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5 Ways to Promote Your Business for Free Online
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, you know that the economy is having its struggles. Because of this, companies are trying to cut back on spending wherever they can. One area where many businesses are trying to get the most out of their budget is marketing. While I don’t think you should cut your marketing budget unless you absolutely have to, I do feel it’s important to point out some of the free ways you can market your company.
While this list doesn’t include every free promotional opportunity out there, it does give you 5 great places to start marketing your business for free online.
1.Social Networking- Without a doubt, social networking is the hottest online promotional tool for businesses of all sizes. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and other social networks give you the opportunity to connect with others who share your interests. This helps you build authority, trust, and new connections with both other business people and potential consumers. Remember, it’s called social networking. Be a contributing member of your network, and you’ll experience more success on these sites.
2.Article Directories- While you certainly want to make sure your business website has plenty of useful content, you should also write articles specifically for distribution to online article directories. Why should you place articles on these directories? For several reasons—1) They tend to rank well in the search engines; 2) They allow you to link back to your website; 3) It’s another free way to get your name out there; and 4) It establishes you as an expert in your field.
3.Online Press Releases- The Internet has completely changed the face of press release distribution. No longer do you have to fight tooth and nail to get your press release picked up by the local newspaper. Now, you can distribute it yourself to millions of potential readers online. Free press release directories allow you to publish business pieces online. The great thing is that since Google and other search engines crave fresh content, your press release will rank very well for relevant keywords. That’s why you should make sure to place keywords in the title and body of the content.
4.Guest Blogging- The number of people reading blogs has increased significantly over the past few years. For many Internet users, the blogosphere is their preferred source of information. What does this mean for your business? You need to be blogging. But in addition to contributing to your own blog, you should be looking for opportunities to guest post on popular blogs in your industry. Build relationships with other bloggers, and ask them if they’d like you to contribute a piece to their site. Most of the time, they’ll say yes. This gives you the opportunity to write to a whole new audience and to build your authority in your industry.
5.Local Listings- Is your business listed in Google Local, Yahoo Local, and other directories? If not, you’re missing out on a free opportunity to get your name out there and to appear higher in the search engines. With Google Local, whenever someone searches for your type of business in your city, your company name will come up on the map listing. It’s a great way to increase your online visibility for free.
Never stop promoting your business. Building a strong brand requires hard work and a long-term commitment.
What free promotional strategies do you use to promote your brand online? Tell me about them in the replies!
October 17th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Great article Eric!
At first I didn’t even like twitter or facebook. Now that I forced myself to use them I see their power for directing traffic.
I am just glad I got over my stubbornness and went and tried it, now I am addicted!
October 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Justin- I was the same way. I stayed away from Twitter for a while to see if it really was worth my time. Once I got on there and got active, the connections I made were invaluable. It’s done wonders for me.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
In every discussion of businesses operating in the era of Web 2.0, social networking seems to be touted as the panacea for, well, everything and everybody. But despite being a member of the demographic which is the PRIMARY user of social networking sites, I, as a consumer and potential customer, have yet to see an effective campaign.
With regards to the other four points, I tend to agree a little more — and social networks certainly have a proper place for furthering contact with someone, but only after reading a blog or finding the product by some other method. As the means to the end, though, I don’t understand why everyone sees these sites as so empowering.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Glenn-
I think you’re over simplifying social networking a bit. It’s not always about closing sales over a social networking site (although I’ve landed several gigs, including blogging on this site, because of sites like Twitter, Linkedin, etc. )
But it goes beyond that. There are the obvious branding benefits of having profiles on all of these networks. For small businesses, there is the benefit of free promotion plus being able to connect with others who could help you out (i.e. as a freelance writer, I’ve connected with marketers who need content writers) Other things to consider- social networking is great for reputation management. These profiles tend to rank very well in the search engines. So, when someone goes to learn more about your business, you can essentially control what they see (up to 90% of people don’t click past the first page of search results)
Additionally, promoting your content on social networks helps you earn inbound links to your website. The more quality links your site gets- the better it ranks for relevant terms, the more trust it gets from the search engines, and the more traffic you get to your site.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Eric,
Thanks for the response. Most people fail to provide any examples that prove their reasoning… you, however, have obviously made social networking work for you.
Discussing Facebook, Peter Shankman once said “In other words, add me as a friend, and if I can help you, or offer something to you through my profile that makes your life better, I’m happy to do it. Throw a sheep at me, though, or any of that zombie or vampire crap, and you’re history.”
I suppose most of my experience with Facebook has involved the sheep-throwing vampire-biting sort. Maybe I should try harder and find the alternative.
October 17th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hey Glenn—
Honestly, I’ve never used Facebook. Twitter is my main network of choice, and I’m careful about who I associate myself with. Believe me, I know there is plenty of uselss garbage on these networks, but if you take the time, you can find great professional connections, and you can learn quite a bit from other top players in your industry.
LinkedIn is also good for professional networking. The Q&A section can help you establish yourself as an authority, and you can land some gigs here and there on the site.
The only drawback for me is finding the time to keep up with these accounts. Running a really good campaign takes a lot of time and commitment, and that can be hard when you run a one man operation.
October 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Also, you can look at the current election for good examples of how to use social media properly. The Obama camp has done a good job at energizing young voters through sites like Twitter and Myspace. Also, we might not have even heard the name Ron Paul if it werent for him catching on with the Myspace crowd (didnt he set an online fundraising record for a day? I might be wrong)
October 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I use facebook quite a bit and so does my partner dion, it works really well for us.
I have found it sends a lot of traffic!
October 19th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
What are you talking about? I don’t use facebook that much……well, define “that much.”
…
Ok, so I use it a lot. There! Are you happy?
October 20th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Can you give some examples of how you find good article directories for your business?
October 20th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Social media does a great job of connecting you with other social media users. My business targets property owners, landlords, buyers and tenants. Here in the UK I am willing to bet that the number of that demographic who use social media for anything other than gossip and sheep throwing is less than 5%.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
@Avi- my favorite article directory is http://ezinearticles.com/ You can find more of them by searching online.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hi Eric: I have worked for years sending out press releases the traditional way, to media contacts at newspapers and radio etc. I am keen to learn about new channels — I wonder what method you recommend to distribute Press Releases online? I have looked up a lot of sites and they charge for the service - is there a good free option in your experience? Or a good paid for service for that matter?
November 5th, 2008 at 7:59 am
@Suzanne- sorry for not responding sooner. There are several great free and paid services online. Here’s a good article to help guide you http://ezinearticles.com/?Where-to-Submit-Your-Press-Release&id=1586425
November 9th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Glenn -
Look up Atlassian at http://www.atlassian.com as an example of its effectiveness.
In terms of effectiveness to “get the word out” - they offer one of the (if not THE) most successful WIKI collaboration tools available for thousands of dollars (and other engineering issue tracking and project management issue tracking SW), competing with a 100 or so mostly FREE “Wikis”.
They are effective bloggers, collaborators, fast iteration SW releasers, news releasers, they expose their “world” to the Web, and and and…
They are reference example like no other, I believe.
But don’t believe me - check out their company specs - customers in over 100 countries, offices in 4 countries, ~20K customers, made 38mil or something last year, and only about 200 employees so far.
Of course they also make damn good software too… and so that is the caveat for ANY good online marketing - you better have good product behind the marketing.
Bad press spreads even faster online… (or offline), of course.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 am
Great article - other promo tools I use are forums, commenting on other blogs and blog carnivals. Marketing my blog seems to take as much time - if not more - than actually writing for it!
November 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Great tips! I’ve been practicing most of these tips to promote my professional website design business and I’ve seen just as much traffic from free advertising as I have from my paid advertising. The conversion rates aren’t as high, but it’s free and with time you can really establish your business and gain valuable contacts and clients.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Great article there, I use most of those five and reading more was surprised to see that one uses Face book didn’t think that would work and be beneficial, I find that forums work well not only are you getting a link back but one gets to speak to others in the industry and to learn what others have to say, I find this very helpful indeed.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Very informative article. In times like this we need to take advantage of every opportunity we can to market ourselves and our company!