How can the average small business person advertise on the Internet without running the risk of being dropped by his or her Internet Service Provider and be labeled a “Spammer”? You know very few people are going to search-out your website no matter how great it is or how many awards it has received. The chances of attracting tons of business this way just aren’t there. So what do you do? You advertise! The question is, “What kinds of Internet advertising can I use that will work and not get me in trouble with the “Spam Police”? (My name for those who get annoyed at most any email advertising.)

BANNER ADS
Of course! Banner Ads! The problem with this approach is twofold: it costs an arm and a leg to advertise using a banner ad on the popular search engines, and most people do what you do—ignore them completely and click right through to the information they are looking for.

POP-UP/UNDER ADS
Well, how about pop-up or pop-under ads? Although these have some results with people looking for what the pop-up is advertising, most of us cancel these without reading. Pop ads work within your web site to highlight special deals, but when your ad pops on someone else’s site with the idea of getting them to visit your site, it is an annoyance.

SPAM
Okay, there’s a third way. You can send unsolicited email to dozens or hundreds of thousands to advertise what we are selling, a technique we’ve come to call “SPAM” email. We didn’t ask for the information, we don’t want the information, and the sheer volume of these ads cause us to complain to our ISP which doesn’t have the technical know-how to ban emails we don’t want and let those we do want pass through. The thought here is that by sheer volume you will contact someone somewhere who wants what you are selling, so it’s worth the risk to advertise this way. Is it really?

THE CHALLENGE
You need a list of names (e-mail names) of people who are interested in what you are selling and who might actually appreciate an ad from you. Several firms have emerged with lists they are willing to sell to you consisting of people who have “opted in” to receive email on a specific subject. You purchase these lists hoping your product or service fits that opt-in well enough that the recipient won’t turn you in as a spammer. Understand, your ISP will drop you in an instant if he or she feels their service is in jeopardy, and word will get out to other ISPs that you are on the “no-no” list. Want to take that route?

All right, you can generate your own name list of thousands just eager to read about your offer just by typing your key words into every search engine out there and copy down the email address of every website that springs up. You send them a short pithy pitch for your offer and tell them it’s a one-time email, then you live up to that promise. This will actually work, but you will be at the computer for the next 20 years or so looking at websites and copying email addresses. You still have the problem of sending dozens to thousands of emails requesting they “opt-in” without raising the spam flag with your ISP, so you have to send them one at a time. Got the time?

ONE SOLUTION
Software exists that will do all this for you. I personally use one from Baxtsoft called “Net Prospector® 2000 Professional Edition, and it has helped me generate an opt-in newsletter mailing list of over 14,500 readers, all interested in small business. The cost of the software is minimal when you consider the potential profits and the minimization of being labeled a spammer. To learn in detail how the software can work for you, visit the site at www.baxtsoft.com or call 714-846-0277. As soon as I hear from the others with similar offerings I will post them on my website at www.tulenko.com, and provide more depth in my newsletter, so keep tuned. As always, I have no direct connection with the products I review.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.