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Will You Add? - 30 Ways to Promote Your Website on a Shoestring Budget ( Part 1)
What is a domain name?The purpose of a domain name is similar to that of a street address or telephone number. The domain name directs customers to you on the Internet. The domain by itself is not your email or web address. The domain does form the base from which these addresses are derived.For example: Company Name: Websites 4 Small Business Domain Name: web4business.com.au Web Address: www.web4business.com.au Email Address: info@web4business.com.auDo I need to register a domain name to have a website?The simple answer is NO. You do not need to have your own domain name. Your website can be created and hosted without it. Your website address will look something like this:www.web4business.com.au/JBCleaning OR www.ozemail.com.au/~JBCleaningThe only advantage of not registering a domain name is that you will save yourself A$70 per year (it costs approx A$140 for 2 years to register a '.com.au' domain name). The disadvantages of NOT having your domain name include:1. If you decide to change your Webhosting company or if that company goes out of business, you will lose your website address. Your website can be transferred to a new company, but your address will change. And that means re-printing stationery and re-doing all your advertising, notifying all your customers etc.2. Website addresses that contain information other than your company name are long and hard to remember and do not appear as professional. Compare these two and see which one you are more likely to rememberwww.ozemail.com.au/~JBCleaning OR www.JBCleaning.com.auSo it is a good idea to register a domain name, even if it is just to protect yourself for the future. Say for example, your business name is JB Cleaning and you decide not to register your domain name for now.Along comes Joe Bloggs who opens his own cleaning business and registers JBCleaning.com.au domain name. After a year you decide you want to have your own domain name, but since Joe Bloggs already owns it, you won't be able to register it. Not to mention your customers who know your business as JB Cleaning may visit his website, thinking it's your web address and instead hire Joe Bloggs Cleaning.What does it all mean?A domain name normally consists of 2 parts - your company name and the organisation type/region. For example with the domain web4business.com.au – web4business is the company name or a name derived from it. The .com.au indicates that Websites 4 Small Business is a commercial
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on
The late Conrad Hilton who built a chain of hotels across the world, was firmly of the belief that if he built a hotel in the right location it would make money. “Location, Location, Location” was his motto. Never build a hotel where there ain’t no traffic.The same rule applies on the Internet. Build your site in the right location and it will succeed.So the question is: “how do I find the right plot of Internet real estate on which to build my site?”For the purposes of this exercise I would like you to imagine a smart seaside town called Google.Along the sea front and around the marina, where the luxury yachts are parked, are smart hotels, casinos and apartment blocks. At street level in each of these buildings there are international shops like Tiffany, Gucci and Prada selling luxury goods.In the next block back from the front are really nice houses owned by wealthy citizens. And behind them are not-quite-so-nice houses and apartments. So it goes, as you walk away from the sea front the houses and shops become less and less expensive. Until, just on the outskirts of the town of Google, there is a trailer park where the least wealthy citizens stay.In the town of Google it costs a lot of money to rent one of the shops on the seafront because they are seen by large numbers of passers-by. These will be both the wealthy people staying in the town and day-trippers who are just sight-seeing. However, you can rent a shop in the trailer park for much less money. Here you will still get valuable passing traffic but the competition will not be nearly so great.The mistake that most people make when they build their web sites is to build around keywords which all the powerful multi-nationals are using for their seafront stores. These organizations are spending mega bucks to get their web sites to the top positions on the search engines. Your chances of competing with them and achieving a top search engine ranking are very slim.Much better to build your web site around the ‘trailer park’ keywords. Where you can still get masses of valuable traffic, but you’re not competing with the mega-buck budgets of the multi-national corporations.
The most probable answer is that your customers don’t know about your website. Creating a website is like building a house. If you don’t tell your friends they won’t know you’ve built a house. Even if they do know you’ve been building it, if you don’t tell them your address they’ll never find you.
And the same goes for your website. There is no magic internet fairy who will knock on people’s door to announce your website’s arrival. The task is up to you. To get your website marketing off the ground you either need to spend time learning and doing it or spend money and get somebody else to do it.
There are hundreds of ways to promote your business. You can do it on line or off line or a combination of both. Much will depend on your budget and the time you have available. Choose as many options below as your time and budget allows. Test as many methods of marketing as you can and see what brings you best results. Website marketing is not a one off exercise. You need to constantly work on it, fine-tune it, discard methods that are not working and implement new ones.
1. Email Marketing
Your first step should be to send an email to your existing clients announcing the arrival of your website. In your message, you can even ask them to forward your email onto their friends, family and colleagues.
If you are starting a new business and don’t have any customers, send an email to people you know who may be interested in your offer.
The next step should be to send your announcement to an opt-in email list. Opt-in email lists contain people or businesses who have requested to receive information about a certain topic(s). There are many companies who can provide you with these lists. For more information visit:
www.prospectshop.com.au/email_lists.html
www.4webmarketing.biz/email.htm
www.ezemail.biz/list_power.html
www.ezemail.biz/list_consumer.html
www.webfirm.com.au/email-marketing-australia/
Under no circumstance should you EVER send unsolicited email (spam) to people you either don’t know or who have not requested to receive your information.
2. Leads
There are many companies who will provide leads or prospects for your business. For a fee, they will display your advertisement (similar to a classified ad) and when someone clicks on it, they will be taken to your website. The great thing about these targeted leads is that you are only paying for the people who want to know about your business and products. If you work out the cost of a lead versus regular advertising, you will no doubt come out on top. Generally the cost per lead is between $0.50 - $1.00. If on the other hand you advertise in a newspaper or a magazine and pay $200 for the advertisement from which you get 20 enquiries, the cost per lead is $10.
Check out:
http://leadfactory.com/leads/
www.getresponse.com
3. Search Engines & Directories
A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently there are thousands of search engines and directories on the internet. Some of the main ones include:
Google - www.google.com
Altavista - www.altavista.com
Yahoo – www.yahoo.com
Excite – www.excite.com
AllSearchEngines - www.allsearchengines.com
Northern Light - www.northernlight.com
DogPile – www.dogpile.com
AllTheWeb – www.alltheweb.com
Lycos - www.lycos.com
When submitting your website to the search engines, you can either do it manually by going to the search engine website and adding your URL (website address) or you can employ the services of a Search Engine Submission company, who will do it for you.
www.submitexpress.com
www.wpromote.com
www.website-submission.com
Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe your service and products. For example, if you are a florist, use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as possible to ensure high search engine ranking. To find out what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your family and friends or go to:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.wordtracker.com
Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page – This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags – Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics
Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.
If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher.
www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au
4. Link Exchanges
Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.
By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.
On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.
Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.
If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:
http://www.linkexchanged.com http://www.powerlinks.com http://www.links-pal.com
5. Banner Advertising
Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.
To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com
6. Email Signature
Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.
To set up your signature using Outlook Express:
Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
Step 2: Click "Signatures".
Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"
Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:
Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:
Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".
7. Feedback and testimonials
When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on
There are times my ten-year old son will come to me with a problem. At first, he believes the problem to be x. However, after we talk for a while, it turns out that the problem is really y. Once clearly identified, we can set about a plan for resolving the issue.This is how it is with sales. When you meet with a prospect, they may believe their issue is one thing. It is up to you to ask the right questions to make sure you – and the prospect – know what the real issue is. Then, and only then, can you determine if you have a solution.They say people buy based on emotion; to alleviate some sort of pain. The challenge for salespeople is to find that pain. Sometimes it is very clear and other times it is hidden.Unfortunately, many salespeople don’t understand this. They believe that EVERYONE needs or wants what they have to sell. It’s merely up to them to get the word out. They lead with their product or service – its features and benefits. They spend the sales call talking instead of asking and listening. These salespeople believe that they have to share every piece of information about their product/service to make sure that they SELL the prospect. Then they’re surprised when the prospect goes in a different direction.It doesn’t work this way. It can’t be all about the product/service and not about the prospect.The sales process is a treasure hunt. You are hunting for those prospects who have a problem your product/service can solve. First, you identify suspects – people/companies you think might need or want what you have to offer. Then, you try to learn as much as you can about them. When you get a chance to meet with them – ask questions. This is the point where you are trying to uncover the hidden treasure – that pain in there somewhere. The key to success at this point is listening. It’s important to really hear what the person is telling you. Listen openly with no agenda. That way you’ll hear what they are saying – not what you want them to say. Don’t listen in terms of how you can help – just listen.Once you’ve successfully found the real pain, determine whether your product/service can alleviate it. And be honest about it! Remember these critical points –You don’t want to do business with everyoneYou may or may not have a solution to that particular problemYou can still be of value by pointing them in a direction where they can get their problem solved. Now that you’ve narrowed it down to those prospects who have a problem you can solve, explain to them how your product/service can he
2. Leads
There are many companies who will provide leads or prospects for your business. For a fee, they will display your advertisement (similar to a classified ad) and when someone clicks on it, they will be taken to your website. The great thing about these targeted leads is that you are only paying for the people who want to know about your business and products. If you work out the cost of a lead versus regular advertising, you will no doubt come out on top. Generally the cost per lead is between $0.50 - $1.00. If on the other hand you advertise in a newspaper or a magazine and pay $200 for the advertisement from which you get 20 enquiries, the cost per lead is $10.
Check out:
http://leadfactory.com/leads/
www.getresponse.com
3. Search Engines & Directories
A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently there are thousands of search engines and directories on the internet. Some of the main ones include:
Google - www.google.com
Altavista - www.altavista.com
Yahoo – www.yahoo.com
Excite – www.excite.com
AllSearchEngines - www.allsearchengines.com
Northern Light - www.northernlight.com
DogPile – www.dogpile.com
AllTheWeb – www.alltheweb.com
Lycos - www.lycos.com
When submitting your website to the search engines, you can either do it manually by going to the search engine website and adding your URL (website address) or you can employ the services of a Search Engine Submission company, who will do it for you.
www.submitexpress.com
www.wpromote.com
www.website-submission.com
Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe your service and products. For example, if you are a florist, use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as possible to ensure high search engine ranking. To find out what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your family and friends or go to:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.wordtracker.com
Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page – This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags – Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics
Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.
If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher.
www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au
4. Link Exchanges
Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.
By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.
On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.
Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.
If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:
http://www.linkexchanged.com http://www.powerlinks.com http://www.links-pal.com
5. Banner Advertising
Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.
To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com
6. Email Signature
Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.
To set up your signature using Outlook Express:
Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
Step 2: Click "Signatures".
Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"
Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:
Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:
Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".
7. Feedback and testimonials
When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on
Sofizar Inc – The Google location based service is meant to display Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisements only in the advertiser designated locations. However, a back door allows a malicious user or automated programs in a non designated area to click on the advertisement, potentially causing grievous losses. Furthermore, Google charges the advertisers for these clicks, even though Google does not record the advertisement impression. This vulnerability has been reported to Google.The location based Google service is designed to display targeted advertisements to users from a certain region. For example, a ticket broker who needs to sell wicked tickets in New York City does not want her advertisement to be displayed in New Delhi. The pay per click advertisements to a non target audience can be extremely costly, and AdWords PPC advertisers use Google’s facilities to designate countries (and in some cases cities) where their advertisements can be displayed. However, this vulnerability allows a hacker in Beijing to see and click on advertisements meant for a Las Vegas audience. Some advertisers pay up to $35 every time a user clicks on their advertisement, and a hacker can run up the tab for such advertisers quite fast. Sofizar’s internal testing shows that Google not only charges for these clicks, but due to a software glitch in Google’s reporting interface, does not record the impression.“PPC advertisement has become very popular due to their instant traffic results, and control over the composition of the traffic” said Ron Arthur, Program Manager of Sofizar managed service. “Given that there is about $7 Billion at stake with Google PPC advertising in 2006, malicious hackers are always on the look out to get a piece of the pie. An advertiser may feel secure in the knowledge that his advertisements are being displayed only in the US, while his advertisements may be getting unwanted clicks(and a massive bill) from a hacker in East Europe”.“There is essentially an arms race between the click fraudsters and us,” said Zafar Khan, CEO of Sofizar. “We see ever insidious tactics by hackers to deplete the budget of advertisers, and unless the advertiser is really keeping close tabs on their PPC advertising they are a prime target for fraud. The location based vulnerability allows hackers to fly under the radar, and hit unsuspecting advertisers. We have reported this flaw to Google and we are confident that they will fix the glitch in their software. Our previous experience in dealing with Google customer support regarding glitches has been outstanding”.Testing
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.wordtracker.com
Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page – This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags – Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics
Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.
If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher.
www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au
4. Link Exchanges
Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.
By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.
On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.
Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.
If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:
http://www.linkexchanged.com http://www.powerlinks.com http://www.links-pal.com
5. Banner Advertising
Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.
To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com
6. Email Signature
Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.
To set up your signature using Outlook Express:
Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
Step 2: Click "Signatures".
Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"
Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:
Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:
Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".
7. Feedback and testimonials
When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on
There are different ways of making money. Some have decided to work full time while others have decided to start it up. The advantage of being an entrepreneur is that the person has control over everything and those who have no idea where to start can probably try MLM in the comforts of one's home.There is nothing in the law that will stop the individual from selling goods while this is based at home. In fact, tax incentives are given since the government encourages people to put up businesses.The first thing to do is to find a company that will help the entrepreneur set this up at home. A family member or a friend may work in that firm or know someone who is so the business can get started.The person will then have to attend product training to learn the features of each product, promos that are currently being offered since customers will probably purchase if there are discounts.Once the paperwork has been finished and the goods have been delivered, it is time to sell these to potential customers. It is possible to throw a party and invite neighbors to see what is available in the hopes of making a sale.Some MLM companies won't even deliver it to the home because the orders are forwarded back to the supplier and the people there will take care of the rest.Since this only works in the beginning, it is time to reach out by advertising this with one of the best mediums to date namely, the Internet. The entrepreneur can create a website or hire someone to make it. This should be tested numerous times because it is really a turnoff when a few glitches get in the way of making a transaction.It is also important to make sure that the website can easily be found by the customer. Surely, there are other entrepreneurs who have made money through online sales so the right keywords must be used to stay in the game.The entrepreneur also has to make sure that there won't be any problems when these goods are packed and delivered. If the person promises overnight delivery, it is only right to follow this commitment so that further transactions from this customer may happen in the future.The only way to make a fortune with MLM's is by having other people do the work. This means recruiting other people to do the same thing so the entrepreneur does not have to work so hard any more and just wait for the commissions to come in.The person can encourage others to also work from the home and use the Internet as the medium. These people are often referred to as Independent Business Owners or IBO. These individuals will start th
If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:
http://www.linkexchanged.com http://www.powerlinks.com http://www.links-pal.com
5. Banner Advertising
Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.
To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com
6. Email Signature
Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.
To set up your signature using Outlook Express:
Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
Step 2: Click "Signatures".
Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"
Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:
Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:
Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".
7. Feedback and testimonials
When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on
There's a little known world of free-to-claim products with unlimited profit potential, an Aladdin’s Cave of ready-made products for you to locate in minutes, re-package in hours, and sell as your own. It’s called ‘The Public Domain’ and it means you can legally copy and sell other people’s books, maps, films, and more, with no ongoing fees or royalties of any kind to pay … EVER! Here are ten more things you may not know about the public domain …..* The public domain describes books and other creative works, such as photographs and maps, whose copyrights have expired, perhaps never existed at all, and no one has a better claim on those products than you. There are millions of public domain works that anyone can copy and sell, add their own name as author, and even copyright and stop others from selling similar items.* Changes made to a public domain product, sufficient to make it a copyrightable product, describes it as a ‘Derivative’ work. Let's say you buy an old book about witchcraft, published in the USA before 1923, so definitely in the public domain. If you publish it 'as is' it's still in the public domain, although arguably a few minor changes to font or pagination, length of paragraphs will render it copyright protected. But tiny changes are insufficient to guarantee your new book is copyright protected. But change the title, add a few paragraphs of your own, include pictures of places witches were thought to exist, update spellings, remove dated terminology, and the book is now copyright protected and termed a 'derivative' work.* A foreign translation of a public domain work is a derivative work and carries sufficient creativity to allow it full protection of copyright law.* The public domain is not to be confused with reproduction or manufacturing rights. Reproduction and manufacturing rights, where, for example, someone gives you a master copy of their book or product with rights to reproduce that item does not mean their copyright is defunct or never existed. Reproduction and manufacturing rights are a concession, usually passed by the product owner, allowing others to reproduce his work, but rarely does copyright also pass to the recipient. Public domain rights last indefinitely; reproduction rights can be time limited or otherwise withdrawn or restricted.* Public domain items can typically be amended by anyone, changed, reshaped at will, and copyright belongs to no one. Not so reproduction and marketing rights where the original creator invariably retains copyright and rarely allows others to alter his work.ate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
8. Giveaways
Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.
By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.
For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.
Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.
9. Trade shows
Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.
Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.
There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on each show, which should tell you about its size, target market and typical exhibitors. If your direct competitors are likely to exhibit, your company may be conspicuous if absent.
It's a good idea to exhibit at least once a year just to get your name out there, especially if you're an early stage startup looking for publicity — or funding.
Once the show space specifics have been established, then you can move on to deciding what to take and how you can ‘show your stuff’.
The following are just a few ideas to help you get ready for that all important trade show.
a) If the trade show display table you have does not include a tablecloth, be sure to get one that complements your display and represents your company’s image and colour
b) Erect a stand-alone presentation board. On the board, you can show how clients can benefit by using your products/services. Be creative and make it stand out. Include pictures, if possible, and be sure your company name and logo are more than obvious.
c) Arrange your trade show display table in levels. Put the larger items at the rear, shorter items in front of those, and even shorter items in front of those.
d) Develop a PowerPoint presentation to display on your table. You can make it on your desktop computer and transfer it to a laptop, which you can rent or borrow if you don’t already have one. Your visitors will find this visually appealing and it will draw in their attention.
e) Have plenty of trade show giveaways, such as business cards, brochures, pens, magnets, and anything else that has your company name and/or logo on it.
f) Offer something a little different as a trade show giveaway… FOOD. Package your food in a way that will allow you to have your company contact information on it.
g) Offer Gift Certificates for some of your services as a trade show giveaway.
h) Have a draw for a prize. Offer a prize that in some way complements your business if possible, and appeals to anyone. Have visitors and entrants sign a guestbook, fill in a ticket, or drop their business cards into a fish bowl or gift bag. The great thing about this trade show giveaway is that you can then use this information at a later date to make a follow up contact.
i) Have a portfolio of your work available as part of your trade show display. Print off some of your best projects, put them into plastic sheet protectors, and arrange them in a binder.
10. Classified Ads
Classified ads are one of the most inexpensive ways to advertise your products or service. Unfortunately many people misuse classified ads. They try to sell a product directly from the ad. The best way to use a classified ad is as a two step process.
1. You place a classified ad in your local newspaper/magazine. The ad should be simple and straight to the point. It should then direct readers to call a phone number of your answering machine.
2. Your customer will dial the number where they will hear a powerful sales message and at the end customers are directed to send an order to the address you give on the tape or they can leave their contact details.
An example of such classified ad would be:
“Double your mail order business’ profits. Incredible recorded message tells secrets. Call 1234 5678 24hours or visit www.yourcompany.com”
People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.
The selection of words you use is the most important aspect of classified ad copy. You need to choose precisely but don’t skimp on words to save the cost in the ad.
The best way to prepare copy is to first write about your products/services at length. List all the major benefits and features. Choose a powerful heading that points out the most significant aspect of your product. Follow up with a few words or details and finish with a request to contact for more information.
For more information about writing effective classified ads, you may wish to download a free copy of “Classified Ads Secrets” Ebook from: http://www.web4business.com.au/ClassifiedAdSecrets.htm
11. Domain Name
Your domain name represents one of the most important decisions you have to make in going online. The purpose of a domain name is similar to that of a street address or telephone number. The domain name directs customers to you on the Internet. The most popular domain names in Australia are “.com.au” and “.com”.
Ideally your domain name should be rich in keywords (words relating to your business) to ensure on-line success, especially with search engines.
If for example, you are a florist based in Sydney, it would be preferable for you to have one of the following domain names:
www.sydneyflorist.com.au
www.florist.com.au
www.sydneyflowers.com.au
You will, however, find that generic names such as the above are already taken. In that case, register something like:
www.cindysflowers.com.au
www.sydneyflowersandgifts.com.au
If your business name is for example “Jim & Sons”, ensure you include a description of what you actually do, eg.
www.jimandsonscarpetcleaning.com.au or www.jimscarpetcleaning.com.au
12. Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs also known as reseller programs are an agreement in which a website owner displays an ad for another company in exchange for a commission on the resulting sales and/or leads.
There are two ways you can start your own affiliate program.
1. You can have a service bureau take care of nearly everything for you. They’ll handle the recruiting and administrative functions like sending out payments, tracking, reporting etc. A good example of a service bureau is Commission Junction – www.cj.com
2. Set up an affiliate program yourself, using on-line services. Some you may wish to check out include:
www.synergyx.com
www.marketerschoice.com
www.assoctrac.com
Tips for setting up successful affiliate programs:
1. Should be free to join.
2. Offer real time statistics so that affiliates can check their sales and commission without having to contact you.
3. You should provide your affiliates with proven tools they can use to sell your products (eg. Sales letters, endorsement letters, banners, ezine articles, ezine ads)
4. Technical support 24/7
5. Stay in touch with your affiliates to keep them motivated
6. Give your affiliates the highest commission you can.
13. Autoresponders
Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system. If you send an email to an autoresponder address, you’ll get back a pre-written message. Autoresponders have come a long way in the last couple of years. Not only are you able to send HTML messages with graphics, but you can set up a whole sequence of autoresponder messages going out on any day or at any time you choose.
Once you set up your email messages, everything gets done automatically. As soon as a prospect sends an email to your autoresponder, the system keeps working over and over again, like a tireless robot making sure no prospect ever slips through the cracks. Most autoresponders systems now handle your whole mailing list, so you are not having to manually manage your prospects.
Because the vast majority of customers will not buy from you on their first visit to your website, it is extremely important that you have an automated way to follow up with them several times to entice them back. You can use autoresponders to cross-promote various products and services your business offers.
Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong:
1. Make time sensitive offers in your email follow up.
2. Build extra incentives into each follow up, until your prospect can’t resist any more. Offer free reports, free ebooks, freeware programs, mini-courses etc
3. Include a survey as part of your autoresponder sequence, so you can find out what your customers like about your messages, what they dislike and what other information they want.
Some great autoresponders include:
www.getresponse.com
www.aweber.com
14. Bonuses
We all love freebies and your customers are no exception. Ideally you should pile on the bonuses to get people excited. Sometimes they will buy the main product only to get the bonuses. The easiest and least expensive are informational products – reports, articles, ebooks. You can find literally thousands of these on the internet. Simply go to your search engine and find one that would appeal to your target audience. For example, if you sell wedding cakes, you
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