decide to go, you’ll have plenty of company!

Here are a few pointers to get your started down the path to SEO success.

If you’re going to do your own SEO…

• Learn the basics first. Invest in a couple good books on SEO.  There are lots, so find one that lays out the material in a format and style that works best for you.  Browse Amazon to see what other readers are recommending, or just head to the business section at your local bookstore and flip through what’s there.

• Subscribe to SEO information sources. Get a daily stream of advice, tips, and tricks from experts.  Check out this list of 15 good SEO blogs, or if Twitter is more your thing, follow TheSEOList, a great curated list of folks that tweet about search engine optimization.

• Don’t approach SEO as a one-off project. Instead, think of it more like going to the gym – consistent effort over time is what will bring results!  If you need more traffic right away, you should read our previous post, Should You Do SEO or Paid Search?

If you’re going to hire an SEO consultant…

• Educate yourself on what you’ll be paying for. This article from Search Engine Journal, What’s My SEO Charging Me For?, is a great place to start.

• Ask (smart) colleagues for referrals. Part of an SEO consultant’s job is to understand your business and customers, so finding someone who has worked with businesses like yours before can really help get things moving quickly.

• Remember there are no SEO guarantees. Be wary of any consultants making claims that guarantee you a specific ranking or position. Search engines are complex, the algorithms are nuanced, and results take time. Reputable SEO practitioners will happily agree to goals and measurable milestones, and factor these into your billing and payment terms.

And in either case…

Don’t worry about every possible tweak you could make – just start with the basics and you’ll be well on your way. So wipe off those palms, get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll see you on Google’s Page One!

(P.S.  We’re here to help… so feel free to give us a call at 888-330-3236)

Do you know how many times  the search engines (Google, etc.) were used last month? Well if you guessed 15.9 billion times then you win the prize! And that’s only counting searches done in the U.S. market… according to comScore, a digital research firm.

Cool factoid, by why should you care? Because many were prospects searching for products and services like yours. So the name of the game is making sure your website shows up in search results!

Your website can appear in search results in two ways:

1.  Natural Search. The search engines find (index) all the websites on the Internet and then decide what to show when a user does a search. This is called natural or organic search. The search engines determine how relevant your website content is for a given search… based on their own (super-secret) algorithms.

The good news is you don’t have to pay when your website appears in natural search results. That’s the whole point of search right? The bad news is that Google and the search engines have millions of other web pages to choose from besides yours.

But you can influence this. That’s what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about!

2. Paid Search. As the name implies, it means you pay to have your ad show up in the top and right hand side “sponsored listing” sections of a search results page. Of course, your competitors want those spots too… so you get to bid against them to see who’s ad gets the highest ranking (what fun!)

In either case, if prospects can’t find your business when searching the Internet… then you won’t be in business very long. That’s why whole industries (and lots of consultants) have sprung up to help with your search engine optimization and paid search efforts.

So which should you do, SEO or Paid Search?

Let’s do a search “smack-down” before we answer that question:

Natural search is free. It’s worth repeating this one. You don’t have to pay Google or any other search engine to show up in natural search results. With paid search, you pay, and pay, and pay (you get the idea!)

Winner: SEO and Natural Search

With paid search, you control what, where, and when… your ad shows. You control what your ad says and in which search results it shows up. You can also start and stop your ad at anytime to stay within budget. Plus, it’s easy to test different paid search ads to see which works best… since you’re in control!

Winner: Paid Search

People mostly click on natural search results. About 80% of the time users click on natural search listings versus only 20% on sponsored listings.Why? Because people trust natural search more since they know that the sponsored listings are ads.

Winner: SEO and Natural Search

Changing natural search results takes time. Figure it may take 6 to 9 months before your search engine optimization results really pay off. SEO is an ongoing process of big and little changes to your website… to make it easier for search engines to find you, understand what your business is about, and to see that other website owners think you’re important too. And that just takes time.

Winner: Paid Search

Now we’re (finally) ready to answer the question of whether you should do SEO or paid search. The answer is… both!

If you’re starting a business or just bringing your offline business onto the Internet then you can’t wait around for your SEO efforts to work. You need to find prospects and generate sales now. This is why paid search is so great. Once you’ve set up your paid search ad, you’ll start driving potential customers to your website right away.

But don’t put off your SEO efforts. Otherwise, you’ll be kicking yourself later… and running out of cash since paid search bills add up quickly (that’s why Google makes tons of money).

Even if your business has been online for quite awhile… you’re probably still looking to increase your website traffic and find more qualified prospects online… without spending an arm and a leg to do it! So you’ll want to do both SEO and paid search for all the reasons we’ve already outlined.

Once your SEO efforts start paying off, you’ll have a steady stream of (free) visitors coming to your website from natural search. Plus you’ll still be able to tap into paid search… for when you launch new products, need to generate more sales fast, or want your website traffic growing while your search engine optimization efforts continue to improve.

So, definitely do both SEO and paid search.

Now it’s time for a word of caution regarding SEO and paid search (sorry!)

Remember, if you’re website doesn’t show up in search results then your business doesn’t exist… as far as your online prospects are concerned.

You or someone on your team must invest the time to learn at least the basics of SEO and paid search. Read blog posts, download white papers, or buy a few books on the topic. It’s that important. It really is. Or hire an expert if you have the budget. It will be worth it!

Here are some good blog posts (including ours) to get you started:

Guide to Search Engine Marketing for Small Business

SEO Flows Through Everything

SEO Copywriting

Don’t Make These Search Engine Marketing Mistakes

Do You Want to Know What Keywords to Use for Your Website?

And as always… let us know if we can help!  Just give us a call at 888-330-3236.