Commercial Links
Another form of online advertising is commercial links. A number of targeted sites provide lengthy lists of URLs related to a specific topic. These sites sometimes provide your listing for free but charge a fee to have a hypertext link activated from their site to yours. These are great sites, especially because they are targeted toward your demographic group.
Sponsoring a Mailing List
Another online advertising opportunity is presented by mailing lists. Mailing lists provide a highly-targeted advertising vehicle. Mailing list subscribers are all interested in the list topic and are therefore potential clients, if you select the mailing list carefully.
The rates for sponsoring lists can be quite low. The cost would be determined on a price-per-reader basis and is usually between one and ten cents per reader. Subscribe to the lists that appeal to your target market and read the FAQ files to determine whether advertising or sponsorship opportunities exist for each mailing list. If the mailing list allows sponsorship, contact the mailing list administrator to inquire about the cost of sponsoring and, if the cost is reasonable, check availability and sponsors.
All of the members of the mailing list have subscribed and want to be on the list; therefore, they are likely to read your email. This is an excellent opportunity for you to expose your product specials, packages, or services to these potential consumers. A good example would be Kraft.com sponsoring a mailing list about outdoor cooking, recipes, and how to prepare a particular item. Readers are interested in the topic, so they might be encouraged to click through and purchase Kraft products.