Great Ways To Market A Website Offline

Anyone who owns and operates their own website or blog knows that one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is how to get that initial traffic flow to come. There are thousands of different marketing strategies to tackle online that will effectively get the word out about a website or blog, but those shouldn’t be the only methods that are focused on. There are a great many lessons that can be learned from the advertising successes and failures that all businesses have used over the years. One thing these lessons can definitely teach people is that even if the business they run is exclusively an online business, there are offline marketing strategies that can be effectively used. Offline, or real world, marketing strategies are used repetitively for a reason. They work. Not every offline advertising method can be used in conjunction with an online business, but many can.

Business Cards

Business cards are a very “old school” way of promoting a business. Many people still keep business cards, whether putting them in a desk drawer or adhering them to the refrigerator, and go back to reference them when they are in need of a certain type of business. Business cards are also a great way to get the word out about a website. When a website owner hands them out to their friends, co-workers and acquaintances, they are helping to create buzz about their site. When promoting an online project with a business card, the design of the card can be changed so it will stand out. Usually there is no longer a need for information like phone numbers and street addresses, so that area of the card can be used to put in other information that may be more applicable to the website.

Custom Printed Pens

Another great offline method of advertising that makes sense for the owners of websites is investing in custom printed pens. Pens are often used in offices and around computers, this makes any URL printed on the pen have a better chance of being visited because it will be seen right when the user is online. Pens are used in other walks of life too and are seen repeatedly throughout the day. Research shows that repetitive viewing of an advertising message makes that message more effective. There are few things that people see as repeatedly during the day like the pens they write with.

Other Promotional Products

Custom printed pens are not the only promotional product that works well in advertising an online site to those in the “real world”. There are many other custom printed products out there that could help an online business get more traffic including frisbees, bumper stickers, mouse pads, hats, t-shirts, and more. The right product may depend on the niche of the website being promoted.

Print Advertising

Both through classified ads as well as small regular newspaper or magazine ads, there are a number of internet users that can be reached. For the most part the owner of a website should approach print advertising warily and not invest too much money in the process until it shows that it is working. Again depending on the niche of the website being promoted, one type of print advertising may be better than another.

Thank You Cards

A great way to get repeat business for any website that sells a given product online is to make sure that a thank you card is sent to the customer after they make their purchase. This reminds the customer of their purchase, shows them that the company cares about their business, and invites them back to make another purchase. A hand signature on the card is a nice added touch that registers well with customers.

Automobile Signage

An effective way that a website owner can advertise their site very passively is to purchase magnetic printed signs with the URL of their site or blog on them, and then place those signs on their vehicle. This method makes just driving around town into an act that could bring business or traffic to the website. These signs are usually quite affordable and being magnetized can be removed when someone wants to use the car and have no advertising on it.

Radio and Television

While radio and television advertising reaches a great deal of people, without over saturation which is expensive, it usually doesn’t translate to immediate benefits. Any website owner venturing into the world of radio and television advertising should pay very close attention to their advertising budget.

Flyers

Another great way to get the word out about a website is through flyer distribution. Flyers can be distributed in a number of ways. Distributing flyers by mail allows for homes to be directly targeted, but the downside is that the flyers are often discarded as junk mail. Flyers can also be distributed by hand which is a great way to get the message in front of people’s eyes, but this also means that the business owner may have to pay an hourly wage to the person distributing the flyers. An effective and inexpensive way to distribute flyers is to post them on community bulletin boards or leave them in conspicuous places where internet users will come across them.

Offline advertising has worked for years as a way to get word out about so-called brick and mortar businesses. It can also be used to spread the word about an online business as well. The strategies have to be used effectively though and it should never be forgotten that the goal isn’t to try and get someone to drive in their car to the local store, but to go to their computer and visit the site. Leveraging the power of offline advertising as a way to get online business is a smart decision that the owner of almost any blog or website should be taking advantage of.

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