Are you
in business working on a small budget for advertising? Are you looking for low cost marketing and
advertising ideas? Read on to get some
great tips from these 5 great ideas over 2 days. Welcome back to day 2 for ideas 4-6. I always love comments so leave a comment
below to let me know how useful you find this article.
Cha-Ching! 5 Low-Cost Marketing and Advertising
Ideas – part 2
4. Start a Blog (with great SEO!)
Any
successful business has a blog these days. And if you don’t have one, you’re
missing out on a great advertising opportunity.
Blogs are
free to make, and they help you attract new customers. People tend to trust a
company more if they have a great blog.
Ask
yourself, “What are people Googling about my field?” Then, answer this question
in a blog.
But having a blog isn’t enough. Make sure to optimize your contentfor SEO. If you do, you’ll see plenty of new
customers coming to your site.
5. Social Media Contests
Online
contests are another quick way to make new online impressions. If you’re
willing to give away a t-shirt or mug, you should take advantage of the
giveaway.
Tell your
social media following to share your post or tag their friends. Then, after a
few days, give somebody the prize.
Contests
are a quick and cheap way to find new followers. All you have to do is turn
those followers into customers.
Get Started With Cheap
Advertising
Now that
you have some strategies for cheap advertising, you’re ready to get started.
Before you know it, your business will be booming because of these cheap
advertising strategies.
Are you
in business working on a small budget for advertising?Are you looking for low cost marketing and
advertising ideas?Read on to get some
great tips from these 5 great ideas over the next 2 days.This article will cover ideas 1 – 3
today.Come back tomorrow for ideas
4-6.I always love comments so leave a
comment below to let me know how useful you find this article.
Cha-Ching! 5 Low-Cost Marketing and Advertising
Ideas – part 1
Are you
advertising on a small budget?
If you
are, chances are that you’re always looking for new ways to advertise without
spending much. But trying to do so can be difficult if you don’t know where to
start.
And if
you don’t advertise well, you may not see the business you desire. This could
lead to bad results.
There’s no doubt that having great cheap
advertising strategiesis
important. Lucky for you, we’ve listed five ideas to help you get started.
Read on
to learn how.
1. Social Media Influencers
If you
haven’t heard yet, social media influencers are the new way to advertise.
Influencers are people who have amassed a large number of followers on social
media.
To use
this outlet, you pay or give a free product to an influencer. Then, they post
about your company on social media. This is a cheap and quick way to advertise
to thousands.
2. Social Media Advertising
Another cheap
advertising strategy is to advertise on social media. While posting on social
media is good, you can also pay to make sure people see you.
You can
create an advertisement for a specific demographic of people. Social media will
even let you pick what interests you want your consumer to have.
This strategy can become expensive if you try to
advertise to a lot of people. But you can spend very little moneyand still reach thousands.
3. Referral Program
You
should try creating a referral program if your customers love your business.
For a discount or free item, customers will be happy to tell their friends
about you.
This
strategy doesn’t stop after helping you find new customers. A referral program
will also make your clients more loyal to you
What is the best way to get
more traffic to your web site? There are
so many promises of fast traffic it can be hard to recognise genuine ways to
generate more traffic. Here is the
lowdown on 3 of the best website traffic sources. Welcome back to part 2. Today this article
will look at the third of those sources.
Leave a comment below to let me know how useful you find this article.
The 3 Best Website Traffic Sources – Part 2
By: Jim Edwards
Not a day goes by that any serious
website owner doesn't wonder how to get more traffic to their site.
This intense desire to generate more
clicks makes virtually any online entrepreneur easy prey to many of the traffic
schemes and scams that pervade the Internet like conmen on a carnival midway.
Promises of fast traffic and big bucks
often separate even the most savvy business person from their money because
they want to believe the promises made by these traffic hucksters.
However, rather than thinking
"complicated equals better" in the traffic game, the best website
traffic sources rate extremely easy to separate from the useless garbage
traffic.
** Grow Links **
I personally prefer this method to get links to my websites: growing them.
The best type of link to get involves
one person telling another person, either explicitly or implicitly, they should
click the link and visit the site at the other end.
One way to do this is simply to
exchange links with another site which targets the same audience as your site.
You can manage this process manually or
use one of the many software packages that will mange the process for you.
A search on Google.com for
"reciprocal link manager software" yields a good start.
The easiest way to grow a link is
through using articles other people post on their websites which link back to
your website.
The reason articles work so well for
"growing" links involves the numerous ways in which articles get
distributed online, each of which can create dozens, hundreds, even thousands
of different links back to your website by publishing a single article.
In fact, the following represent only
the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the places you can grow links by
publishing articles online.
~ Blogs - Your articles can not only
appear on your own blog, but get posted by others on their blogs with
surprising ease.
The links in these articles can point
directly back to your website.
~ Article Directories - Article
directories such as IdeaMarketers.com abound online.
They not only provide an easy way to
display your articles to allow others to pick them up for posting on their
websites, but also in and of themselves attract readers searching for content.
~ OPS (Other People's Sites) - Popular
websites like WebProNews.com attract repeat visitors by offering targeted
content to their readers.
Since they can't produce all the
content themselves, they publish articles created by others. Links from these
sites can bring a steady stream of targeted visitors by giving you targeted
exposure.
~ Ezines - By getting your articles
published in other people's ezines, you can get a link on the most valuable
real estate online, a targeted prospect's email "inbox."
Many ezine publishers run articles
written by others to their targeted readers, and your link in the resource box
can bring you a veritable avalanche of targeted site visitors when hundreds,
even thousands of people receive your article at the same time.
Whether you choose to buy them,
"voodoo" them, or grow them, getting targeted links to your site posted
on the Internet represents the absolute best way to get steady traffic to your
site.
Though not as fast as buying them or as
exciting as trying to manipulate the search engines, growing links with
articles gives you a long-term, dependable presence online.
Author Bio
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and co-author of an amazing
program that teaches you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of
targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs... without
spending a dime on advertising! Click Here
What is the best way to get
more traffic to your web site? There are
so many promises of fast traffic it can be hard to recognise genuine ways to
generate more traffic. Here is the
lowdown on 3 of the best website traffic sources. Today part 1 will look at the first two of
those sources. Come back tomorrow for part
2 for the third of those sources.
The 3 Best Website Traffic Sources – Part 1
By: Jim Edwards
Not a day goes by that any serious
website owner doesn't wonder how to get more traffic to their site.
This intense desire to generate more
clicks makes virtually any online entrepreneur easy prey to many of the traffic
schemes and scams that pervade the Internet like conmen on a carnival midway.
Promises of fast traffic and big bucks
often separate even the most savvy business person from their money because
they want to believe the promises made by these traffic hucksters.
However, rather than thinking
"complicated equals better" in the traffic game, the best website
traffic sources rate extremely easy to separate from the useless garbage
traffic.
Fact: "Good Traffic" equals
"Targeted Traffic!"
That means the visitors come as a
result of desire to find out more on a specific, niche topic, not as a result
of "exit" traffic or membership in a "safe" list where
members simply pitch each other in an incestuous spam fest.
Good traffic comes from people clicking
links on topics targeted to their interests and getting directed to a website
containing information they want and expect as a result of clicking the link.
Bottom line, when you get right down to
it, the best, most dependable sources of targeted traffic come from links that
people click.
So, next time you're considering
spending money on a traffic source, understand that unless it involves a
targeted link that a targeted visitor can click to get to your website, think
twice before opening up your wallet.
To my knowledge, only three ways exist
to get a link to your site: buy it, "voodoo" it, or grow it.
** Buy Links **
Buying links actually rates the fastest way to get traffic to your website.
You simply sign up for Google AdWords
at Google.com or you open an account with Overture.com.
You then run ads with a link on those
sites and any time someone clicks the link, you pay for the click through a
relatively straightforward bidding process based on the popularity of the
keyword.
You can also buy links in ezines,
newsletters, and on other people's website either on a per-click basis, for a
period of time (a week or month), or in exchange for paying them a commission
if a sale gets made as a result of a click on the link.
** Linking "VoodDoo" **
Linking "voodoo" refers to attempting to manipulate the search
engines into displaying links to your website.
You can find a large number of
automated software programs online at any given time that will claim to help
you get more search engine traffic.
Depending on the intensity of
competition in a specific market and the fact that search engines change their
rules frequently, pursuing search engine links this way can quickly turn into
the online equivalent of Alice chasing the rabbit down the hole.
Author Bio
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and co-author of an amazing
program that teaches you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of
targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs... without
spending a dime on advertising! Click Here
It seems that publishing articles is still one of the most effective
ways to get targeted traffic to your sites but where to start? Does this seem like a daunting task? It may be easier than you think. Read on for some great tips. Leave a comment below to let me know how
useful you find this article.
The Pen Is Mightier Than Website Traffic
By: Mike Burke
Although significant website traffic to your site can seem to be an
uphill battle, once again the pen is the clear winner. Other than free search
engine traffic, publishing articles remains as one of the few truly effective
ways to get targeted traffic to your site.
If you haven't already tried your hand at writing an article, it may seem like
a pretty daunting task, especially if you don't think you have the necessary
skills. Anyone can write and submit an effective article and it's easier than
you may think.
There is a certain art to writing an article, however, but it doesn't really
require any special skills. You don't need a degree to write an article and you
don't need to be a programmer to submit your articles to ezines, blogs or any
other article distributor to have your article published.
The art of writing an article is in the plan.
If you expect to achieve any amount of success in anything you do, you need to
have a well thought out plan and writing an article for publication is no
exception. Fortunately, after you have developed your plan, the hard part will
be done.
Here are some of the basic elements you should include in your plan to write an
effective article:
The first step is to decide what you want to write about but, more importantly,
decide what it is you know about your topic that the majority of your readers
don't already know. If you think you don't know enough about your topic to
write an article, do some research.
Albert Einstein once said that he didn't clutter his mind with information he
didn't need but he knew where to find it if he needed it. There's a wealth of
information available and with a little homework, you'll have more than enough
information for your article in no time.
The next step is to make a list of the main points of your topic. Pick one you
want to expand and focus your article around that point. It's easy to get
carried away and to try to pack too much information into a single article.
Save the other main points of your topic for other articles.
The next step is to establish the sub-points, if any, of the main point you
would like to convey to your readers. How can you further explain the point of
your article? For example, what do you feel is important for your readers to
know and what pitfalls should they avoid? Point out vulnerabilities and
solutions.
The next step is to determine what you want your readers to get out of your
article. Simply offering information will read like a text book and won't be
very interesting. Challenge your readers to think about what you're saying and
how they can put it to use in a way they haven't thought of before - peak their
interest.
The next step to decide the 'color' of your article. By 'color' I mean the
style you would like your article to have. For example, your article could be
formal, informal, humorous, serious, casual, general, personal - you get the
idea.
Now that we've gone over the steps to create an article, now let's put them in
order and fill in the blanks.
#1) Decide what the main topic of your article will be.
#2) Establish the sub-points, if any, of your main topic.
#3) Determine what you want your readers to get out of your article.
#4) Pick a 'color' for your article -- the style you would like to use.
#5) Create a rough draft of your article.
#6) Edit your article. (have someone read your article and offer suggestions)
#7) Check your grammar and spelling.
#8) Create a title for your article. (keep it simple and catchy)
#9) Create a 'teaser' for your article. (a 'teaser' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence
description of the contents of your article)
#10) Create a 'bio'. (a 'bio' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence description of who
your are and your qualifications. Remember to put a link to your website in
your 'bio')
#11) List 4 or 5 of the keywords that relate to your article. (some article
distributors require them)
#12) Submit your article to article distributors. (that's a topic for another
article)
The hardest part of writing articles is actually writing and submitting your
first one. The more articles you write, the easier and more enjoyable it gets.
So, go ahead - start writing and submitting articles and watch your website
traffic skyrocket!
For more website traffic ideas visit http://www.starttheprofits.com
Author Bio
Mike Burke is the author of numerous articles and has an affection for website
marketing. Learn how to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site without
spending a dime on advertising. Visit us at http://www.starttheprofits.com
Are you writing articles that captivate your readers? Do you follow these tips? These 4 tips will really help to captivate
your readers and have them coming back to your site for more. This article is in two parts. Welcome back to part 2. Here are today’s 2
tips. Read on and let me know what you
think with a comment below.
Writing Articles that Captivate Your Readers – Part
2
By: Terry Jackson
3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit!
The sample opening above also illustrates the
importance of the tone you use in your article. You need 'meat' in each article,
of course, to make it worth reading - but make sure it's not
indigestible!
You're better off writing your article in a
natural, relaxed style that's akin to normal conversation. It doesn't matter if
the first draft is a little too informal - you can fix that when you edit.
NaturaPt 1lly you don't want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style,
but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they
hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through.
4. End On A High
What's one of the biggest problems with most
articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat
note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like:
"So what are you waiting for? Get started today!"
The beginning and the end of your article are
the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of
anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you
finish.
If you are offering advice to help them solve a
problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good
about them. Don't make rash promises... but do offer hope. If you are giving
hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You
can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a
specific action to get them started. Be creative - and don't rush it.
Here's a final tip: create an article-writing
cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more
useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this
article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote,
suggest action to get started.)
Do this, and you'll be steadily cranking out
articles that everyone wants to publish!
Author Bio
Article by Terry Jackson. Terry is the webmaster of, www.webmarketingpro.biz,
a free resource for web site promotion and search engine optimization. Please visit
his site for more free tips and tutorials on building traffic and generating
income on your site.
Are you writing articles that captivate your readers? Do you follow these tips? These 4 tips will really help to captivate
your readers and have them coming back to your site for more. This article is in two parts. Here are 2 tips today. Come back tomorrow for the last 2. Read on and let me know what you think with a
comment below.
Writing Articles that Captivate Your Readers – Part
1
By: Terry Jackson
You've heard it time and time again: if you want to get your name out there,
write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box
pointing back to you, of course). Largely, that is true. A well-written article
can:
·help you build your profile as an expert
·draw traffic to your site, and
·help you to build a database of potential clients through associated
e-courses or a newsletter.
So far you probably haven't heard anything you
didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process
of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but
how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the
way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for
more?
Let's assume that you understand the basics of
constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and
you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that.
But if you're not content with simply "getting something out there" -
if you want to WIN readers - then you need to start thinking about what they
want to know, rather than what you want to tell them.
Put your readers first - every time. Give them
what they want, and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give
them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they'll blast by
you so fast you'll be spinning in the back draft.
The following four steps will give you a
blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the
topic.
1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want
Sometimes you'll know what they want because
you're an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don't know
the subject area well, you'll have to do more research. Look for forums on your
topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need
solving? Can you provide an answer? ("If they have a headache, give them
an aspirin.")
2. Start With An Attention-Grabber
Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid
trite questions like "Have you ever wondered why so many people find it
difficult to lose weight?" Firstly, it's dull. Secondly, it's not
targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the
difficulties "many people" have with losing weight? They only care
about THEIR weight problem!
Try to come up with an opening paragraph that
gives the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling right
away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement - "This could be
the answer I've been looking for..."
Example: "The diet gurus make it all sound so
easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take
in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out
of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets,
gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A
way that won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived."
Author Bio
Article by Terry Jackson. Terry is the webmaster of, www.webmarketingpro.biz,
a free resource for web site promotion and search engine optimization. Please
visit his site for more free tips and tutorials on building traffic and
generating income on your site.
If you want to know the way to make the most of promoting
your website read on. Let me know how
useful you find this article with a comment below.
Promoting Your Website
By: Susan Jennerjohn
6 Proven Strategies to Promoting Your Website
There's a proven way to make money online, you can do this by selling
information or knowledge you have.
The great part is you'll be your own boss. You're work from your home,
while earning money on line. Isn't this fun?
But to successful, you'll need to promote your website.
Make a comprehensive marketing plan that where you've clearly identified
your markets and how to appeal to them. You'll also need to
work closely with your web team to optimize your website, so your business
connects with both the human audience and content spiders.
But remember - you can only do some much promotions and marketing before
you fall flat on your nose. Be sure you have the following elements present in
your website.
To promote your website successfully, you need to have great products
and services. Otherwise, they will come in to look but won't buy. Your
promotional efforts will be a total waste.
Make sure your website is perfectly positioned, to sell and process
orders. If your e-commerce aspect is not secure, then no one will buy. No
matter how many great products you have. No matter how many links you swap
with, promoting your website will just be a waste of time.
Third element - internet marketing, means you need a marketing plan
which clearly speaks to your audience. Make sure that it's at a price you can
afford. If you spend too much on your promotional efforts, only to have it die
down because of lack of funds, you will lose your momentum. So stick to a
promotional budget you can afford.
So how do you promote your website?
Website design
Keep your website design basic and user friendly. This means minimizing the use
of animation or outlandish colors. Make sure your content has the appropriate
keywords in them, so that search engines can read and put you at the upper top
of the rankings.
Optimizing your website for search engine rankings
Make it a point to submit your website to two of the most popular and
heavily used crawler based search engines - Yahoo and Google. If your
promotional budget is small, make sure it's keyword rich. Then submit, wait
patiently for a few months before it to appear. Or you can do a sponsored
listing if you have a bigger promotional budget.
Submit your website to directories. This is free; and many seo experts
say you'll dramatically increase your chances of appearing at the top of the
search engine results. Try these directories: MSN, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and
Inktomi, for starters.
Do swap links with other websites. Only after, you've researched their
websites to see if you're a fit for each other. Some will refuse to swap links,
but don't let it throw you. Just keep trying.
Post authoritative comments about subjects you are knowledgeable about.
A majority of these forums give you the freedom to put your URL at the bottom
do so.
Lastly - write articles about subjects you are an expert on. Submit these
articles to the directories that have big audiences. Include your URL and
byline. Soon, you'll get the traffic you need, because of the promotional
efforts you've done.
Author Bio
Not long ago, I didn't know ANYTHING about Internet marketing... However,
within just 2 weeks, I launched my own website AND learned how to profit from
an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and
setup my own BLOG!
Website traffic is deemed the single most important factor when it comes
to the success of a website but that statement needs to be qualified. Although
it's true that a constant stream of traffic is the lifeblood of a website, the
quality of the traffic is far more important than the quantity.
Of course, any amount of website traffic is better than no traffic at all but
even if you have the most perfect website, your site is doomed to fail if you
are not getting visitors that are looking for the products or information you
have available on your site.
It's easy to get caught up in a numbers game. It's exciting to see the number
of visitors to your site climb from a few a day to a few hundred a day. On the
surface, this looks like exactly what you want but if your visitors are looking
for something other than what you are offering, for the most part, your website
traffic is wasted.
You could have a great website design, compelling copy, the lowest prices and
fantastic specials but all your efforts will be useless unless your website is
drawing traffic that is interested in what you are providing or
promoting.
What you need are visitors specifically interested in your product or service
-- you need 'targeted traffic'.
Don't think of targeted traffic as a sub-category of website traffic because
they really are two separate entities. If you're marketing plan is designed to
drive as much website traffic as possible to your site, no matter what kind of
traffic it is, then you're not making effective use of your time and you're
setting yourself up for disappointment.
The web is a very different venue than a shopping mall. A shopping mall relies
on unfocused traffic, wondering from store to store, not looking for anything
in particular but willing to spend it's money on an impulse.
Believe it or not, people surfing the web will leave a website after viewing it
for only about 2 seconds. They're looking for specific items or information and
if they don't quickly find what they are looking for on your site, they'll click
out of your site and go to one of the other millions of sites on the web.
That's why most of the successful websites are tightly focused on their 'niche'
and their marketing plan is focused on driving people to their site that are
looking for what they offer - they understand the importance of 'targeted
traffic'.
Of course, targeted traffic and a website focused on a particular 'niche' go
hand and hand. Think about your website. Does it really lend itself to a
specific product or service, or is it so broad that it tends to confuse
potential customers?
Here are a few tips to help you prepare your website for targeted
traffic:
Design your website to promote one particular product or service as your main
item.
Determine the type of people that will be interested in your product or service
and adjust your website to be attractive to them.
Establish the items or services that are 'closely' related to what you're
promoting on your website. If you think that they would be interesting to your
visitors, offer those items on your website as well.
Keep a constant flow of free content, that your visitors will find useful, on
your website and add new content and information often. Invite your visitors
back to your site to see the new material you're constantly adding.
Keep in mind, a website that's focused on a particular 'niche' item or service
lends itself to targeted traffic simply because there is something specific to
target and the more targeted traffic your site receives, the more productive
your site will be.
There are many conventional and many not so conventional ways to drive targeted
traffic to your website but we'll explore them in other articles.
The purpose of this article is to point out the difference between website
traffic and targeted traffic. More isn't always better and if you focus your
marketing on 'targeted traffic' you'll quickly find that the hits your getting
on your website aren't just empty numbers - they'll be potential customers and,
more importantly, sales.
Mike Burke is the
author of numerous articles and has an affection for website marketing. Learn
how to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site without spending a dime on
advertising. Visit us at http://www.starttheprofits.com
