Promoting for Peanuts
| Category: Online Promotion | Date: 2002-07-18 |
There are two ways to get your site noticed on the net. You can pay an ad agency or promotion company to spread the word about your window to the world or you can do it yourself.
Its all a question of time and money. If you have more money than time, hire an ad agency to do your promoting for you. If you have more time than money, do the promotion yourself, promote for peanuts.
Lets face it, this is a numbers game. As long as you have a website that can demonstrate and sell your product, all you need to do is get it in front of people.
This quick guide is for those of us who have limited promotional budgets, but need to drive traffic to our sites. Here is a handful of FREE and low cost resources that can drive traffic to your site quickly.
1. Email. Email is the most direct and effective way to get people to your site. There are literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in a good email list. Build your list by:
- giving your visitors a special limited time offer, a freebee, a contest, or something that will draw them to your site. While your visitor is at your site, invite them to sign up for your newsletter.
- offering your visitors a newsletter gives you a reason to contact them on a regular basis. Repetitive contact builds up a trust level and allows you to make easier sales, more often.
- offering your current subscribers a reward for referring their friends and colleagues to your newsletter. This one technique alone can increase your subscriber base over 500% in a very short time.
One more email hint: Make sure your subject line grabs the reader and draws them into your mail.
2. Links. Use reciprocal links with complimentary companies. If you sell dog food, link to pet stores, groomers, or veterinarians in return for them posting a link to your site. Do not negotiate reciprocal links with your competitors, its like shooting yourself in the foot.
3. Articles. Write articles about your industry. Presumably you know tips, techniques, secrets and tidbits of information that would be helpful to people outside your industry. Assemble these little gems into an article and submit it to ezines in your industry. Getting your article published in an ezine is more valuable than placing advertising because it doesnt cost you any money and you include your tag line at the end which refers readers to your website.
4. Advertise. Put your URL on all of your print material. If you run ads in print publications make sure your URL is eye catching. Be sure to have your website address on all of your stationery, letterhead, business cards, envelopes, etc.
5. Register. Register your site with all of the major search engines. Even though most of the main engines charge a fee to be registered, look for the fine print that tells you how to register for free. It takes longer, but it is FREE. Just a little footnote. Make sure that each of your pages are search engine ready. Get all your META tags in order so that when a search engine sends out its spiders, you get the best possible ranking.
There are literally hundreds of ways to promote your site. Some cost big bucks, others are free or cost very little. Experiment with everything that you can find and see what brings you the best results. This is a business of trial and error. As you gain experience specific to your site, you will be able to sharpen your techniques and bring in the visitors in droves.
Half the fun of reaching your destination is enjoying your journey.
copyright 2002 Terry Telford
About the Author
Terry Telford is the founder of bpc publishing, publisher of The Marketing Pack Journal and a happeneurs Platinum member. If you are looking to develop an income that allows you to live a life of luxury, contact Terry here bpcpublishing.com or http://17847.happeneurs.net
info@bpcpublishing.com
http://www.bpcpublishing.com
Its all a question of time and money. If you have more money than time, hire an ad agency to do your promoting for you. If you have more time than money, do the promotion yourself, promote for peanuts.
Lets face it, this is a numbers game. As long as you have a website that can demonstrate and sell your product, all you need to do is get it in front of people.
This quick guide is for those of us who have limited promotional budgets, but need to drive traffic to our sites. Here is a handful of FREE and low cost resources that can drive traffic to your site quickly.
1. Email. Email is the most direct and effective way to get people to your site. There are literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in a good email list. Build your list by:
- giving your visitors a special limited time offer, a freebee, a contest, or something that will draw them to your site. While your visitor is at your site, invite them to sign up for your newsletter.
- offering your visitors a newsletter gives you a reason to contact them on a regular basis. Repetitive contact builds up a trust level and allows you to make easier sales, more often.
- offering your current subscribers a reward for referring their friends and colleagues to your newsletter. This one technique alone can increase your subscriber base over 500% in a very short time.
One more email hint: Make sure your subject line grabs the reader and draws them into your mail.
2. Links. Use reciprocal links with complimentary companies. If you sell dog food, link to pet stores, groomers, or veterinarians in return for them posting a link to your site. Do not negotiate reciprocal links with your competitors, its like shooting yourself in the foot.
3. Articles. Write articles about your industry. Presumably you know tips, techniques, secrets and tidbits of information that would be helpful to people outside your industry. Assemble these little gems into an article and submit it to ezines in your industry. Getting your article published in an ezine is more valuable than placing advertising because it doesnt cost you any money and you include your tag line at the end which refers readers to your website.
4. Advertise. Put your URL on all of your print material. If you run ads in print publications make sure your URL is eye catching. Be sure to have your website address on all of your stationery, letterhead, business cards, envelopes, etc.
5. Register. Register your site with all of the major search engines. Even though most of the main engines charge a fee to be registered, look for the fine print that tells you how to register for free. It takes longer, but it is FREE. Just a little footnote. Make sure that each of your pages are search engine ready. Get all your META tags in order so that when a search engine sends out its spiders, you get the best possible ranking.
There are literally hundreds of ways to promote your site. Some cost big bucks, others are free or cost very little. Experiment with everything that you can find and see what brings you the best results. This is a business of trial and error. As you gain experience specific to your site, you will be able to sharpen your techniques and bring in the visitors in droves.
Half the fun of reaching your destination is enjoying your journey.
copyright 2002 Terry Telford
About the Author
Terry Telford is the founder of bpc publishing, publisher of The Marketing Pack Journal and a happeneurs Platinum member. If you are looking to develop an income that allows you to live a life of luxury, contact Terry here bpcpublishing.com or http://17847.happeneurs.net
info@bpcpublishing.com
http://www.bpcpublishing.com
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