How Start-ups Can Attract More Local Customers To Their Websites

If your start up has just launched a website one of your main concerns will be getting your website designed to attract more local customers. It is a lot easier than you might think. It doesn't require being a computer whiz or a computer programmer to make it happen. A focused effort using the right words, will get the right people, coming to your website in no time flat.

Many new website owners aren't aware that the local search arena is a little different than competing in the global search market. There are a lot of success stories detailing how local search can pay off for businesses in some big ways. When you target a mix of local and regional traffic, using the appropriate keywords, and making sure your website is part of your sales funnel you can replicate these successes using any website.

How To Attract Customers Who Are Ready To Buy

In a recent New York Times article on Internet marketing Perrone Maintenance Corp., a carpet-cleaning business in Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed how he started his search for more website traffic by advertising on Craig's List. His ad attracted more paying customers for his business, but it had to be updated every week.

People who are ready to spend money often use classified advertising to find a company and a set of keywords different from people who are just looking for information. When individuals are ready to purchase they often will use buying indicators in their search terms and keyword phrases. These are words like buy, purchase and compare that are added to the general search term such as, " where to purchase laptops".

According to recent research 33% of the Internet audience online are ready to buy and looking for businesses to spend their money with. To get them to your website you need to make sure that your content has buying indicators sprinkled throughout your pages.

Start-ups using these terms and phrases will let the search engine know that your page is a place for people to buy your product and not just a source for information on your market.


How To Get Customers To Return To Website Faster

Today, Mr. Perrone says, he gets about 90% of his business from his website that targets New York area customers. Your content should tell local customers that you are in their immediate area and why they should buy from you rather than all of the other choices in the marketplace.

Valuable content should do more than attract a lot of Internet traffic to your website. You should be able to use it to get customers into your sales funnel and build repeat business.

In order to encourage visitors to return to your website try posting coupons and freebies on your website. A coupon that has a significant savings will motivate them to come to your store sooner. If you give them a coupon after a store purchase for a discount for an online purchase you can get them back to the website faster.

Website Traffic Tools

These are just a handful of the traffic tools that every business start-up's website should contain to attract more local traffic. There are also a variety of free E-books on just about any subject you can imagine, that make good gifts to your customers, if they are related to using and caring for your products.

The fuel that drives the biggest part of all Internet traffic is finding quality relevant information. The goal is to align local customers who plan to spend money with one of your sales messages that will direct them to the product that offers the benefits they desire.

Starting A Home-based Business

If you're you're unsure whether starting a home-based business is right for you I've got a few things that I'd like to share with you. I was getting all of the sales collateral and other marketing pieces together for the launch of a new business and I thought about all the people who will soon be able to start their own business. They won't have to depend on the income from a job that pays them just enough to keep them coming back each week.

Then I read Doug Thorpe's blog talking about the origin of the word “job”. He summarized that it's closely related to morsel or “piece”. In other words a “job” should only be a “piece” of the work you do. However, for some it has become the biggest piece in the puzzle of life.

Job vs. Joy of Business

If you are currently employed you can still put in a few hours each day, toward building your own business. If thinking about the joy of business is all that you've done, and you’re trying to decide between either starting a business or job hunting, let me share a few facts with you.

Do you like a routine or variety?
Do you enjoy competing or cooperating?

If you have any doubts or you’re struggling with the idea of working for yourself, then the joy of business ownership is not for you and you should be looking for a job. Entrepreneurs must have strong self-confidence and be self motivated.
If you are ready to take your future, your destiny, into your own hands and the idea of working for yourself and creating your own income excites you, then let me give you a few facts before you get started.

Most U.S. business have 20 are fewer employees.
Ideas for potential new businesses are climbing each year.
Courageous entrepreneurs in the U.S. start more than 600,000 businesses each year.

Now that you realize that starting a home-based business puts you in good company and that you're not the only person that feels compelled to own their own business. The next blog post will talk about how get there from where you are today, starting with a personal assessment of some of the skills that you will need to be successful in business.

Biblical Principles For Starting A Business

Using biblical principles when starting a business is not for everyone. It's a must for some people. Especially Christians who want to reinvent themselves, take control of their future and those you've grown tired of exchanging their time for way too little money.

Each year over 1 million new businesses are started in the U.S. I have been self-employed for the past 19-years and helped others get businesses started. I'm in the process of launching another business and if you're thinking about starting your own business I'll gladly share a few tips to help you get on the right foot.

I discovered that owning a business and getting married have a lot in common. For instance about 50% of the business started fail in the first few years. Marriages in The U.S. have about the same rate of survival too. Could it be because people spend months and even years planning for the physical aspects of the wedding, but little or no time mentally preparing for the marriage.

The same thing happens with a lot of new business owners they're willing to spend lots of time, money and effort on the nonessentials, colors for their business, the decor, the furnishing, but little if any on making the needed mental adjustments. If you want to avoid falling into this trap, you need to start by getting yourself prepared mentally, spiritually and physically for business.

Preparations For Starting A Business

The crucial first step is to prepare your mind…heart…spirit for the paradigm shift into the new mindset you need for the journey to become an entrepreneur. If you have been earning an income by working in a job for most of your life you have to accept the fact that you are taking your future into your own hands.

There won't be anyone to tell you how many hours to work and when it's time to start and stop. Nor will there be a paycheck waiting just because you spent 60 hours in the past week trying to make a sale. The whole concept of being paid for each and every hour you work is a key part of the old way of thinking, that you will have to change.

If want to create a business that has a positive cash flow and adds value to your life instead of draining your energy, you need to understand that it all starts with your mind.

Biblical Principles For Business Success

We were wonderfully made and God equipped our brains with the tools that we need, we just need to learn how to access them. James Allen may be credited with writing the timeless classic "As A Man Thinketh", but this a principle that is intrinsic to man. A divine principle, we are directed to follow, taken from Proverbs 23:7 in the Holy Bible.

If you're planning to start your own business you should learn how your state of mind influences your future through these key habits.

Self talk...how what you say to yourself, about yourself, influences your feelings, stress, and the overall outcomes.

Positive affirmations...positive statements that you should repeat with attention, conviction, interest and desire to influence your subconscious mind and trigger it to promote positive action.

Attractions principles...how to attract the things you want and deserve and not what you don't want.

Now that you are aware that using biblical principles when starting a business can make a huge positive impact on your future, you should be applying them and accessing your mental tools. They are some of the things that successful Christian businessmen use and you need as part of your daily routine, if you want to increase your chances for success.

This is one of the areas that people fail to adequately prepare for in business and later on it comes back to haunt them. If you want to get your mindset in shape for business? Take the time to visit one of the best Internet coaches there is, James Holmes at the Internet Business Blueprint. He has put together vlog and podcast on the attraction principle that will give you a better understanding of how to apply it to tune-up your mindset.

Starting A Business

In a down economic cycle starting your own business might be one of the things you consider doing, especially if you're unemployed for a long period of time and have some management experience. Or maybe, you just have that burning desire to break free of the 9 to 5 routine.

I read an ABC News story on how a woman started a business with virtually no money, and decided to share a few of the nuggets that I gleaned from that report in this blog.

Having a huge nest egg to start a business isn't one of the essentials. Many businesses can be started for less than a 1,000 dollars and some for a few hundred. What is important is that you plan your work and work your plan.

There is a Bible story in Genesis 29-31:55, about a young man who lacked the finances to buy his own herd of animals so he contracted to tend his uncles herds in exchange he would receive any the spotted cows and goats that were born, as his wages. That was his game plan, to get the stock he needed to start his own herd.

The young herdsman developed a plan to feed the animals a special diet which he hoped would cause them to produce more spotted offspring than usual.

In today's competitive marketplace a businessman can greatly increase his or her chance for success by having a written plan. I've identified some simple steps for planning a business. If your back is up against the wall and you need to create an income, here a some useful tips to get you started on the right track.


Tips for Starting a Business

A written plan for a start-up doesn't have to be extensive and formal like a corporate business plan. You can start out with a simple one page business plan. It should link together your planning, marketing, strategy and execution.

It's mostly an outline, to clearly show 4 key things, the mission , the company's objectives, the strategies and the actionable steps.

The mission should answer, Why does your business exist?

Objectives, indicate what you should measure.

Strategies, show things that need to be done to accomplish your business objectives.

Actionable steps, are specific things that you need to execute to make your business successful.

How To Increase Your Chances For Success

By addressing these things in advance you increase your chances for a successful business. In addition getting those profitable ideas out of your head and on to paper is a an explosive step towards getting started.

The character in our example from the bible didn't have the benefit of using a written plan, but his plan was still successful and before long he had more animals than his boss. The take-away from the story is that resourceful entrepreneurs can be successful.

Here is a link to the ABC News story I referenced at the beginning of this blog post on "how you can start a business for $100.00 or less."

10 Keys To A Successful Christian Home-based Online Business

Many Christian home-based businesses are finding success selling products and services online. Internet marketing is based on some pretty simple stuff. The formulas are already known you just need to know what they are and how to use them to benefit your Christian internet business.

1. Know why you’re in business.
2. Focus on one source for information and ideas.
3. Always act fast.
4. Take consistent action steps.
5. Decide what your priorities are and be willing to make sacrifices.
6. Get help from others, someone who is doing are done what you want to do.
7. Learn as much as you can about online marketing.
8. Get some training on traffic generation techniques
9. Build a list of prospects as you go along.
10. Build a community of loyal followers.

To build a successful Christian online business you don’t have to be a computer whiz, a world class marketer, or even have a college degree. What it does require is a commitment to focus on increasing your personal knowledge and obtaining the best business intelligence possible. You will have to acquire many of these skills yourself. Some of them you can draw on the knowledge of other professionals who are already adept in these areas for your business, company or organization

Personal Knowledge

To develop the personal knowledge needed to run an online business, you have to look inward and answer a few key questions.

1. Why you are in business.

To make money is not enough of an incentive to keep anyone in business for long. Because at times you could probably make more money working for someone else than you’ll make in your own business. You should have a desire to fulfill a need in the marketplace and help others enjoy there lives. This requires a deeper fulfillment and will take goals that require long range planning and objectives.

2. Act Fast

You have to turn on a dime when you compete in a technology driven marketplace. If you spend to much time thinking and mulling over important decisions in your business you can miss a lot of opportunities and lose money in the process. Neither of these are desirable outcomes in any successful business.

3. Become knowledgeable about attracting web traffic.

Forty-eight percent of marketers said that search engine optimization (SEO) was the best method for generating conversions online. This is an area that you need a basic understanding of how it works, but you don’t really have to get bogged down in traffic generation you can always hire others to perform this service for you.

4. Decide what your priorities are.

You’re the only one who can determine what things are important to your business and need to be done now or what things you can put off until later. You have to decide from the outset of your internet business how you will make strategic decisions on who, what when where and how things get prioritized in your business.

Business Intelligence

5. Learn some basic marketing principles.

Sure, if you know the ins and outs of direct marketing, copywriting and promotions you can put together some well organized campaigns. But marketing research, analytics and sales are equally important to your business. If you need to, get help in some of these areas. You still need to be able to have some understanding of the role marketing plays in a company.

6. Build a list of prospects.

Most of your best efforts will come from selling and reselling to people you have done business with before. Some people call it a database, customer list or leads. A big part of internet marketing is building relationships with people on your list, people who you communicate with regularly.

7. Build a loyal following.

Once you have a list, your objective is to convert everyone on that list into loyal followers, regular customers and evangelist for your organization. They will not only become your best customers, but some of them will act like an unpaid a sales team, telling others about your business and be valuable tools in helping your company to grow.

8. Get help from someone who is doing are have done what you want to do.

You can get help from paid consultants, mentors or friends who are willing to guide you and your business from the beginning stages to a level where it’s a viable competitor in your market. You can meet many of them online through forums and social networking. Make sure that these people are trustworthy and rewarded well for their services.

9. Focus on one source of business information.

Many beginning Christian entrepreneurs, business owners and home-based business persons try to digest too much information from too many sources. Before you know it you’re confused from conflicting information, and paying to belong to a bunch of memberships sites with similar products that only causes you to lose valuable time, money and resources because you’re stuck in a vicious cycle of reading and filing data.
Your best bet is to avoid white papers, reports and other information when they are full of hype and short on actual facts. You only need one credible source at a time that you rely on for your information needs.

10. Take consistent action steps.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to learn something new. Suddenly you find yourself just sitting idly unsure of what to do next. You have to define some strategic steps and commit to taking action everyday in your business. Sure, some days you may accomplish more than on other days, but every day you should have some actionable steps that you are working to complete.

Businesses that operate on the internet fail in the first year, if they don’t accomplish the 10 things on this list, according to Internet Mastery. Now that you are aware of them, it’s up to you to make good use of this list and increase the chances for online success for your Christian home-based businesses.

The 3 Greatest Unique Selling Propositions

When most Christian businesses create a unique selling proposition they seem to use a bunch of crafty words, a slogan, that miss the mark and doesn't pack the same kind of punch as a magnetic marketing message, like a great USP.

I've found three that I think should be in the USP hall of fame if there is such a place. They were chosen because they embrace the basic principle at the foundation of creating compelling marketing messages. A benefit potent enough to move the masses to use your product

John 3:16 "For God So Loved the world he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believe in him shall not parish but have everlasting life."

This biblical Scripture has become a USP of sorts, for Christians in the past several decades. It targets a specific audience with a powerful message to embrace salvation. It offers a strong benefit, a solution to one of man's problems and states it in a way that is both compelling and easy to remember.

The Greatest Unique Selling Propositions Of All Time


USP - "The nighttime, coughing, achy, sniffling, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine."

USP- "Wonder Bread builds strong bodies 8 ways

USP- "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less -- or it's free."

Even without the names of the companies you should easily recognize the products and most of you have probably purchased them because of the benefits and features stated in the compelling messages.

How Magnetic Marketing Works


Most and all good USP's are designed to appeal to a narrow segment of a vast market. The gulf between the upscale clients and the bargain seekers is huge and few products can satisfy both groups. The creators of these USP's clearly identify their niche and boldly state how they differ from their competitors.

In other words, their stated mission is to strive to meet their respective market’s expectations, to provide a healthier bread, faster pizza delivery and relief from the common cold. Did they do anything different to their products, not hardly.

What they've done is, identify a problem in the marketplace and draw in customers who want a product that will solve their problem. It's pretty simple yet, difficult to do if you don't do some research to get a grip on what your target market needs and expects from your product.

Creating Your Own USP

Your organization won't be able to offer the kind of benefits believers get from having a relationship with Jesus, the son of God. But creating a magnetic marketing message is essential for every Christian business

If you want your company's marketing message to rise above the mosaic of competitive noise you need to evaluate your USP. Make sure that first and foremost that your company is able to deliver on what it promises.

Christian businesses should try to avoid using jargon, instead use everyday language, if they want their message to be easily understood and able to be retained. Finally take your great USP and integrate it into your marketing material. Your letterhead, business cards flyers and everywhere your company name appears it should be there too, compelling, attracting and drawing customers like a picnic draws an army of ants.

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How A Christian Home-based Business Can Attract More Customers

To help your Christian home-based business attract more customers and become welcomed as a marketer instead of viewed as an annoying salesman to your prospects, I've got few things you need to make sure are included in your marketing message. It doesn't matter if you're a selling consulting services, a retailer or handle religious oriented-products. What does matter is that your mission is articulated as part of your unique selling proposition.

It begins with you being clear about why you want to own a Christian company. Then to be successful in your marketplace, you've got to let your customers know up front what to expect from you. Here is an example from the Holy Bible of what I'm trying to describe to you.

Marketing Lessons From The Bible

In Luke 4:18-23 Jesus kicks off his ministry by telling the residents his hometown his mission. To preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he set out to do it and did accomplish just that.

Having that same kind of clarity of mission and delivering on your promise is what it takes to make a home-based business excel in the marketplace. Let's take a look at another more recent example of how a concise USP containing a mission statement can supercharge the sales for a business.

If you ask anyone in the U.S. where to get "Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed?" You'll here one name 90 percent of the time, Dominoes. The company used a USP to dominate the pizza delivery business, by addressing a need that was truly important to the buyer. Getting their food hot and fast.

Why Christian Home-based Businesses Need A USP

Once you have a clear and concise USP, it'll improve the performance of your marketing message. Let me start by stating that there are two main benefits of developing a USP.

First, it helps your business stand out in the eyes of your current and potential customers or clients.
Second, it helps to focus you and/or your team on fulfilling the promise of the USP.

How To Create A Unique Selling Proposition

A USP is not just a slogan or a cute phrase about your business. It has to provide an answer to to your customers most important question. It has to clearly answer, "Why should I do business with you instead of your competitors?"

It should compel people to do business with you like a light attracts moth on a summer night. It also has to contain the right marketing message. One that draws customers to you, one that can't be ignored.

Use meaningful specifics instead broad generalities. It should narrowly define your specialization in the marketplace, because you'll have a lot of wasted energy if you try to be all things to all people.

If at all possible identify a weakness or a shortcoming in your industry that is annoying consumers the most and fix it. Then you can exploit the fact that your business can deliver a level of service that your competitors can't through your USP.

Another valuable feature of a your USP should be some kind of guarantee if at all possible.These are not the only things, but a few of the important things that can improve your marketing message.

Successful Christian Businesses

When you have the right unique selling proposition for your Christian home-based business, you'll take a quantum leap in income, sales and new customers.

It turned a small corner pizza store in Ypsilanti, Mich into a nationwide chain in with over 7,000 stores, and a wake littered with failed competitors. Since that time, Dominoes owner Tom Monaghan a Christian businessman, cashed out of Domino's in 1999 for a reported $1 billion to focus on religious and philanthropic work.

How To Find Free Classified Advertising That Works

Image courtsey Viddler/Mgillogly

To find free classified advertising that works to drive traffic to your site, you have to know a few key things about the sites where you place your free ads. First and foremost you have to make sure that the audience you are trying to reach is present in large enough numbers on the site. Another factor that can affect the performance of the ad is the amount of information that you are able to present.

If you think of theses free ad website as a boat, that takes you closer to the fish, then it's easy to see that you need a sturdy reliable boat. More importantly you need to launch your boat where there are fish. Your ad is the bait and you have to go where there are plenty of fish, potential customers, in order to catch them.

Benefits Of Free Advertising

A lot of small and Christian businesses use having little or no money as a reason for not using advertising. So, if you're one of these businesses free advertising can be a Godsend to help you get the word out about your products and or services.

Cash is often a scarce commodity, to Christian |home-based businesses. As a business owner, you can trade your time for money. If you're willing to do some basic research and fact checking to make sure that your free ad is placed on a site where your product can get viewed.

It's always good to know that there are some fish under the boat before you spend all day trying to catch one. If there are only one or two fish in a big pond, you'll have a hard time trying to catch them. Your chances improve when there are lots of fish around.



Guidelines For Free Advertising On The Internet

These tips on finding good free classified advertising sites are a bare bones guideline for everyone who does business on the web and are seeking frugal ways to get a leg up on the competition.

Even if the site turns out to be a place that attracts tire kickers instead of customers, you haven't wasted any money.

If you do get a steady stream of customers from an online classified service, you'll know that purchasing a bigger ad will be money well spent. You can check out the ratings on a few of the sites in "Where To Find Free Advertising For Christian| Small businesses."

5 Features Of Good Classified Ad Site

When you looking for ads on the cheap you still have to be concerned with the quality of the website for your free online ad. You should apply similar metrics, on click through rates and conversions, as you would on any site. Even though you only invested your time, you want to receive fair value for the time you spent setting up the account and placing the advertisement.

You wouldn't go fishing without checking your boat for leaks and free ads need a checklist too. Here's mine. These are some of the things that help me identify quality free advertising sites:

• Multiple Currency Options
• Profiles For Business or Personal
• Newest Ads Displayed on Front Page
• Upgradeable Features
• Site Statistics

In my opinion good sites should provide most if not all of these features.

All Free Classified Ads Are Not Created Equal

Some free classified advertising have restrictions against placing ads containing affiliate links. A few of them won't let you use photos or place a link to your website. Instead you'll have to use a phone number or email address in order for people to contact you.

Sites that only allow you to post ads for short runs under 14 days aren't as desirable as places that offer 30 days or more.

Being resourceful is always a necessity for start-ups and home-based businesses to accomplish their marketing objectives. Using free online advertising can give you access to another source for getting customers or sales.

Where To Find Free Advertising For Small |Christian Businesses

A hot forum topic in cyberbia these days is where to find free advertising for small|Christian businesses and home-based businesses. I'd like to offer a few solutions to this important question here, instead of in a forum, so that more people can benefit, and know how to connect with advertising exchanges, trade and bartering promotions and other in expensive forms of marketing to rev-up sales.

The information I'll cover can be used by small and Christian businesses, profit and non-profit businesses for services and products. I'll tell you about my experiences with these services and give you an idea of how these free ad services work and whether it's effective to use them.

Classified Ad Sites That Don't Charge

I know with the recent changes on the webs best known free advertising site, Craig's List, it's getting more challenging to use their free classified ads to sell products. Let me start by saying just because the first contact doesn't immediately lead to a sale, you can still mine the traffic from this site for your newsletter and E-zine list with the hopes of getting a sale down the road.

Some free ad sites allow you to post a picture of your items and others don't. What I found frustrating about some of them were character limits smaller than (under than 140 characters) Twitter, and no links to your website.

If you're going to advertise under those constraints you might as well go over to Twitter where you have a more potential customers.

Who Visits Free Ad Sites

I wanted to get products on about 50 sites so I targeted half that many, at first , to get a feel for the market. A few of the places that I used are E-Page classified, Walmart classified, Free adlist. What I quickly discovered is that for the most part many of the site weren't getting very much traffic or page views and their demographics didn't really fit the bill for my ideal customer.
I did a simple chart containing some of the key stats from a couple of the free ad sites, using data supplied on Alexa.

	Craig's List	Walmart. oddle.com	Epage	Freeaddlist. com	Classified ads.com

Traffic rank	24	2,741	40,527	14,530,538	8,513
Page Views per user	16	3.6	3.4	1	7.3
Avg Time on site	12	3.6	4.6	no data	3.5
Demog	25-34 males	35-54 FEMALES	NO DATA	NO DATA	25-44 MALES

I crafted a well designed ad with a huge promise and in the title and as much benefit laden text as the site would allow. Thus far Google analytic hasn't shown a single visitor from these sites, other than Craig's List.

Advertising Exchanges

I tried only one ad exchange listing,Superclix, they let me design my own plain single column black and white ad. They placed 3 single column ads on my site that look terrible and I'm planning to take it down soon. The main reason I've stuck with this advertising exchange site was to generate a backlink to my site from the product until I write an article, on the product, then I'll promptly discontinue my affiliation with the site.

Trade and Barter Techniques

My search for barter advertising was limited to a few SERP's, then I realized that I hadn't seen any barter ads on any of the dozens of sites I visit each week. I was able to find one site U-exchange, that looked promising, because they don't charge an upfront fee to use their bartering network. Some of the other sites I visited wanted several hundred dollars to become a member. I thought that was a little steep considering that the quality of the goods and services that I might receive may not suit my individual taste and I'll be stuck with something I don't care to use.

Ideas That Generate Real Profits

The cost of getting new customers is 6x more than selling to your existing pool of clients. Smart entrepreneurs are better off spending their time to organizing a system with to follow-up with their customers after each sale.

The father of Guerrilla marketing Jay Conrad Levinson put it this way, follow up or fall flat on your face. Every guerrilla knows that you have to maintain a constant contact with your clients, because it takes about 30 exposures to your message before you can make a sale to most people.

Mash that with the fact that the average person gets exposed to nearly 76 offline advertisements a day, and it's easy to understand why every marketer should contact people after the sale through regular follow ups at 30, 60 and 90-day intervals.

Give It Forward Marketing

Asking for referrals is another undervalued strategy that every small, home-based and Christian businesses can use to reach more customers. Giving your clients exceptional service and follow-up support motivates your best customers to tell others about your business. When you give willingly to your customers, they will return the favor. Many times when you contact a referral they have been pre-sold on doing business with you or at least are aware of your company.

One last tip, take that stack of business cards that's been collecting dust over the years and start calling some of those people up and renewing those relationship, by asking them how you can help their business. Give them an update on your email address and/or a cell phone number so they can reciprocate and you can begin regular follow ups with them.

Using Classified Ad Services That Don't Charge


If you place ads for your business on ad sites that don't charge, choose a site that matches the market intel of your ideal customers. There is always a chance that someone might view your ad.

There are techniques that work a lot better than cold calling and beat the return on investment of manually placing free advertising for small|Christian businesses all over cyberspace, make sure you're using them too.