There are several ways to do it:* mailing list *First, the banners. Yes, the regular banner, like the one you see at the top ("Ethiopian Salad in America"), or a "bottom-banner" (in the right table "Horn of Africa").
As you can judge by the number of directories, we have several big websites, two biggest -- Sellassie WWW and Sellassie Cyber Museum with 500-1000 impressions/day each. We try to keep the targeted audience; history, culture, books and etc. You have to decide which category is more suitable for your business or product.
If you are aware of what is going on with the "dot.com" industry, you probably already know that advertising on the web is still a new business. We are removing the affiliation links (mostly in our old right tables) in order to replace them with the "direct" links to business, like yours.
Of course, the new trend is to place ads into the popup mini-windows (so far we use them as little guide pages).
But there is a real trick -- not just a link, but the featured link (even more effective, when it is within the text). Why? In short, because people have to understand the priorities, the importance of one link over the other.
If you are new to online commerce, you better organize your side of the connection. Do you have an email address, do you have your own website, online ordering? Of course, we can help you to develop your own webpage and you can use the free sellassie@zzn.com account (select your own user name and password -- and your email address will look like yourname@sellassie.zzn.com -- don't click, it's just a sample). But you have to have your own Internet access and have to check your email on daily basis. You have to replay to requests, send a confirmation of the order and do the follow up, if you want to develop your own loyal consumer.
Ethiopian market is very well suited for online existence because it is a segmented market (unique and ethnic) -- you won't find Ethiopian posters or greeting cards in the Barnes&Noble. That is why cyber prepareness of the merchant is so important. Yes, it's good that people can find you on the web (only if you are position on the pages with the heavy traffic), good that you copy your address and phone number (place a mini-map of your location, it's free from Yahoo), nevertheless, you should make several more steps -- online reservation, for example (all big guys are doing it now). How about online menus (or catalogue of your products) with the hyperlinked text, when your prospective buyer can read and see what he or she is about to get?
Are you doing web-building by yourself? Consider subscribing to egroups.com/group/usellassie: Diaspora Business Forum and check the business directories on our sites.
If you have any questions, email us!
Photos -- pix directory.
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