Putting Your Name Out There Via The Web

There are countless ways to get your name out there.  Radio advertising was big for awhile and still is for some.   Print advertising is all but done with newspapers devastated from the revenue lost.  Telemarketing is all but gone with the changing laws which leaves us with the web.   There are dozens of choices from major directories like Yahoo that cost a lot of money to free directories scattered all over the web.

I have followed with some interest the saga of the company that provides my business with a good portion of our tradeshow items.    My interest is two fold, one is a natural curiousity and genuine well wishing with also a good bit of interest in duplicating their success.  The value of a good eco friendly directory cannot be understated as we approach one of the biggest green days of the year.  If you are selling something that is recycled obviously you want to be into a recycled directory, if you sell organic stuff you should look for and get listed in an organic products directory.  The two directories I just listed are very popular in their respective categories.  Foot traffic from these sites may not be huge but it will drive some decent business.   According to my promo folks the traffic from run of the mill niche sites like those above actually exceeds more popular and sought after advertising listings.   The question comes down to cost and time, adding directory listings can take a lot of time and energy.    Our experiences are a little different as we actively publish our listings in Yellow Book and on the fairly expensive Yahoo directory as it suits are  needs and our revenue structure.   Someone selling a t shirt probably does not want to spend $1000 a year for yellow page and general directory listings.

 

Sometimes You Just Can’t Choose

I’ve got a 3 day conference coming up and I’m trying to decide between three different coolers.  This is kind of a meet and greet with a lot of time spent around the pool and beach.   I figured the best gift would be to give a cooler someone could take with them when we’re done.

I’ve narrowed it to five choices, the Glacier 10-Can Barrel Cooler, the slightly larger Glacier 24-Can Barrel Cooler or the huge Glacier 45-Can Barrel Cooler.  I like all three but I’m worried that they look too much like a beer keg for the corporate market.  They’re great coolers, I’ve played with a sample and they keep things pretty cool for a good period of time.  The same company I’ve used since last fall offers a whole bunch of promo coolers most of which are fairly inexpensive.

The other two coolers I have considered are from Rubbermaid and are just the regular store bought brands from Walmart or Target.  The problem with buying these is although I save about a dollar an item I cannot get a logo put on them and would have to use stickers or go with nothing at all.  It kind of defeats the purpose.   I try to keep my supplier honest so I check prices and what I found shocked me as shipping ran up to $400 from others and I get it free from them.  One other vendor was close on price but wanted $100 for a setup charge and $345 for shipping so in the end they were about $500  more expensive on a $5000 order.