Countess, can I ask you something?

[col52]

We've just returned home from a playdate with our daughter.
There was another family there and I found out that the guy just launched a website this week and I was trying to think of where he might advertise (as it's something a little different, I couldn't think of anything). Being in the music industry, do you have any thoughts or ideas?

The site is http://singingportraits.com

[*CountessA*]

There are various online websites of listings that will allow him to advertise for free.

Let me brainstorm some ideas.

[*wheels*]

Sorry to interrupt Countess,


Col,

in Melbourne there is a free magazine called Melbourne's Child distributed via Child Health Centres, Play Centres, Kinders, Kids Clothing Stores etc that is THE place to advertise if you are selling children's products or services.

I have just had a look and there is a similar version for Sydney. I'm not sure if it has the same popularity though.
http://www.sydneyschild.com.au/

There are also free Australian business listing sites - probably not where people would go to search for your friend's site but a listing there will  increase the number of search results in google and help drive traffic to their site.
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/
http://www.dlook.com.au/

There are also several free kids specialty sites, one of the biggest is
http://www.kidspot.com.au/index.asp

[*wheels*]

They could also start with the local school newsletters. I have found most schools will accept ads for a very cheap fee. I have a list of the schools, their contact details and newsletter details and a couple of times a year give them all a call and either place an ad or ask them to hand out flyers with the newsletter. Once they get a few local sales, word of mouth advertising is so powerful when it comes to childrens products. Parents will put more trust in a product or service if they know someone else who has used it. We ask new customers where they heard about us - approx 80% is from friends recommendations.

[*wheels*]

They should also submit the site content to google, and now google maps. This is all free.

http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/index.html

https://www.google.com/local/add/login?hl=en-AU&gl=AU&utm_medium=et&utm_source=bizsols&utm_campaign=mapsF

If they wish to sign up for adwords (to get their site to appear on the right hand side 'sponsored links' in a google search) there is a cost involved. The cost is based on the popularity of the key words that they choose to buy and range from a couple of cents to mega dollars. The more popular=the more expensive, but with adwords you can choose a daily budget limit so your costs don't get out of hand. You are only charged on click-throughs. If the key words are inexpensive and a reasonable daily budget is set it is a good form of advertising, usually for less than the price of a phone call per potential customer.

If they need any help, they are welcome to contact me. Can you guess what I do for a living? 

[Numb!]

Brings up a question.  Have you thought about doing such things here?  Could start out with a public service, civic events type thread.  What about people advertising their eBay listings?  A thread for that?  Any thoughts about some limited ad space for eBay sellers?  Not too much, just maybe one per page.

[col52]

Thanks countess!

They should also submit the site content to google, and now google maps. This is all free.

http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/index.html

https://www.google.com/local/add/login?hl=en-AU&gl=AU&utm_medium=et&utm_source=bizsols&utm_campaign=mapsF

If they wish to sign up for adwords (to get their site to appear on the right hand side 'sponsored links' in a google search) there is a cost involved. The cost is based on the popularity of the key words that they choose to buy and range from a couple of cents to mega dollars. The more popular=the more expensive, but with adwords you can choose a daily budget limit so your costs don't get out of hand. You are only charged on click-throughs. If the key words are inexpensive and a reasonable daily budget is set it is a good form of advertising, usually for less than the price of a phone call per potential customer.

If they need any help, they are welcome to contact me. Can you guess what I do for a living? 

I suggested he contact google, wheels - though I did see that he is on searches now. I have a stack of free advertising links but many of them wouldn't suit his website IYKWIM. Thanks for the other links, I've sent them to him! I'm sure he'll appreciate the help. I don't know him very well, just that his daughter is in the same class as ours.