Advertising to promote your music venue, festival, or local music scene

This may not seem relevant to local music scenes, but it is, directly or indirectly.

You may have noticed that this blog has advertising from AdSense. I decided to try it because it was a hassle-free way to generate some revenue. I haven't gotten a check from Google yet, so it hasn't done much for me so far.

The linked article below suggests that some companies are losing interest in placing ads via Google. Their costs are going up and their results are going down.

What does this mean to you? Perhaps that you will want or be forced to get advertisers the old-fashioned way, by cutting deals directly with those companies who will most benefit from being associated with your site.

If, for example, your website promotes a local festival, consider approaching businesses who want to reach your demographic (e.g., nearby hotels and motels, restaurants that might want to offer special deals during the festival).

Rather than depending on Google to do your advertising for you, keep an eye out for your own sponsors/advertisers -- particularly those who aren't using Google or who have, but are losing interest.

A major selling point for Google advertising was that companies didn't have to pay unless a reader clicked on the ad. But when readers click, but do not buy, advertisers still have to pay, even though they receive no benefit.

If you offer advertisers a reasonably-priced flat rate, or one baeed on ad views (the way it used to be done), and they get results, you may find that you have a competitive advantage compared to Google. Don't discount the fact that you, as a local business, may appeal to and have something to offer other local businesses.

Google advertisers cutting spending as keyword costs rise - MarketWatch: "Frustrated by the soaring price of Internet-search advertising and diminishing returns from the ads they buy, mid-sized advertisers say they plan to reduce how much business they do with Google this year -- in some cases, significantly."

internet marketing
economic development