As an interactive marketing professional and also a forum webmaster, I
have come to the conclusion that many smaller online marketers - the
type that sponsor many forums - are prone to making a few key mistakes
that wind up costing them sales. Quite often, this leads to a lost sponsor
for the forum or other small web site as well.

If you’re currently running a banner on a web site, or are considering the
prospect, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Update your banner often.

If you’ve purchased a text ad, update that often as well. I can look at my
site’s banner click-through stats and tell you exactly which banners are
brand new and which have been running for more than a couple of
months. In the marketing world, we call it “wear-out” or “poster effect.”
Either way, it’s caused by the simple fact that after your audience has
seen your banner enough times, it blends into the scenery of the page
and they no longer even notice it.

The good news is, it’s easily corrected. Change your image. Change
your color palette. Change the text. Change the animation. Any
combination of the above are almost guaranteed to breathe new life -
and click-throughs - to your sponsorship.

Participate!

As part of the sponsorship package, my forum offers the right to post
specials, updates, coupon codes, sales, and group buys in the
appropriate sponsor forums. I’m amazed at how few of our sponsors
actually take advantage of them. A banner is great for getting your name
out there, and for the “window-shopping” click-through. But it’s the good
deal that will send buyers your way, wallet in hand. If you simply email
the banner and paypal the money every month and forget about it,
chances are the forum’s users are forgetting about you too.

Clicks aren’t everything.

Here’s another common and frustrating pitfall. In this pay-per-click world,
it’s all too easy to get caught up in the click-through stats when it may not
be your best statistic to look at. You need to look at the impressions of
your banner. Because, if done right, a banner does an excellent job at
getting your name out there. It hammers it home to the people who see it
hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times. Then, when they’re ready to
shop, you’re top-of-mind and there’s a good chance they’re gonna type
in your URL.

Notice what I just said: They’ll TYPE IN your URL. That’s right, people
who are actively shopping don’t click banners, they visit the sites they
can think of. Imagine you wanted to buy a book from Amazon, that you
saw featured on a web site. Would you go back to that site and refresh
the page until that banner came up, then click on it? Nope, you’d type
www.amazon.com and be done with it. The click won’t register for the
site you’re sponsoring, but the register still rings. So remember, clicks
aren’t everything.

Become a part of the Community

Of all our sponsors, the ones who are there day-in and day-out to give
advice and answer technical questions are the most successful. People
still want to buy from someone they like, even in this crazy Internet world
where they’ve never actually met anyone.

In conclusion, if you want quality results, be a quality sponsor. The time
you invest will pay off, and the banner you run WILL do its job.

Travis is Associate Creative Director at a worldwide interactive
marketing agency. He’s currently responsible for creative development
of interactive marketing initiatives and sites for two fortune 500
companies and a branch of the U.S. armed forces. He is webmaster of

Reef Sanctuary a community of over 2,000 reef aquarium
enthusiasts and the
Reef Aquarium Index, a saltwater fish and coral reference guide.

Wow I have a hankering for some really good grill roasted chicken, the melt in your mouth variety with some fresh homemade salsa slathered right on top. Just seems that we never have time during the lazy days of summer to everything done. You know, you have to mow the grass, weed the garden and if you’re lucky harvest a bounty of fresh produce from your own little truck farm.

Now you expect me to cook supper too? It’s time to tell you my secret and go hunting for my favorite “yard bird”, Capt’n Salsa’s Grill Roasted Yard Bird, to be exact.

Yes.

Delicious golden brown moist and tender some of the best melt in your mouth grill roasted chicken you will ever eat. Now, don’t let the hunting phrase concern you. The extent of hunting chicken for me is looking for a big plump 3 to 4 pounder at the local grocery or meat market. I always bag my limit of two because it is just as easy to cook two at the same time to guarantee some leftovers…

“Come on, Capt’n Salsa, quit beating around the bushes and just give us the recipe!”

Oh, Okay.

Capt’n Salsa’s Grill Roasted Yard bird is so easy you will probably laugh. Of course it goes with out saying you need to rinse the chicken in cold water before you cook it. All you are going to need is a generous amount of Lemon Pepper Seasoning. Mix up a solution of 1 part vegetable oil with 4 parts of Apple Cider Vinegar, remember that’s the brown vinegar, together in a squirt bottle, an empty syrup bottle will do just fine.

Now we are going to cook our grilled chicken whole on your favorite charcoal or 2 burner gas grill using the “indirect heat” method. Your grill needs a lid that will close, too. Most of the time now I just use the gas grill, heating the grill with both burners, then turn one of them totally off, yes, off and the other burner turn it all the way down to low.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Preheat your choice of grills. Then rinse and clean the birds. Now hose down the chicken with the mixture of oil and vinegar using the squirt bottle and sprinkle a generous portion of Lemon Pepper Seasoning all over the chicken. Don’t forget the body cavity.

Place the chicken breast side up on the grill away from the heat source, above the burner that is turned off, indirect heat method remember. Squirt a little more oil and vinegar into the cavity of the chicken until it “overflows.” Now close the lid. You want a low to medium low heat level. The objective is to take at least 2 to 2 hours to cook the chicken, nice and slow. Don’t worry after a couple of times you will have it “down to a science” and know what works best for you.

Once you have your chicken on the grill go mow the grass or work in your garden for the next 2 to 2 hours without even looking at the birds…well, if you insist on looking after about an hour, you can raise the lid and give the birds a good squirt of the oil and vinegar solution…Now, close that lid and get back to work…ggg.

You will know the chicken is done by grabbing the tip of one of the legs with a paper towel, careful it will be hot, and gently twist the leg bone in a circle. If the leg bone easily breaks free at the joint, the chicken is done - a beautiful golden brown, moist and tender every time.

Easy huh?

Place the chicken on the grill, mow the grass and when you are finished with your yard you have Capt’n Salsa’s Grill Roasted Chicken make that Yard Bird! Serve it up with one of your favorite homemade salsa recipes.

Roasted Corn Salsa or tasty Salsa de Tomatillos Delicious! Wrap it all up in a warm tortilla,
complete with your favorite thirst quenching beverage and you will marvel about how great your yard looks.

Imagine. Mowing the grass and cooking supper all at the same time…Enjoy!

Steve Melton, aka Capt’n Salsa provides an outstanding collection of free homemade salsa recipes at his web site, Great Salsa. Submit your favorite salsa recipe for publication at:
http://www.great-salsa.com/submit_your_favorite_recipe.html