Free solutions to promote your business for free!
You've got good ideas or a great product. You just don't have the money you need to promote it successfully.
Maybe you've written a couple of books and would like to put them in PDF format and offer your own eBooks online, but you think it's a choice between putting food on the table or purchasing Adobe software.
You'd like to put together some videos, that better explain your business, and set yourself up a You Tube account, but you don't have a video camera. Perhaps you actually have everything all set up but, you can't get the traffic, and you can't really afford to pay to get the traffic moving.
Read on... and maybe you'll find some FREE solutions to get your ideas or your product, off the ground and on the map.
Maybe you've written a couple of books and would like to put them in PDF format and offer your own eBooks online, but you think it's a choice between putting food on the table or purchasing Adobe software.
You'd like to put together some videos, that better explain your business, and set yourself up a You Tube account, but you don't have a video camera. Perhaps you actually have everything all set up but, you can't get the traffic, and you can't really afford to pay to get the traffic moving.
Read on... and maybe you'll find some FREE solutions to get your ideas or your product, off the ground and on the map.
My marketing budget is..ZERO!
So your marketing budget is ZERO! Hey..so is mine! I make my living from what I earn online, so I've had to learn how to be as frugal as possible. If it's not FREE, I move along until I find something that is.This lens provides you with a few of the free tools that I have found online, that might help promote you and your business.
Everything from free PDF tools to free video tools to free traffic tips. And, as often as I have been able to find them, I am giving helpful videos that show you, "how to" use these free tools.
Sometimes FREE is Better!
The resources I've listed for you here all look like they are worth checking out. I went out, in search of some free tools and found these. I confess that I have Photoshop, which I do use, and I've also downloaded GIMP, which is much like Photoshop, except that it's FREE. And, I use GIMP way more often than I use Photoshop. I'm not sure why, but I find it easier to work with and it produces as good a finished product as Photoshop.So, with that I mind, I went out to find tools that appeared to be similar to their more expensive counterparts.
I haven't used them all just yet, but I'm anxious to give them a try.
I'm looking forward to finding out how these tools might help me in my business and I hope you can find something useful as well.
Audacity
Audacity is a free 'open source software' that you can use to create podcasts, export MP3s, and much more.
I haven't yet used Audacity, because I've just found it. But, I will be using it in the very near future as it opens so many opportunities I haven't had before now.
Below is a You Tube video, that briefly explains how to install this free software. It's easier for me to do something I haven't done before, as long as I can follow the instructions visually.
Just a quick note...there are quite a few videos on different things you can do with Audacity on You Tube...here is the video for installation. To find out what other things you can do with this software...go to You Tube..and just type in 'audacity'.
I haven't yet used Audacity, because I've just found it. But, I will be using it in the very near future as it opens so many opportunities I haven't had before now.
Below is a You Tube video, that briefly explains how to install this free software. It's easier for me to do something I haven't done before, as long as I can follow the instructions visually.
Just a quick note...there are quite a few videos on different things you can do with Audacity on You Tube...here is the video for installation. To find out what other things you can do with this software...go to You Tube..and just type in 'audacity'.
Get Open Office and create free PDF Files
For those who are not familiar with Open Office
, this is a brief overview of what it is about.
+Writer = Is a word processing feature similar to MicroSoft Word.
+Calc = Is a spreadsheet feature similar to MicroSoft Excel.
+Impress = Is a presentation feature similar to MicroSoft Power Point.
+Draw = Is a drawing feature similar to MicroSoft Draw.
+Base = Is the Open Office database feature.
Open Office is free and can be downloaded Here.
, this is a brief overview of what it is about.
+Writer = Is a word processing feature similar to MicroSoft Word.
+Calc = Is a spreadsheet feature similar to MicroSoft Excel.
+Impress = Is a presentation feature similar to MicroSoft Power Point.
+Draw = Is a drawing feature similar to MicroSoft Draw.
+Base = Is the Open Office database feature.
Open Office is free and can be downloaded Here.
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Free to Use Photos at PD Photo
PD Photo is a wonderful site that offers free to use public domain photos to enhance your website, eBook, lens and blog. They have a variety of subject matter and the quality of the photos are really good.The only thing Jon asks, is a link back to his site, if possible. If not, he's cool with that too!
If you don't already know how, it's pretty easy to get a photo to use simply by, enlarging the photo you want, right click and 'save as', in your 'My Pictures' Files.
Can't find what you need at PD Photo? Try one of these other Free to Use Photo sites.
Public Domain Pictures.Net
Public Domain Photos.Com
Does Your Traffic Suck?
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Free Web Site Promotion Tools
Self promotion on a budget doesn't get any better than FREE. A2Z Site Solutions offers several free online promotion tools for you to use to help you increase your traffic and bring new visitors to your sites.These tools are free and with unlimited use.
A2Z Site Solutions is the place to go for the following FREE Web Site Promotion Tools.
Meta Tag Generator
Site Submitter
Search Engine Ranking Tool
Spread Your Word and Check the Competition.
Spreading the word about your site takes a bit of work. There are a few sites that you can place your product and let things take care of themselves, like eBay, but most sites need some self promoting and marketing.
I found that just joining sites like Blog Catalog, Twitter, Flickr and others are great and you can make some 'friends' along the way...however, your new 'friends' tend to forget all about you if you don't continue to let them know you are there.
If you want traffic and visitors, you're going to have to go to some 'discussion forums' and participate, comment on their blogs and lens. Visit others and they will visit you in return. I've made quite a few new 'friends' that follow me regularly, by doing these few things. And, they really do only take a few minutes each day.
In the five years that I have been doing business online, I have only recently begun participating in forum discussions and I've had more visits in the past couple of months than in the five years preceding.
And, don't be afraid to ask for friends. You might be surprised at the response.
Here's a list of some of the places you can, 'spread the word'.
Blog Catalog
Why Do Work
Small Business Ideas Forum
And we can't forget; Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and so many other discussion groups and forum sites that are peppered throughout cyber space.
FOR THE LATEST 'BUZZ'
Want to keep on top of the current buzz, check your site's reputation or even 'spy' on your competition?
Here are 26 Free Tools For Buzz Monitoring
I found that just joining sites like Blog Catalog, Twitter, Flickr and others are great and you can make some 'friends' along the way...however, your new 'friends' tend to forget all about you if you don't continue to let them know you are there.
If you want traffic and visitors, you're going to have to go to some 'discussion forums' and participate, comment on their blogs and lens. Visit others and they will visit you in return. I've made quite a few new 'friends' that follow me regularly, by doing these few things. And, they really do only take a few minutes each day.
In the five years that I have been doing business online, I have only recently begun participating in forum discussions and I've had more visits in the past couple of months than in the five years preceding.
And, don't be afraid to ask for friends. You might be surprised at the response.
Here's a list of some of the places you can, 'spread the word'.
Blog Catalog
Why Do Work
Small Business Ideas Forum
And we can't forget; Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and so many other discussion groups and forum sites that are peppered throughout cyber space.
FOR THE LATEST 'BUZZ'
Want to keep on top of the current buzz, check your site's reputation or even 'spy' on your competition?
Here are 26 Free Tools For Buzz Monitoring
I hope I've given you some information that you can use to build your business.
You can have a wonderful site, with the greatest products and it will cost you nothing but time. Use the free tools that are available to help you build your brand online then, as you and your business grow, you can always upgrade as, and if, you need to.
While you are building your business, don't forget the importance of self branding and promotion.
While you are building your business, don't forget the importance of self branding and promotion.
Thank you for visiting! Please take a moment to say 'Hey!'
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teriann
Aug 8, 2011 @ 11:06 am | delete
- great tips, thanks for sharing. Will check out a few.
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MrsZ Aug 8, 2011 @ 11:50 am | delete
- The GIMP program is my favorite free program...I use it almost every day!
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Mellithorpe Jun 30, 2009 @ 4:59 pm | delete
- Great lens. Thanks for all of the information. I am bookmarking this to come back and check them all out. 5 stars.
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Vic_Goodman
Apr 22, 2009 @ 8:19 am | delete
- Great content...organized very well
5 Stars
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Free Tools Links
There are a couple links here that can't be found in any of the modules and others that can. I tried to list the main one's here to make them easier for you to find.
- GIMP
- Free image manipulation program.
- Audacity
- A free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.
- Open Office
- An open-source project building an open-source multi-platform and multilingual productivity suite.
- Jing
- A free screen capture program that you can use to enhance websites, videos, lenses and more
- PD Photo
- Free to use Public Domain Photos.
- V Store
- Free e-commerce store.
- Free Website
- Free website with free hosting and free domain...ad free.
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