Targeting My Audience

Q:I have a website that's been up for about six months now. The only form of online marketing I've done is 100,000 banner impressions(non targeted), major search engine registration, and some link exchanging. I am about to venture into opt-in e-mail marketing and/or e-zine advertising. Can I get some input on my site and who my best target market is? The obvious answers would be home businesses, small business, and entrepreneurs. Also, any recommendations on who to go through would be appreciated.

A:It just so happens your post was aptly timed. Just today I was asked to review www.craftmax.com/features.htm by a mutual friend who is about to sign up for it. I found its one quick gulp, and you'll get it easy on my eyeballs and stopwatch. Mention of "crafts" turned me off, unless of course, the domain had been named - "craftee biz strategies" (LOL) It doesn't have accomodating links that you have included, however. In terms of your site, menu on left hand side is a tad category-rich for my needs, in light of having 30.secs to suck down channel water per day. Your "benefits" section provided faster reading. My first impression was that you have window appeal for small home-based start-ups. I found Craftmax's site easier on my eyeballs on the first plunge, causing me to take a few more dips. 1. Convince me why I should pay your service $79 a month when I can pay (a) zero or (b) $49 a month via above site. 2. Consider grabbing a copy of this month's "Business News" magazine. On pages 85 - 94 there is an article titled "Let's Reinvent THE COMPANY" which may assist you to address not only current targeting issues but midstream changes to it. 3. Re-targeting issues - have you thought about re-visiting your BP (marketing section) were it not generating expected numbers? First of all save your money with banners!!! I do Internet Marketing, this does NOT work for the price! Second be sure your site html codes are search engine friendly, if you'd like me to take a look I will, just ask. Second make a detail list of YOUR market. Really think about this, there might be areas you may not even have considered! Next, place classified ads that are related to your site, join newsgroups and discuss what your expertise is about, give away some FREE information. People love FREE stuff! Write articles and post them where your market will be at (newsgroups, discussion areas, etc) then most of all submit your site to the 9 major search engines each month!