5 Tips to Promote Your Site on a Shoestring Budget
| Category: Online Promotion | Date: 2001-04-10 |
If you are like me and many other part-time webmasters, you do not have a large advertising budget. You probably do not even have an advertising budget. Well, then how do you market your new website? In the following article I will show you how to start your new website for as little as $25. There is no need to spend the thousands of dollars that the Big Boys spend. Just a little elbow grease and determination.
1) Goto - $25
It is now a reality, Goto is here and they are here to stay. If you think about it is not a bad concept, paying a set amount per visitor that you receive. If you do not receive a visitor you do not have to pay a dime.
For as little as $25 you can open an account and bid on highly targeted keywords. What I recommend is starting off small. Search out and find 100 or so targeted keywords that you feel your potential visitors would search for and bid a penny or two, no more. You can always bid higher if you are not receiving the amount of traffic you desire. I have done this for my website with much success. The average cost per visitor is a mere $0.018.
Goto should be the first start-up promotion strategy of any new website.
2) Reciprocal Trading - Free
Reciprocal trading can be a powerful promotion technique. Find websites that are similar to yours, but do not overlap with your own. Not only will you receive free traffic from the sites that list your link, but this will help your link popularity with search engines.
This is not to be overlooked. Do not think that link popularity does not matter; it does! Many of the major search engines use this as a major ranking algorithm.
3) Write Articles - Free
There are literally thousands of websites and ezines on every imaginable topic. Where do they get the content for their websites and ezines? From experts in the industry! If you are knowledgeable on a specific topic, write an informative article on it.
There is a great need for quality articles and if chosen you can experience phenomenal traffic from just one published article. In exchange you are able to place a small ad of a few lines about your website and yourself. Imagine the traffic that can be achieved if your article is published in an ezine with 40,000 subscribers!
Web-Source.net and EzineArticles.com are two places where you may submit your articles. Both offer free content to web and ezine publishers.
4) Participate in Targeted Forums - Free
Find a few popular message forums on your subject area and actively participate. In exchange, most will allow you to attach a small signature advertising your website.
Help out everyone you can. If somebody asks a question that you know the answer to, help them out. In exchange you are receiving FREE advertising as your signature is shown with each post.
As people come to respect your advice and opinions, your website traffic can only increase. Just think, if you are trying to fix your computer and some guy gives you the perfect advice would you not be grateful. This is what you can do for others, give FREE advice.
5) Customer Service - Free
This is not a true promotion method however, it will bring you traffic in the long-term.
Check your email religiously! Every free moment you have, check it. There is nothing more impressive than sending an email to a prospective business and receiving a fast reply. BUT, don't stop there. If they ask a question and you don't know the answer FIND IT! They will be impressed and what do happy customers do? They tell their friends.
Word of mouth is the strongest form of advertising for restaurants and you should make sure it is the same for your website.
How did Hotmail become so popular? Word of mouth advertising. How did Yahoo! Become so popular? Word of mouth advertising.
The following five tips should give you a basic idea of how to start your new website on a shoestring budget. The only avenue that costs money is Goto and it is well worth it. If you have a few more dollars you may wish to deposit a little more, as your money will run out fairly fast with only $25. The $25 is only to get your feet wet and get your name out there a little.
All the tips are compiled from my own experience and that of others. Believe me they do work! A little determination and a lot of free advice can go a long way.
About the Author
Article by Aaron Samsonoff of http://www.webmasterlane.com
Over 2000 Free Webmaster Resources and Tools in our editor reviewed searchable directory.
asamsonoff@home.com
http://www.webmasterlane.com/
1) Goto - $25
It is now a reality, Goto is here and they are here to stay. If you think about it is not a bad concept, paying a set amount per visitor that you receive. If you do not receive a visitor you do not have to pay a dime.
For as little as $25 you can open an account and bid on highly targeted keywords. What I recommend is starting off small. Search out and find 100 or so targeted keywords that you feel your potential visitors would search for and bid a penny or two, no more. You can always bid higher if you are not receiving the amount of traffic you desire. I have done this for my website with much success. The average cost per visitor is a mere $0.018.
Goto should be the first start-up promotion strategy of any new website.
2) Reciprocal Trading - Free
Reciprocal trading can be a powerful promotion technique. Find websites that are similar to yours, but do not overlap with your own. Not only will you receive free traffic from the sites that list your link, but this will help your link popularity with search engines.
This is not to be overlooked. Do not think that link popularity does not matter; it does! Many of the major search engines use this as a major ranking algorithm.
3) Write Articles - Free
There are literally thousands of websites and ezines on every imaginable topic. Where do they get the content for their websites and ezines? From experts in the industry! If you are knowledgeable on a specific topic, write an informative article on it.
There is a great need for quality articles and if chosen you can experience phenomenal traffic from just one published article. In exchange you are able to place a small ad of a few lines about your website and yourself. Imagine the traffic that can be achieved if your article is published in an ezine with 40,000 subscribers!
Web-Source.net and EzineArticles.com are two places where you may submit your articles. Both offer free content to web and ezine publishers.
4) Participate in Targeted Forums - Free
Find a few popular message forums on your subject area and actively participate. In exchange, most will allow you to attach a small signature advertising your website.
Help out everyone you can. If somebody asks a question that you know the answer to, help them out. In exchange you are receiving FREE advertising as your signature is shown with each post.
As people come to respect your advice and opinions, your website traffic can only increase. Just think, if you are trying to fix your computer and some guy gives you the perfect advice would you not be grateful. This is what you can do for others, give FREE advice.
5) Customer Service - Free
This is not a true promotion method however, it will bring you traffic in the long-term.
Check your email religiously! Every free moment you have, check it. There is nothing more impressive than sending an email to a prospective business and receiving a fast reply. BUT, don't stop there. If they ask a question and you don't know the answer FIND IT! They will be impressed and what do happy customers do? They tell their friends.
Word of mouth is the strongest form of advertising for restaurants and you should make sure it is the same for your website.
How did Hotmail become so popular? Word of mouth advertising. How did Yahoo! Become so popular? Word of mouth advertising.
The following five tips should give you a basic idea of how to start your new website on a shoestring budget. The only avenue that costs money is Goto and it is well worth it. If you have a few more dollars you may wish to deposit a little more, as your money will run out fairly fast with only $25. The $25 is only to get your feet wet and get your name out there a little.
All the tips are compiled from my own experience and that of others. Believe me they do work! A little determination and a lot of free advice can go a long way.
About the Author
Article by Aaron Samsonoff of http://www.webmasterlane.com
Over 2000 Free Webmaster Resources and Tools in our editor reviewed searchable directory.
asamsonoff@home.com
http://www.webmasterlane.com/
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