Online marketing blogs often indulge silly marketing

The most amazing thing about the online world is that the marketing tactics used by a lot of websites and online marketing blogs is very silly. The general approach is generally ineffective and easily blocked by more tech-savvy users. I remember a few years back I used to visit websites that had this animated money that was begging for me to hit it with a hammer. I can’t even begin to tell you the number of times I very nearly put a hammer through what was then my CRT monitor just so I could avoid the eye-raping that was that series of ads. In fact, regular surfers literally become blind to these advertisements since it becomes such a regular part of the landscape.

Even if you talk about pay per click ads, which are less annoying than any flash based ad, it is used rather frivolously and foolishly. Yes, pay per click ads are the most incredible thing in the advertising world for pure Return on Investment but they too are poorly utilized. Think of all those high dollars clicks that find their way to poorly formed websites that seem like something my dog would have gnawed on and then regurgitated all over the carpet. These websites that some online marketing blogs link to are an unholy mess! They look worse than Lindsay Lohan on crack, there’s nothing special about them and they often have a message that varies on the theme of “we’re the bestest ever!!!” that tends to drive people away because its such a nauseating combination of cheese and sleaze.

The internet is arguably the single greatest direct marketing environment in the history of forever and yet there are so many dollars that are wasted because the websites they direct people to are annoying or the ads themselves are the creation of the devil and annoying as hell. That is why I say much of online marketing can be quite foolish. There are so many other forms of advertising that can be used, like so.

Content-Driven advertising

If your advertisement looks like content, it is quite likely that it will attract readers that are interested in it. Most ads seem as if they are promoting a product; these ads look as if they are promoting the content itself. It is a very good hook to lure in the fish, and since it is labeled clearly as an advertisement, there are no ethicality issues here. Thrown in a catchy headline, some interesting copy and make an authoritative reference to something and lo, presto! You’re in business!

The educational approach

By offering readers something knowledgeable they previously knew nothing about, you can lure in readers and visitors quite easily. First and foremost, don’t sell; educate. Information has been and always will be king. Clear, incisive analysis will always be in demand and it is something people will find valuable, perhaps some even worth paying for. And when people have been educated by you in one way or another, they learn to trust you and that is when they can do business with you more readily. One always leads to the other.