My clients thought I was crazy when I suggested using bumper stickers for promoting their online business assets. Some of the comments said that bumper stickers were a silly way to promote your online business. No one will ever visit your website. Then along came 3G Network and truly internet-enabled phones. Guess who is laughing now?

The internet and the world are experiencing a revolution. The revolution is that more gadgets are connected to the internet, including mobile phones and cars. In fact, two years ago, people would only access the internet via a computer at work or their home. More people use internet-enabled phones to access services and purchase products.

A campaign was started by us a while back in which we decided to use our website as our primary contact point in our car cleaning business instead of using a number. To inform owners about when their car needed a car cleaning service, we placed stickers on windows and bumpers on cars we clean. We also included our domain and logo on the stickers. People now see the bumper stickers while they're driving around the city, and 35% of our business comes from this.

What do you think this advertising type is worth? For a 6-week period on a bus, a moveable advertisement costs anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 in our city. For the same service, you can expect to pay anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 in Los Angeles or New York. The service is free and there are almost 1000 cars with bumper stickers. This is a major source of business for my car cleaning business.

The same principle has been used for builders, computer training, and other businesses. It works!

We chose to use our domain to advertise our business logo stickers because it was easier to remember a domain name than a number. You don't have to believe me - just take a look at how many advertisers get 1800 numbers or 1300 numbers, then convert the next 4 to 6 numbers into text. 1800 SMILE is the phone number of a Townsville dentist. Although I don't know the exact number, I do remember his 1800 SMILE.

To get this technique working, there are three main rules to follow when using bumper stickers to decorate cars.

1. It is important that your domain name is easy to remember

This was how we discovered that the domain name we used for our computer training company was too hard to remember. It had a mixture of one- and two-spaced letters. We were able to overcome this problem by purchasing a simple domain name that was easy to remember and linking it to our existing domain. We used Townsville Computer Training dot Com on our bumper stickers because it was easier than remembering one dash on dash one.

It's important to keep the domain names that you use simple and easy-to-remember. This will make it much easier for people to remember. If you owned a pizza shop, and wanted customers to order online from you in Los Angeles, you could secure a bumper sticker with the domain LAONLINEPIZZA.com. This domain name is much easier to remember than your business name. Your online optimization should still revolve around your business name.

2. 2.

Many people who stick stickers to their cars make the biggest mistake. They make it difficult to read. My goal is to make our stickers visible from two cars away so the domain names can be clearly seen. Your website domain will not be seen if the text is too small.

3. Encourage people to stick your sticker wherever it is visible

Most people face the biggest problem of getting people to stick the sticker on their cars after receiving it. If they agree to this, it is best to give them something for free. If you were a website owner and wanted clients to place a sticker on their cars, you could say to them: "Send me a picture of your sticker and I will give you 10% off your next order or a free travel mug." You can think of it as giving your clients something they will be more inclined to do.

This has been done by many companies using a variety of methods. One radio station in North Queensland Australia wanted to encourage people to listen to the station so they had a contest where everyone was asked to place a sticker bearing the logo of the station on their cars. They also ran prize patrols for a few weeks. You were given a prize if your car was spotted with the sticker.

Another company that sells food outlets, a global fast food chain, gave out a sticker with their logo and an offer in the local paper. The idea was that you could get a free upgrade if the sticker were placed on your car's driver side each time you pass through their drive-through. This sticker expires after six months. However, it is amazing how many people still have them on their cars, advertising the fast-food chain, two to three years later.

The bumper sticker is now a permanent advertisement for your company. A bumper sticker with your logo or domain name is an excellent offline marketing tool that will bring results for your business for much longer than other media. Plus, it is cheaper than other mediums.

Another thing to note is that you can use this domain name to measure its success. The domain name should be different and easier to read then your regular business domain name. As such, the number of people using the bumper stick domain should be comparable to the internet. This will show you if your marketing investment was worthwhile.