How can you get your site noticed and ranked without spending thousands of dollars on pay-per click? What are some of the most effective ways to promote your site on a small budget?
There are a variety of web marketing programs on the internet today. So many, it seems that everyone has a solution. We are going to review a few ways to promote your online business without joining any programs or spending large amounts of cash. A way to get your site ranked high on a consistent basis, it is helping people see your business in front of their mind. What ways can you do this?
Publicity
Publicity is one of the best ways to promote your business without spending large dollars on advertising. Publicity is essential for any new business opening. It can also be effective when changes take place in your business; the public needs to hear. Publicity helps you get known in your local community or association.
Important points to consider when writing a publicity article are to include your full business contact info; have a title that speaks of change or news of interest; keep your story to the point; and try to build suspense till the end. Convey how your story affects the local market or community; include information readers of the particular newspaper etc. would be interested in. There are free services in your local business association or through newswire.ca.
E-Mail Targeting
E-Mail Targeting is one of the more effective forms of advertising. We are not talking spam here, but sending email to a list of targeted prospects or sending email to people you actually have come into contact with that may benefit from what you have to offer. Why else would they bother to respond?
A good example of e-mail and newsletter marketing for small business is www.constantcontact.com
Providing your clients and potential clients with useful tips and a little information in your area of specialty if done effectively and professional will allow your potential clients to get to know you and your work better. Thus building the trust factor and understanding your talents more appropriately. Then one day they may have a need to call you a remember your presentation.
Promotion!
Do you need to get more people to your site but do not want or have a lot of money to spend? There are traffic building programs, pay per click, web site search engines, email marketing, referral programs and many other ways to promote your business online. We will review a couple. It is important you get your site listed on the major search engines MSN, Yahoo, Google etc.
Linking
Linking can be a very effective way to do this. First you must determine what key words you are going to use. But you might want to see what keywords your competition is using first. You need to understand the distinct market you are targeting and what variety of sites clients and potential clients would be looking at. You can find this information by searching yourself or you can pay companies to tell you exactly with statistical reports who is purchasing for what sites or what they are searching for and give you some more exact numbers.
Most importantly you must find businesses that compliment your site. I.E. Running shoes, running wear, best trails for running etc. These people may also like others sports, certain vacations spot or be checking weather in their area. You get the idea, now spend some time thinking it though testing some searches and finding some relevant links that would be beneficial to you and another company.
Our company has also saved entrepreneurs alot of time by scouring the Internet for 6 months for some of the best sites with online quick-use business information. Here we have also provided helpful links to help you promote your site, some for free.