The Best and Most Effective Way to Promote your Business...FREE Advertising!
Ranked #1 in Business, #31 overall
Does Advertising Work??
We've all grown up with advertising. TV, radio, billboards, pop ups, banners...it's everywhere, and you can't escape it. Now stop and think for a second...how many times have you clicked on an advertisement online, or heard a commercial on the radio that has made you run out and buy something? Chances are you haven't, or you haven't that often. Is this a cost-effective way for businesses to promote themselves? Free advertising can be a better way to promote your business. It's more effective, costs much less, and won't ruin your reputation like high cost ads can. Here, you'll learn some of the techniques people are using to utilize free advertising to their advantage.
Does Paid Advertising Work?
Advertisement Myths
When consumers make purchases, they most often are influenced by something someone said to them much more than any advertisement. Many people ask around about a product before they purchase to see if their friends or family have purchased the item, and to get their recommendations on who to buy it from. Why don't people listen to advertising?
Because they don't trust advertising.
Why not? Advertisements are everywhere. They're constant. They say promise one thing, and deliver another. We've all become so numb to advertising, people for the most part ignore it! The advertising world is changing, and new advertising methods are becoming more effective, cost-efficient, and sometimes, free.
Billions of dollars are spent on advertising by large corporations, small businesses, not for profits and sole proprietors.
Are you Influenced by Advertising?
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So what ways are there??
The real ways to advertise your business online
As you can see from the poll results above, not too many people trust advertising! From the biggest of corporations to the smallest of mom and pop shops, word of mouth has the biggest affect on a business. Businesses are relying on different advertising methods that are much more economical and fresh. What are some of the new, effective ways businesses advertise?
We'll go through all of these marketing strategies in this lens.
- Social Bookmarking
- Article Marketing
- Online Directories
- Blogging
- Squidoo
- MySpace/Facebook
- Forums
- Email Marketing
- Email Signatures
- eBay
- Classified Online Ads
- YouTube
We'll go through all of these marketing strategies in this lens.
eBay: It Generates Serious Traffic!
Find your niche on eBay and pull traffic!
You might be thinking that this is a mistake, that eBay is only good for selling off your old tennis raquet. Tens of thousand of people register a new account with eBay daily. Over a billion page views were documented for eBay in 2007! eBay is one of the most visited sites on the internet. With traffic this huge, it's a huge resource for businesses! How can you advertise on eBay? There are several ways...
Online Auctions. Sell your products on eBay and drive customers to your personal website by including links to your About ME page. The About ME page is the one place on eBay that you are allowed to place external links, provided the site is the seller's own personal site, not part of a larger site. For the exact rules, click here.
About ME. This page is the ticket to driving traffic from eBay to your own site. Place a well-placed link on your About ME page, and tell your visitors why they should visit. Please, make sure it complies with all eBay policies! Your account can be suspended for not abiding by eBay's rules. Use your best copy-writing skills to draw in traffic to your About ME page, then to your site. Also, be sure to have a link on your personal site that allows users to sign up for a newsletter. This way, if they aren't going to purchase, you can keep in touch. Learn more about creating an about us page for your eBay store, website or blog here.
Reviews & Guides. Sell DVDs? Have an area of expertise that you could share with the eBay community? This section of eBay is indexed very highly by the search engines. They often place near the top of search results. Take advantage of this and write some guides featuring products you sell, or write about topics relevant to your website. Include links to your About ME page, and you've got a little extra traffic to your site! You'll also be building trust in your brand by offering information on your products. Your customers will appreciate it, and you'll become a go-to expert in your area of expertise.
My World Page. This page is also highly indexed by Google and the rest of the search engines. A quick example: Google your own eBay user ID. The My World page often is listed first! Use this page to advertise your items, talk about your business, and customize the best way to persuade viewers to visit your About ME page.
Social Bookmarking
Be social, join a community, gain a following
Have you heard about Social Bookmarking? Sites like de.lic.ious, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit are becoming increasingly popular for sharing your favorite sites or favorite news articles and spreading the good word on sites that are worth a look.
del.icio.us: Discover, share and manage your social bookmarks.
StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon brings the sites you like right to you based on your interests. Stumble your favorite sites and network.
Highly recommended blog about StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon Guide
Digg: Discover and share your favorite web content anywhere, from videos to blogs to news articles.
Reddit: User-generated news links. Votes promote stories to the front page, like Digg!
Social Bookmarking on Squidoo
Learn why you should use social bookmarking and how it can create backlinks to your site.
This quiz was provided by - Match Special
Books on Free Advertising & Guerilla Marketing Tactics
Dive further into the world of free promotion
These books give excellent ideas on how you can start slashing your advertising budget now, and investing your time in these cost free ideas and strategies to get your business noticed. It's a new age, and you need a new advertising campaign!
Article Marketing
Increase exposure and establish yourself as an expert in your field
Article Marketing is an excellent, free way to get publicity to your website or business. Readers generally regard authors in a high regard, and knowledgable in the subjects they write about. Write a good article about your business, products, or anything that relates to what you do, and drive a little traffic through the link at the bottom of most online articles.
Aren't you Using Squidoo?
Get links to your site while earning royalties
What you are looking at right now is a lens on Squidoo. What is it? It's an easily customized piece of the web that receives plenty of Google traffic. Write about anything, just make sure it's interesting. Make it fun, entertaining, informative, helpful or controversial, and you'll be rewarded in the form of immense traffic! Use Squidoo to promote your business, write about items that you sell, or write about anything that you are knowledgable and passionate about!
Squidoo is nice enough to share AdSense clicks with every lensmaster. Each individual lens is tracked to see how much affiliate income it generates, and you split the profits 50/50 with Squidoo. You also get a certain amount of the adsense revenue, depending on your lensrank. Increase your revenue by adding the Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or CafePress modules! Work these items into your lenses by including items that are relevant to your topic, and you could get a sale! Also, you can add affiliate banners and products of your own from other sites like Allposters.com
, Commission Junction, LinkShare.comWhat the Blog?
Blogging....it's taking over the world! Everyone from high school students to the gas station owner have their own blog expressing their individual thoughts, offering advice, and educating the masses. How can this help you?
Blogging can also be a very effective marketing tool. It's also free, and you can earn money from your blog by including AdSense ads on your site. Provide fresh, relevant, informative content on your blog, and be sure to link it to your personal site. Search engines value blogs that are updated with content often. So, blog about your business often! Just make sure it doesn't lull your audience to an early bedtime.
MySpace, Facebook & More...Social Networking
Advertise your business for free on these social networking sites
Kids aren't the only ones that love MySpace! Adults are now using MySpace and Facebook more than ever. MySpace is part of the new wave of advertising. That means that you have to provide good content on your page, or it will be ignored. Readers want to be entertained! Provide reading material, relevant songs, polls, graphics, videos, links, games...whatever your target demographic would be interested in.
Social networking is just what it sounds like...networking with other people, only this term usually refers to online networking. The primary goal of your business page should be to add as many targeted friends as possible. Try browsing amongst the users on MySpace and Facebook, or read the forums, blogs and groups to find potential buyers. There are many ways to add friends, and they all involve browsing through the categories. Just remember, don't spam! This is the new wave of advertising, and spam is part of the old school way of advertising. Few will fall for it, and it will RUIN your reputation.
Here's one of the best tutorials for networking on Facebook you can find anywhere. Well worth the read!
MySpace Marketing Books
Guides to getting noticed on MySpace and building an audience
MySpace is still one of the top social networking sites out there, and a great general audience type of crowd. A general rule of thumb is to create an interesting page,and they will come, however, besides entertaining them, you'll have to learn to interact and where the most important places to do so are. These book will lead the way, and will help you build traffic to your website.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is the best proven way to retain customers that have already purchased from you. If they are purchasing from you, they will most likely want to keep in touch. This is where most email marketing campaigns fail.
Email marketing is not just an email with some simple links or pitch like "come buy my stuff!" People want to be entertained. Provide good content to your email, some interaction, some graphics, even a giveaway, along with a punchy, effective headline, and you'll see traffic flowing from your sent emails. Set up an opt-in subscriber email list. Some sites have them built in, like eBay and CafePress. If you have your own site, try using Constant Contact. They provide a good email service that's easy to customize and appears very professional. The first 100 emails are free.
Some things to add to your emails:
Open emails = happy customers = passing the email along to other potential customers = more sales!
Email marketing is not just an email with some simple links or pitch like "come buy my stuff!" People want to be entertained. Provide good content to your email, some interaction, some graphics, even a giveaway, along with a punchy, effective headline, and you'll see traffic flowing from your sent emails. Set up an opt-in subscriber email list. Some sites have them built in, like eBay and CafePress. If you have your own site, try using Constant Contact. They provide a good email service that's easy to customize and appears very professional. The first 100 emails are free.
Some things to add to your emails:
- Seasonal recipes
- Coupons for your items
- Live event if applicable
- Giveaways or contests, announcing the previous winner in each email (to build trust!)
- Graphics that relate to your products
- Seasonal graphics, slogans and sayings
- An interactive poll
- Feedback from readers and buyers
- News of any special that you may be running
- Related articles, links or stories included in your email
- Suggestions, product reviews, monthly tips, anything that your readers may find useful, entertaining and relevant
Open emails = happy customers = passing the email along to other potential customers = more sales!
Marketing Without Advertising
One of the best books on advertising I've found
I can't recommend this book enough to anyone that owns a business, or if you're thinking of owning one. Online marketers should listen to this advice as well. This book points out the faults of traditional advertising, but more importantly, gives specific real life examples to jumpstart your word of mouth advertising (the most important kind of advertising!).
Marketing Without Advertising: Easy Ways to Build a Business Your Customers Will Love and Recommend
Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 12/27/2009)
List Price: $20.00
We all need to get our business out there, but what's the best way to do that? Your reputation is your #1 asset for your business, so don't blow it! Above everything else, this single thing can and will come before everything else. Word of mouth is much more powerful than any commercial, banner ad, exposure, article, blog or website. Learn how to utilize word of mouth advertising the right way and start seeing a positive impact on your business! Make people want to recommend your business.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
YouTube Marketing
2 Billion...that's how many views have been counted at YouTube! And counting...
- Ten Ways You Can Use YouTube To Promote Your Online Content
- YouTube is nothing less than an online video phenomenon and if you aren't already using it as a tool to promote yourself or your online content, you should really give it some thought.
- YouTube as Marketing Tool
- How YouTube can play an integral part in a small company's viral marketing campaign.
- Guide to Video Marketing on YouTube
- Youtube is the largest video sharing site to date, with the most traffic and the highest amount of users.
YouTube Books
One of the most effective ways to promote your business!
In the internet age, more people are getting used to watching videos rather than reading. While many of us aren't used to this method of receiving information, it's becoming increasingly more popular. Creating an effective YouTube video might be just the thing you need to reach a whole new audience and get yourself noticed among the right crowd.
Lure in Traffic with Forums
You may be underestimating how much traffic you can get from forums. Participating in forums requires some time and involvement. A random spam-by in a forum thread won't bring any traffic (or very little), especially in comparison to how much you can gain by genuinely contributing. Before posting, if the forum allows, create an avatar (a small picture that will appear next to your forum posts) along with a small, unobtrusive signature line featuring a link to your site. Again, make sure the forum rules allow signature links.
Start by entering the forum and ansering posts about something that you might know something about. Adding something worthwhile to the conversation will be much more appreciated than a "thanks for the info" post. After becoming a regular in the forums, users new and old alike may start to follow your link out of natural curiousity...so make your tag line tempting for them to click!
Creating Websites on the Cheap...
Free websites to advertise your business!
Don't limit your promotion to just on your website, expand your reach by using one of these completely free to use websites!
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Create Your Own Free Websites
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Are you looking for your own website, but don't know where to start? Did you know that there are hundreds of websites that offer your own free domain? You can start your own blog, your own website, or just a single page on the web at no cost to you....
Some Old Commercials you Might Remember...
How well did these commercials work? These are some of the more memorable TV commercials. Did it make you run out and buy it?
curated content from YouTube
Creative Advertising
Advertising isn't going anywhere soon. At one point or another, every large business relies on some sort of advertising for their business. The difference between large and small business advertising is that the big ones have a huge department to analyze precisely what will be the most effective campaign for the product. However, you can still learn a thing or two from reading about what campaigns have worked really well....
Creative Advertising, New Edition
Amazon Price: $26.37 (as of 12/27/2009)
List Price: $39.95
More important than learning creative advertising, this book will teach you how to get inside the mind of the buyer and create copy that is appealing and alluring to your audience. Copywriting skills are extremely important on the web, and you need something persuasive. Learn the ropes of creative advertising from example, as this book analyzes some of the most successful ads globally.
Avg. Customer Rating:
You can REALLY Make Money with Craiglist?
And Advertise!
- Make Money online with Craigslist
- This article explains the various ways to make money with Craiglist.
- Craigslist Marketing
- Sell affiliate products and more through Craigslist. Take advantage of the huge traffic on Craigslist!
- Directing People from Craigslist to YOU!
- The objective is to get them AWAY from Craigslist. See how here!
- How to Write Craiglist Ads
- Posting on Craigslist is tricky, but can be well worth it! Here are some tips on writing an ad that you should know.
- Kijiji
- The new online classified ad website by eBay.
Do you use these Tactics?
The marketing strategies in this lens work excellent for a lot of people...
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The Next Step: Word of Mouth Advertising
Market and advertise your business with other people's recommendations
What better way to promote your business than through actual recommendations? Do you know how to get them? Do you have a product or service that's worth mentioning?-
48 Word of Mouth Advertising Business Ideas
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Traditional advertising costs money, and isn't very effective in many circumstances. What about word of mouth advertising for your business? It's free, and it's the most effective type of marketing. When you buy something do you head to YouTube to re...
How Has Advertising Affected Your Business? Have a Better Idea for Promotion?
Add your ideas!
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- MelanieKok MelanieKok Dec 26, 2009 @ 12:37 am
- Thank you for a great lens. A tip is to try one or two of the suggestions, master them and only then move on to the next one. Don't try all at once.
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- NewPlan NewPlan Dec 17, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
- This is a great thread you put alot of work into it. lots of great info here if someone is just getting started
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- freecker freecker Dec 17, 2009 @ 10:38 am
- great ideas for start.
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- BlogDesign BlogDesign Dec 15, 2009 @ 12:08 am
- Lots of Great Ideas. Love them. Keep up the Great Job!
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- DebtFree4all DebtFree4all Dec 4, 2009 @ 9:12 pm
- Tremendous stuff. Extraordinarily helpful suggestions and resources. Thanks a ton.
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- Cymbalta Cymbalta Dec 3, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
- Thank you for your lens!
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- Tom Smith Tom Smith Dec 1, 2009 @ 4:04 am
- Great lens, It helps when you see everything in one lens verses random readings from all over the place on the net.
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- Carmel_Aaron Carmel_Aaron Nov 27, 2009 @ 11:39 pm
- Thank you. This is the kind of information that I really need.
Thank you so much.
5 Stars
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- seashell2 seashell2 Nov 24, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
- Fabulous informative lens... thanks for sharing this!
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- shemakesmoneyonline shemakesmoneyonline Nov 24, 2009 @ 6:40 pm
- Great lens! This is one I will be visiting again :)
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- Cindy_Egan Cindy_Egan Nov 24, 2009 @ 8:32 am
- Great suggestions! My favorites are article marketing & blogs. (I use social media, but prefer to reserve that for friends & am not a big fan of using it for direct promotion.)
Thanks again for sharing
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- Pedro_Morales Pedro_Morales Nov 18, 2009 @ 11:43 am
- kiwisoutback, wow, you have done a superb job at providing value for members of this community. Wish you lots of success.
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- stacy_mcdaniel stacy_mcdaniel Nov 17, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
- Awesome lens! Thanks for the tips. I be visiting here again.
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- I-luv-Freebies I-luv-Freebies Nov 13, 2009 @ 11:30 pm
- This lens is very informative !! Thank you so very much!!
5* & FAV!
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- janices7 janices7 Nov 13, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
- What an informative lens! 5*
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More Business Ideas
Increase your web presence!
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Where to get Backlinks to your Site
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Well, no one...except search engines! If you want to people to read your page on the web, you need to have plenty of incoming links pointing right at your site. Search engines value the quantity, quality, and relevance of these links. The trouble wit...
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How to Submit your URL to Search Engines, Google
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"How can you index your website in the search engines?" This is an often asked question for any website owners, Squidoo users, Bloggers, and eBay sellers. There are several top search engines to think about, the obvious being Google and Yahoo. Index...
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Web Directories
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A web directory is an excellent place to add your URL and gain a quick backlink. Not to be confused with search engines, web directories are compilations of websites categorized by topic. Not only do some offer a backlink, but traffic from directorie...
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Targeted Web Traffic
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It doesn't matter if you get a gazillion visitors to your website, if they aren't buying, or getting them to do what you want them to do, what's the point? So what should you be doing? Try to get targeted web traffic. This means, in short, that you a...
Links About Advertising
- Advertising Techniques
- Here's a list of some of the advertising techniques that are used today.
by kiwisoutback
Advertising is essential to the success of your business, but what type of advertising are you using? Is it effective?
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