Advertising on the Internet
 

Is it for you? If you are a wig or hair piece retailer, or hair manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer-- should you get a website if you don't already have one? Should you consider paid advertising on the internet? If you have a website and are advertising,  is it worth the price and effort ? Or is online advertising just for the big guys who have the bucks to play king of the mountain in the new, commercialized, and now overly expensive internet sand box?

The answer is a resounding "yes you should," according to Steve Howard of Wizard Marketing Internet services, who has worked with wig retailers and wholesalers since 1996.  But, says Steve, you really need to know what you are doing, how to do it, and just as importantly, who you are doing it with. There are more ways to send good money after bad on the internet than there are in the back streets of Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco and Las Vegas put together.  

Manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors worldwide now have a very good and inexpensive option for making themselves known through the Wig and Hair Goods Industry Directory. If you don't advertise anywhere else, place your listing there.  Retailers looking for hair goods and wigs are bound to find you.

Wig and hair goods retailers, on the other hand, have a few more things to consider. If you are an internet business, obviously you need to advertise on the internet. The big question is where and how much should you be spending?  On the other hand, if you are a local hair or wig business should you even bother with the internet? Should you get a website? Should you spend your hard-earned money to advertise your shop to someone across the country who will probably never even walk in your door?  Again the answer is "yes you should advertise on the internet." But in a completely different manner than an internet business website. If you are and internet retailer click here and skip the local shop part.  

If you have a local shop and you don't want to sell on the internet, don't let anyone sell you on the idea that you need a website for a few thousand dollars, and then tell you that you need to spend thousands more to advertise that website.  I say this because there are many people out there promoting websites this way and they can make the idea seem grand indeed.  If you do want to sell on the internet read further for more details about doing just that -successfully and without spending a bundle.

For those who are local and want to stay local, the answers on how to make the internet work for you are a little different.  Should you have a big fancy website? No.  Should you have a small site? Maybe. What you should certainly have is a one page advertisement that tells people about your local products, services, shop and staff. Something that doesn't take too much effort and costs under $50 per year total. Notice we didn't say $5000 or $500 but under $50 per year.

Before we go into detail, let's first talk about if that is even worth it to do that.  The first question that come to mind is what, if anything, you, as a local shop have to offer that the large internet hair or wig sites don't have.  Here is your answer. As a local shop, you have  personal services to offer that are unavailable on the internet.  If you are in the wig business, for example. people can view, feel and even try on a product. Some shoppers using the internet are not looking for the internet site with thousands of offerings. They want someone local, friendly and able to help them purchase what they are looking for as well as give them advice. They want the personal touch. Now,  if they are using the internet to try to find a local shop wouldn't it be great if they could find your page and get to know you enough to make an appointment? Sure it would.

The big internet sites also don't offer many other things that you do. Sure, I might be able to buy a wig on the internet and even save some money. But, what do I do when I receive it and it doesn't quite fit my face or if I can't get it to fit just right, the bang isn't right, or it has too much hair,  - which most wigs do. What happens when it gets dirty like most hair does? You offer some fitting, styling, and maintenance services right?  Most wig shops and wig salons do, but internet sites often simply don't because it's impractical. This is your opportunity to get the customers into your shop, offer them good service, and probably sell them their next wig or hair piece!

So now let's get back to the web page for your shop. Should you have one. Yes, because you can get enough information to your potential customers to get them to call you. You can also tell them that you provide those extra services they can't get on the internet.

A one page web is available on www.aaawigbiz.com that is extremely easy to set up. They also have an advertising section that allows you to advertise your web page in their local pages. You can even advertise that page anywhere else you want to because you will have a web address.

They receive thousands of people viewing their local pages weekly. The cost is under $50 dollars per year. You just can't loose since virtually one customer can pay for the page and the listing. I would say that anyone not taking advantage of their offer is simply missing out on an opportunity that pays for itself.

Now, for those who have a large website and want to sell on the web - let's talk about advertising, the internet and your large website.       

Wig Industry professionals and retailers--and especially internet retailers--are starting to realize that the internet is not as inexpensive or as friendly a place as it used to be.

The bad news: Yes, the buzz from the internet good old days of striking it rich are "almost" gone, gone gone ...

I could talk about the the search engines frenzy to make big money - for themselves. I could talk about how you could spend thousands of dollars a month advertising on the search engines. I could talk about the fact that you can't be found unless you pay through the nose. But what is the point? If you have been around the internet for a year or so you already know all of that, so why waste your time and mine?

The fact is you already know the problems and about the waste of money. You already know that a few retail internet companies already have the market sewn up and unless you are one of the Fortune 500, or want to spend like one, the search engines just won't work for you or with you for that matter.  Wouldn't you know it  - a search engine without a heart - what a surprise. (?) So what I want to do is talk about the solution to the problem. 

(For those that haven't been around too long here it is in a nutshell. The Fortune 500 have taken over the search engines and if you want to compete you better have the money to pay a per-click charge of as high as $3.00 (or more?)  for every visit to your website. If you get lots of clicks, let's hope you are making lots of sales and money too because the search engine trip down "money lane" can cost you thousands of dollars... each month. For most retailers this is daunting proposition at the very least, and for some this fact just stops them cold in their tracks. It has become an old internet saying these days - "if it's that expensive why should I bother." )

The good news:

So what does the solution look like?

Marketing gurus are now saying the solution to the internet glut and the run for your money can only be solved by niche marketing using niche directories. The sand box is just too full of bad boys who want to filch your lunch money. They say that people searching the internet are as tired of "not" finding things as websites (companies) are tired of "not" being found. "Search" is no longer the best word to use around internet users. When it comes to internet shoppers - the new keyword is Find. If you talk to internet users about searching you see a frown on their faces. When you talk about finding it  - you see a smile. What does that tell you? The internet has just grown too big and too commercial to do most companies any good from an advertising level. Niche marketing, they are saying, solves the problem because when consumers are looking for a niche and they find it, they stop using the search engines and start using what works and gets them the results.  It's the obvious solution when you think about it.

The internet advertising and marketing solution that works.

Is there such a directory for hair and wig retailers?

Yes, there is AAAWigBiz.com. It's a niche service that help consumers locate everything they need in the wig, hair and hair replacement industry.

The site is sorted in a method that allows the user to find what they are looking for in 20 different ways. The shopper can shop local, by brands, by wig types, and on and on.

When a shopper finds this site they have found everything they need. Why go anywhere else?

Even some of the top internet search engine advertisers also list on AAAWigBiz.com. Why do both? Because they realize that people are starting to get tired of the old search game on the major search engines and are starting to use the niche directories instead. Also, they pay a lot less for the service. 

If you are a consumer -  It's easier, faster and more fun to have the information at you fingertips. It's easier to find something and then compare products and prices between different companies. It's more fun to shop and compare than it is to spend your time searching on the Search engines. Niche directories are "Find" Engines.

If you are an advertiser with a website -    It's easier, faster and more fun to get the information to the consumer based on the criteria they are using. It's easier to pay a flat and much smaller fee for you ads. It's more fun to be found knowing that your competition is paying out thousands of dollars each month.  Niche directories are "Find" Engines.

Get yourself a listing on AAAWigBiz.com today and get Found. The price is inexpensive compared to search engine marketing and as more advertisers opt for AAAWigBiz.com more consumers  are going there to find things. The Buzz is AAAWigBiz.com is for shoppers and that is where the retail advertisers need to be.

Also as an advertiser, you can save a lot of money on your website. Many websites I have seen have an FAQ page and, after www.AAAWigBiz.com started doing it, a glossary page as well. All advertisers on this site are allowed to Link the FAQ pages and the Glossary pages to their website. When you use a standard frame page the customer never leaves your site but all of the data is on yours. It's also updated continually so you don't have to and it's FREE to all advertisers. The average saving to the person who is having a website built is about $1000. Now if you are spending $200 a year in advertising are getting 10 years of advertising FREE just from this one feature.

If you can't link to the pages or want to change something so it fits your site better, AAAWigBiz can License you to copy the info to your site and make alterations you need for your specific situation.

Ok, now take the plunge and visit www.aaawigbiz.com  and click on the "Advertise With Us" link.