Category: Advertising

Free Advertising For Huge Profits



When you run your own small business, or even a major franchise for that matter, your business will always cost you one of two things or both at the same time. These two things are time and money. In cases where you have a lot of money you can spend the money and save yourself time. This is usually the case of major corporations. They make millions of dollars so they just pay money to get all their marketing needs taken care of. Unfortunately for us small businesses we have to rely on spending time instead of money because the money we get is not as much a profit as is the multi million dollar organizations. This article will cover my personal top 3 free advertising techniques that may take a little time but well worth getting the extra prospects to your business.

My first and most reliable form of free advertising is article writing. What you are reading right now is an article that I have written to get my name out there and branded. If you write articles and submit them to article directories you give yourself a good chance to get traffic from the directories themselves plus others may use your article on their site or in their ezine. The key to getting others to use your article is to offer valuable information that others can use. Valuable tips and advice will get your article added to an ezine or website which will brand your name and send over even more products to your product or service. More to this is the backlinks you will receive. Any online marketer knows how valuable a backlink can be for your search engine rankings.Further to all these positives an article that others read and find valuable put you in an “expert” position instead of just another sales guy trying to sell some corny product or service. When marketing online credibility is very important and article marketing can only add to your credibility, this of course if you are putting out quality content and not just junk. All these positives are the reason I think article marketing is the number 1 free advertising method.

My second favorite free advertising comes from forums. Now when you are in forums you have to keep in mind you are not there to sell your product or service, so don’t go to a forum and start spamming every message board with your biz opp because that is a recipe to get banned from every forum. What you should do however is add a catchy line along with your website URL in your sig file and never mention anything about your opportunity. What you should do is help as many people as you can on the forum. This also makes you look like an expert and not just another joe blow. Be very active on the discussion boards and you will see some quality traffic coming from just your sig file.

My third favorite free advertising method is social networking. There are hundreds of popular social network sites out there. Youtube, Facebook, Myspace just to name a few. These three are the juggernauts of social networking. My favorite to use is Youtube and Facebook. Youtube you can post catchy videos and have your website URL in your profile and if your video is good enough it can spread like a virus to so many eyes around the globe. Talk about a ton of free traffic. With Facebook they have a marketplace that regulars visit on a daily basis. You can also join groups and help others with problems they have and make yourself look like an expert once again.

With all the methods above, the key is to portray yourself as a professional and an expert in your field. If you look like an expert people will not just shrug you off and go on to the next guy, they will want to hear from you again and again because they know you know what you are talking about. Eventually you can build a relationship with these people and convert them into buyers of your product or services which of course is your ultimate goal right?

3 Small Business Marketing Ideas



Small business owners are usually busy managing their operations. Most of them don’t have time for marketing or simply don’t know how to advertise their companies. Other major concern for small operators is the cost associated with marketing.

Small businesses don’t need to have a big budget in order to increase customer acquisition or run effective advertising. The better tips and ideas to increase sales are simple and easy to carry on.

After reading this article you will be able to quickly implement 3 ideas that can boost your sales:

1 – Website

Most of our customers are online these days. They are comparing prices, looking for product descriptions and reading customer reviews over the internet.

Your website should play an important role in your customer acquisition strategy. There are 2 keys aspects you can take care of immediately: design and traffic.

If you already have some web traffic and is not getting sales from your site you should rethink its design. Is it simple and easy to navigate around? Quite a few websites try to be everything to everyone and become cluttered.

You should aim for a simple design with one single objective in mind. You may want to generate leads or sell your products directly online. For example, a lead generation website needs to have a form to capture name e emails.

Another aspect is the number of visitors coming to you site. If your design is clean and simple, you now should spend time promoting your site. One simple idea is to register your website in every single directory related to your product category. You can also use Craigslist to advertise your business.

2 – Market Research

Would you like to sell more products? Why not sell to your current and satisfied customers? If you are running out of ideas on what to sell or on improvements you can make on actual products, a quick survey could be the answer.

You don’t need to hire a professional to get basic questions answered. Simply use online tools such as Survey Monkey to design your questionnaire and send the link via email. You’ll be amazed what you can discover and how those answers can bring new ideas for product creation and even for your new marketing campaigns.

3 – Online Video

Video is becoming a hot topic in marketing. Some statistics show that one half of the entire internet content that is created daily comes in video format.

Video is the perfect medium for product demonstrations and to show key product features. And it’s very cheap to produce. Get a simple video camera and record one of your clients using a product.

Simple videos work very well. They convey trust and people can relate to other real customers talking about common issues and questions.

Small business marketing should be simple and easy to implement. These 3 marketing techniques are a good example. You don’t have to spend a dime to implement them. Start today and see more customers coming through your doors.

Benefits of Local Online Advertising for Your Small Business



Online advertising is perceived to be one of the most powerful marketing tools available. It has the ability to market your company, products and services limited only by the limit of the reach of the Internet. It is easy to set up, cost would be earned back and the quick results of online advertising adds up to its appeal among businesses. You usually see the popular companies come up with their online advertising campaigns. But Cyberspace is not just for big companies only. It caters to all types of businesses. May it be a multinational corporation or a small local business the Internet can be a place where you can market your products or services. At times local businesses find online advertising ineffective, but the truth is with a well optimized advertising campaign and company website the benefits are huge. Here are some of the advantages of local online promotion.

Brand Building

Bottomline we advertise or market to gain company and brand recognition. With local online advertising your target market becomes more familiar with your brand. Maintaining brand recognition helps in growing the reputation of your local business. Trusted brands gain customers preference often times than not.

Generates More Leads

With the reach of the Internet, your local business reaches more of your target audience with online advertising than with print or broadcast advertising. With the Internet being the primary source of information nowadays, more and more people are starting to depend upon it for work, leisure, and most importantly when consumers do their research before deciding on a purchase. Being local does not limit your chance to do business with people from other parts of the globe. They might be planning to visit in your vicinity and if somehow saw your business and seen good reviews online this would encourage them to try your products or service.

Increases Sales and Revenue

Should your ads be seen by many audiences they might not really click on them but it tends to stick. Specially with images. This is why we advertise and market our business. With increase in site traffic comes more leads and better sales revenue. Having an optimized company website could influence a consumers purchasing decision. So if you have not yet looked into local online promotion and is in need of better sales, you should really give it time and thought.