[cgmomma]

Hi, I am new here. I have a small home based business and am looking for ways to contact new customers. I am currently doing online advertising but with my small budget, it is getting really expensive. Someone had told me to look into email extraction software. I am new at this online stuff and wanted to know if someone could explain what it is, how it works, and if it is even legal- in the simpliest terms? Thanks in advance! I am a newbie and I want to run a professional business. I do not want to do anything to jeopardize my business or professionalism.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Egmomma. I am a small business owner as well. Email extraction is not something you should use as a form of marketing. Email extraction is just like castinig a fishing net in the ocean in hopes to catch fish. The larger the net, the better your chances of catching a fish will be. This is pure spamming to its highest degree.




Email extraction software uses any database and looks for the @ symbol. Once it finds it, it adds that email address to your database. You will gain hundreds, if not thousands of emails very quickly. Webmasters and database engineers who are aware of this spamming feature do not include any @ symbols on their websites or databases. Instead, you may see "jsmith at yahoo dot com" or "jdoe at yahoo.com" This technique tricks the email extraction application from picking up that email address.



If you want to keep your business professional and legitimate, stay away from email extraction.

[cgmomma]

Thank you for clearing that up for me! I didnt know enough about it to make a decision on it but I thought it sounded strange. Well, do you know of anything out there that can help other than banners and buttons? Thanks so much for taking the time to answer that for me!

[mphenterprises]

My Pleasure. Well, I have two sources that I used for 90% of my advertising:

- Craigslist

- Door Hangers



Craigslist is a free service, depending on the area of the country you reside, where everyone goes to advertise. You can advertise for anything as long as you abide by their standards. you can start here and then you can choose the area of the country that most meets your geographic preference. Now, if you plan on advertising in the New York or Los Angeles metro, there may be a fee. I stress may becase I heard they were going to start charging but since I do not advertise in those areas I am not sure.



Door hangers are a great way to get your business known in your local and semi-local area. You can go to DoorHangers.com and get 10,000 door hangers for $299. I have seen a dramatic increase in business just from taking the time to distribute my door hangers throughout my neighborhood and various other areas of my local region. Obviously, you will get people who just throw out the flyer but they can easily throw out a flyer or disregard a banner. This way, they see that not only is your business local but you took the time and cost to bring your business to them. If I had to put a figure to it, I would say that I have noticed a 25% increase in business just by the door hanger alone.



I am sure there are other options but these two have worked great for me. Good Luck. :-)

[cgmomma]

Thank you so much! I have heard of craigslist but never tried it before. It sounds like it is worth giving it a shot. I have never heard of doorhangers, though! I really appreciate your help!

[smax013]

MPH has offered some interesting ideas, but I would say that is somewhat depends on what your business is and who your potential target customer is. If I were to decide to go out on my own for my primary field (structural engineering), then I don't know how well something like door hangers would work for me.



My point is that it might help us offer suggestions if you told use what your home business is.

[mphenterprises]

That is definitely true. I should have prefaced(sp) what I suggested. Your demographic and your business will go a long way in determining what what type of advertising you use.

[cgmomma]

My business is in the travel industry- wholesale travel.

[mphenterprises]

Yes, then Craigslist would be a perfect start. The door hangers may or may not be as viable an option simple because not everyone needs any type of travel assistance. My business is in-home computer repair, installation, etc. So yes, door hangers are perfect for me.



If you have some local contacts, you could ask some of the travel industry professionals that started where you are now. Ask them if door hangers would be a good idea for your business. Also, ask what they would suggest. Also, and this may be a bit of a stretch, people with seasonal careers travel like crazy. My mother, school teacher, travels all year round. Now, how to find these year round travelers....no idea. (Told you it may be a stretch) :-)

[smax013]

I would agree that Craig's List seems like a good option.



If you target market is vacationers, then the door hangers might still be useful...but probably not as useful as they are for MPH...there are more people that need help with computer problems than with travel arrangements. :D



If your target market includes business travellers/businesses, then you might try networking with local Chamber of Commerce meetings or other social/leadership organizations that business leaders might be members of.