Almost Free Ways to Market Your Business Online

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of BizLeeg, a popular business directory .

Almost Free Ways to Market Your Online

If you have a , chances are pretty high that you spend a lot of time looking for ways to market your online. Paying for can be quite expensive, and today’s is so desensitized to online that in this manner can be highly ineffective. However, there are many ways that you can advertise your online without paying much or without paying anything at all! You just need to know where to look.

Develop an

Do you have an online mailing that you send to your customers? If not, you need to develop one. When your customers make a purchase online, have them sign up to receive “future offers” or an . You can also leave a form on your for them to sign up to receive your newsletter. You may want to offer something free for this, such as a discount code, , or a .

Once you have your customer’s address, put it to good use. Make your newsletter as good as it can possibly be. If you already have an online mailing in place, make it better. No one likes spam, so make the newsletter informative, helpful, and interesting. Throw in a coupon or two from time to time to keep the customer interested in reading the newsletter. Avoid using too many graphics, as this can keep some users from receiving the letter depending on their settings.

Become an Expert in Your Industry

Chances are you already are an expert in your industry. Use this to your advantage as you market online. Join forums that relate to your industry. Then, post useful comments. Do this often. Soon you will have a small online “following” that comes to you for advice. You can then point them towards your for more information.

As you post in forums, make sure you follow the posting guidelines. Some forums will allow you to link to your in your signature line. Others will allow you to link in actual discussions. Others do not allow any links at all, but may allow you to put a link in your profile. Since your time is valuable, choose forums that allow links, at least in your signature.

No matter what the forum rules may be, make sure that your posts do not sound like an ad. Give genuine, helpful advice to the people on the forum. Become a part of the community. You will be surprised at how much your bottom line increases with this strategy.

You can use this same rule to market using . Comment on discussions relating to your industry whenever you can, and make the link take the reader back to your site. You can insert a link in your name field, but do not say, “you can find out more at my site.” That will be a turn off to most readers, but if they like what you have to say they will be willing to click on your name and visit your link.

Create Your Own

As you are working towards making yourself an expert in the field, you might want to set up your own . You can discuss newsworthy items that relate to your industry, and you can include a link on the toolbar to your ecommerce site. You can link to your in your forum posts and comments as well. If you do not have time to write posts on a regular basis, you can hire someone else to do it for you.

As you work to create your , make sure it is interesting. People who read are looking for entertainment as much as they are looking for information. Do not be afraid to discuss something a little controversial. The more people that link to your from theirs, even if they are saying how crazy your idea is, the more traffic you will eventually generate for your ecommerce or site.

Use YouTube

Believe it or not, the popular video site YouTube is a great way to market a , and posting a video is completely free. Now, like your forum and posts, you do not want to post a blatant advertisement on YouTube. However, you can create an informative “how to” that relates to your industry, and then link to your at the end of the video.

The key to successful marketing with YouTube is not creating a fancy video full of special effects. It is making a video that is appealing to people. You want people to want to watch your video, it to their friends, and post it on their . Do not be afraid to do something a little crazy and fun, but make sure that it does not detract from your .

Use Online

Online are another way to market your online. Keep in mind that there is a wide range of prices for these . Some charge high fees for listings, while others have free or low-cost listings available. Choose a directory that gets plenty of traffic but does not charge too much for your link. Make sure you can have some control over what is said in your listing. Also, make sure the directory is well laid out with an easy to understand organizational structure. Remember, your potential customers are not going to stay on a directory site that is confusing or difficult to navigate.

That being said, list your in as many free as possible. After all, if the listing is free, it cannot hurt your , and it will probably draw some traffic to your site. Some of these make money off of other types of ads, such as pay per click ads, so they allow businesses to create listings for free.

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Online Calendars: What are They?

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of Okashun, a popular event calendar .

: What are They?

These are just like any ordinary or diaries except that they are accessed online. need web-enabled devices to be accessed, and they can also be shared with others, which is another great feature. There are now lots of to choose from. Of course, the one you decide on will be guided by your needs.

Some great features of include:

o Multiple views: You can adjust how the calendar is displayed to suit your tastes. Therefore it can display daily, weekly or monthly events.

o can be integrated with other e-mail or e-mail-related programs, such as Outlook, and Yahoo mail.

o Once you have a web-enabled device you can have and share . That means if you use a or any other you can take advantage of the features of web-based calendars.

As to be expected, some are more advanced than others depending on the technology used. Advanced allow for viewing of events and . They also enable users to add attachments if needed. Others allow users to determine which events are private (can be viewed only by specified people) and which are public. Listing is also possible so that there is no need to keep entering monthly meetings. Once the calendar is set up to keep repeating a particular event, it will do so until the feature is disabled.

Why Should I Use an ?

There are many benefits associated with using . In today’s fast-paced world, one major benefit is that they enable the sharing of calendars among associates. are accessible anywhere as long as there is Internet available. With so many , they bring everyone closer together. are also great for posting company information and events so that everyone can see it. These handy widgets mean no more missed meetings, events and .

are not just useful for work or work-related activities and appointment planning. They are just as handy for families and friends so that you can know who is on vacation and when. They can be used to send invitations and reminders to people in your address book. Some allow recipients to respond to your invitations without having to open an account with the calendar host.

Best of all, there are lots of available and most of them are free. Some popular providers of full-service calendars are , Yahoo, and . Deciding on which one is best for your needs is easy. There are lots of reviews online that discuss the features of the more popular ones and outlining their pros and cons.

With an , you will never have to miss a date or appointment ever again. At least, you won’t as long as you can connect to the Internet. Finally, with time being a scarce commodity for most people, also offer great time management benefits.

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