Top 5 Ways to Promote your Comic Online?

[tjbehe]

Over the past few months I've spent some time checking out different methods to promote this webcomic I've been working on (this is a bit of an update on a previous posting)...

WWW (DOT) CONTRABANDCOMIC (DOT) COM

I've read quite a few cool articles from very clever web-savvy folks out there. But it just seems no matter how popular or good your product is, to get into the "thousand-plus-daily-readers" region, it seems you need to stump up some cash to attract new users and to remind readers you're still going strong.

Tell me what's working for you (or if I'm missing the boat here) as I'm always interested to hear the latest promo schemes folks are trying out there....

1. Post Your Sample for Free:

- DrunkDuck (attracts younger manga-manic audience and has great page and stats functionality)
- ComicSpace (the full comic market pros/newbies and improving functionality)
- Smackjeeves (newer but over 5k webcomics although tough to do community contact)
- Comicgenesis (slightly older but great customisation and Keenspot places the best stuff)
- Deviantart (slightly limited functionality but strong archive of high quality work)
- OnlineComics (one of the largest collections online)
- WebcomicNation (smaller but strong older quality webcomics)
- Clickwheel (growing collections and great viral site)


2. Buy Some Banner/Button Ads

- Project Wonderful (still around 1-2 cents per click-thru/1000 page views)
- Google Adwords (about 5-10 times more expensive than PW)
- Overture (again, way more expensive)


3. Stick your Site on Webcomic Ranking/Listing/Voting Sites

- TopWebcomics
- BuzzComix
- Thewebcomiclist
- Webcomics Super 100
- Killboredom
- digitalstrips
- ohnorobot
- comicnation
- comicalert
- webbedcomics


4. Plug Away on Forums and Community Group Rooms

- the webcomiclist
- topwebcomics
- comicgenesis
- comicbloc
- digitalwebbing
- buzzcomix
- Buzzcomics (France)


5. Do a Bunch of Other Traditional Web Stuff?

- Link exchanges
- Browser Fav's (ie...StumbleUpon)
- Banner exchange programs
- Online Press Releases
- Ezine Newsletter (opt-in email)
- Free Business Directories listing
- Free newsletter adverts
- Search engine optimization
- RSS Feeds
- Prize and Competitions

Cheers, TJ

WWW (DOT) CONTRABANDCOMIC (DOT) COM

Contraband: Follow Toby's adventures into a new "voyeur underground" where youths prowl city streets secretly filming violent/erotic events on camera cellphones to satisfy society's demand for sensational on-the-go content.

[The Xenos]

Ah, I was going to suggest old analog ideas like cons and having issues there and through comic stores, but I see you got that covered. I didn't know SLG had a digital publishing deal going. Then again I guess I'm old fashioned and still prefer comics in print that I can hold in my hand.

Well, unless they're free web comics. Can't say no to free. Though even then I like to get print versions of the ones I like. I tried convincing one friend with a web comic to try selling some print stuff at cons, but he was more into fan art. Not to mention his web comic has rather stalled. Though another artist friend might be interested in doing a print comic and other stuff, but I can't quite talk about that yet as things are still being hammered out.

Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye out for the print collection from SLG. I usually check out their stuff in the catlog each month and tell my shop which ones I'm interested. SLG usually gets good numbers for a more indie publisher.

Plus this book sounds interesting. The only thing I can think of that comes close is a manga I heard of called Vouyer Inc or something. Never did pick it up though. It was an old mature title Viz published years ago through its Pulp line. Certainly yours sounds interesting. I'm more into crime comics anyway and I think there's getting to be a decent following for them too.