The NYC Business Network shares a mission and purpose with the Kentucky Business Network. Their goal of “Promoting NYC companies and connecting businesses with customers and buyers” shares a clear relationship with our mission and goals.

The NYCBusinessNetwork.org website has three major components:

• Membership Directory
• Press Release Distribution
• Business Events and Calendar

Although our two websites do not share the same regional demographic or constituency, we feel confident that the two website directories will find numerous opportunities for cross promotion of our membership base and featured businesses. In total, the two websites will be mutually strengthened through our relationships and opportunities for growth.

We invite you to visit their website: http://www.nycbusinessnetwork.org/

Banner advertising may not be the most cost effective form of advertising for small businesses however. Pay Per Click advertising (especially that of Google’s Adwords program) has completely turned the advertising industry upside down. PPC ads can be hyper-targeted and easy to manage. They have a low commitment for small business owners and marketing companies, which gives advertisers flexibility to create, study and learn from their campaigns–ultimately making the format more appealing. It should be noted, that banner advertising has been adopted into the Google Adwords program.

Statistically, banner advertising is the most expensive of all common forms of customer acquisition. From a cost standpoint, it can exceed even traditional media.

Niche Banner Advertising Deals
A gem in the rough
On the other hand, there can be some great deals for banner ads from small websites and newsletters, which may contradict the general stats. For example, smaller website owners or webmasters running their own banner advertising programs may provide interesting deals or access to a unique and useful market, which could be helpful to a small business advertiser. Such gems can be challenging to find and can take quite a bit of time researching. One idea would be to find websites or blogs that have the right quality and kind of traffic but currently do not carry advertising. Make an offer to the website owner.

Finding a banner ad network
For established banner ad websites, consider using a banner ad network. Examples of such networks include: AdCritic, Adotas, DoubleClick, Google AdWords, or even the WebbyAwards.

Formats
Paid online advertising can come in a variety of forms, including:

• Static banner ads — in a variety of sizes
• Animated GIF or Flash ads
• Rich media, which could include sound or video
• Pop-ups and pop-unders ( boooo, these can be very annoying to users)
• Interstitial — appear as user links between pages
• Expandable or take-over ads – ads that grow or cover content on a page

Web Analytics

Whos.Amung.Us

http://whos.amung.us/

About this tool: Real-time stats for your website or blog. This tool is free and no registration is required.

Histats

http://www.histats.com/

Real time stats and online user count/list and search engine trends. No limit on log file size.

Site Meter

http://www.sitemeter.com/

Comprehensive real time website tracking and counter tools that gives you instant access to vital information and data about your sites audience.

Web Site Communication Gadgets

Woopra

http://www.woopra.com/

Woopra is the world’s most comprehensive, information rich, easy to use, real-time Web tracking and analysis application. And it’s free!

Where can I set up an account to begin Pay Per Click ads for my business?

The most popular pay per click advertising venues would be the top search engines. Google is by far the most popular and success advertising venue for this model. But we will list a few of the best sources below:

Google AdWords

Yahoo Search Marketing

Microsoft Adcenter

Ask Sponsored Listings

What do pay per click ads look like?

Pay per click ads can vary in the way that they look from advertiser to advertiser. Placement options also vary between advertisers. Each advertiser will establish their own rules that govern the ways ads can look, what you the buyer can say, and where the ad can be placed. Google Adwords has perhaps the most rigid control over language, and for this reason users have responded due to the clarity and quality of the ads matching the service or term that they are seeking. Below is a screen view of the two primary placement options for paying advertisers (marked in green outlines).

Can I Manage A Pay Per Click Campaign Without Professional Help?

This is a yes and no answer, but I will give you reasons for each.
Yes:
Google AdWords for example was set up so that business owners could easily create an account and begin an ad campaign in a very short amount of time. In about 30 minutes you would be able to read some of the instructions and set up an account to initiate your paid advertising campaign. Google has built in tools to help with your transition into pay per click marketing, such as keyword finder tools and popular keywords. If you have a good understanding of your business and perhaps a Google Web Analytics account ( or traffic analyzer) installed, you will be able to make a basically informed decision as to choosing keywords and preferences.
No:
Even though Google has made it easy to create an account and set up and track your ad campaign, simply reading instructions and having a clear understanding of your business does not mean that you will get results from your pay per click campaign. Often times businesses will set up a campaign only to see their daily budgets used up and their visitors spend next to no time on their website. In addition, sometimes businesses will go months and see few results from their paid ads (except for the clicks to their site). Professionals can build more successful campaigns because of their depth of online marketing, user behavior, SEO and Landing Page Optimization understanding and marketing insight and experience. The reason for hiring professionals is because they can target the right users, under the right keywords, at the right time, with the right tools and can help you gear your marketing program to yield better results. Note:
Please keep in mind, this does not mean that laymen or business owners (non-professionals) can’t run successful campaigns. They can…it just takes work, study, research, and practice.

Learn about how to measure traffic to your website or web promotional: Website analytics and traffic