Posts Tagged ‘work from home’

7 Ways to Advertise Your Business for Free

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

1. Free directories: directories are perfect for customers that are searching for a particular topic. What’s great about them is that you only have to post once and they are good for long periods of time. It saves a lot of your time when you don’t have to resubmit your information every week or every month. The bad news is most of your traffic won’t come from here. I still feel it is worth it to get your link out there. Just take one day and set it aside for posting to free directories. You won’t need to do it again for at least 6 months.

2. Classified Ads: These are great for work from home businesses. Think about it. Where do people go when they are looking for a job? That’s right-the classifieds. The only downside to classified ads is that you have to resubmit them quite frequently. Once you find which classifieds bring you the most traffic you can concentrate on them and weed the others out. So it is really more time consuming in the beginning, and doesn’t have to be later on when you get the hang of things.

3. Free article submissions/ezines: The best way to inform others about your product or service is to write an article about it. In your authors resource box, you can tell readers about yourself and where they can go to check out your product or service. This is also an excellent way to get free links to your site if you have one. There are a lot of webmasters out there who are looking for good articles they can post on their site. If they post yours, that is another site that is doing the advertising for you. All for free.

4. URL Submissions: Probably the quickest and easiest thing to do to advertise your site. Just type “Free URL submission” in your search engine. When you get a list just enter the URL you are promoting and click submit. That’s it. It only takes a few seconds and your done. Just set a day aside once every 3 months and do this.

5. Forum Posts: Put your product or service website in your signature file when you sign up on some forums. It will be displayed every time you make a post. Try to look for topics that you have some knowledge on, and can give a relevant answer too. Do not spam anyone, you will get kicked off the forum and you will get a bad reputation. Get involved asking and answering questions that pertain to your area of business. Forums are great because once you make a post it stays there forever. It will get moved to the archives eventually, but someone could still find it if they were searching the archives. Yes, there are many people who do.

6. Traffic Exchanges: Probably the most time consuming way to advertise for free, but definately the most effective. Most forums I have visited have said in many posts that they received a lot of their profit from traffic exchanges. If you don’t want to spend the time surfing for credits, you do have the option of buying them. I would look into a program that lets you surf multiple websites at once like crazy browser. There are others and they are free to download. That way you can just spend one hour a day and get all your surfing in at once.

7. News-groups: Become involved in a group that has to do with your kind of business. You can usually mail the group once per day, but I would encourage you to find something fresh to talk about each day. People will tune you out if they see the same message all the time. Remember to never Spam anyone. Only join groups with the same interests as yours. In other words, don’t sign up for a recipe swapping group when you are advertising shaving cream.

Alicia Bodine, a work from home specialist, is a stay at home mom and website owner. She has compiled a work at home directory full of online business opportunities that are legitimate and profitable. To get more information about home based businesses visit http://www.homebusinessesthatprofit.com. Alicia also works part time teaching others how to get their own website setup free. Get your own internet business now. Everything you need to make money online is here http://www.homebusinessesthatprofit.com

How to Advertise Your Way to Success

Monday, May 18th, 2009

I’ve read about all kinds of ways to advertise. And they all are promising. But, the truth is, There is only one way to advertise Successfully… So, what are the best ways to advertise?

Remember the one who advertises the most, makes the most money.

Think of advertising like going fishing:
1. You need good equipment(website, products to sell)
2. The best bait (ads, sales letter, advertising)
3. Know where the fish are biting (target the right prospects, every where)
4. Patience (relax and wait for a bite. Then reel them in)

The ABC’s of successful advertising:
A. Advertise
B. Business
C. Continuously

Advertising is the very heart beat of your business. No matter what business you’re in, doctor, lawyer, babysitter, painter, internet entrepreneur, etc. Why are some businesses so successful? Is it their products? Maybe, but I don’t think so. The main reason is not their products, it’s their advertising.

I’m here to tell you. Advertising is the key to your success. Stop or slow down on advertising and your business will soon die. I guarantee!

You have to be dedicated to advertising 90% of the time and the other 10% should be used to find other products to sell, or creating better ads or sales letters.

Have you ever stop to think about all the advertising around you every single day?
Pick up anything around you right now, and you will see the brand name or logo of the company on it. Any thing from remote controls, magazines, toys, ink pens, pencils, clocks, etc. Hey, what about your vehicle you drive, see the advertisement, Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, etc. Tires have Goodyear, Firestone, and so on. Coffee, tea, bread, milk, bottled water, etc.

What about driving down the highway? Billboards, store fronts, semi trucks (company name on side of them.) Ups, FedEx, Cex, Pam, J. B. hunt, etc.. What about tv, radio, the internet… Lets face it advertising is powerful and the way to your success.

Now, I’m going to knock you for a loop.. Did any of these advertisement have a single prospect in mind? No, they flashed their message before everyone… Why, because like fishing you just don’t know which fish is hungry and will bite at any given moment… So you always have to be prepared for a bite from the strangest places…

Which leads us to the reason I wrote this article.

What are the best places to advertise? Everywhere online, offline. Make up some flyers, index cards, business cards. And place them at laundry matts, bulletin boards at the super market. In magazines while you wait at the doctors office, dentist office. Be creative.

Should you use free or paid advertising? Use both at all times. When you can’t afford to pay for any more ad postings, start placing free ads.

Hey, did you ever think about exit signs along the highway. Those signs are a sort of advertising. They are advertising the most popular exit. Which one is the most popular exit you ask? It’s the one your looking for to get off the highway.

Now, I know this may sound off the wall, but I don’t think so. Even nature itself advertises. Yes, it’s true. Say you are driving down a road and see a beautiful sunset.. And you say I would like to have a picture of a sunset hanging on my wall… What about pets nature gave us. Say you see a certain breed of cat, and you say I want a cat just like that one. What about dogs, You see a collie and you say man I would love to have a collie.. What about trees, You see a beautiful pecan tree and you go and buy one and have it planted in your back yard.. See what I’m trying to say here, advertising is every where.. You can’t escape it.. If you tried you would only run into another one. So, you also should be advertising every where you can.

Hey, check your cell phone. What brand is it? You might be that company’s sales person and not even know it. How? By word of mouth. Say someone says to you, Wow, I really like the look of your phone, it looks cool. What kind is it, and you tell them. And now that person goes out and buys a phone just like yours. See what happened. You advertised that companies brand of phone by word of mouth.. And that company just got free advertising…

See how important advertising is. It’s like a river flowing free.. Until someone builds a dam and stops its flow.. How can we stop our cash flowing in, from our business? By stop advertising (we just built a dam.) And our river will dry up…(cash flow.)I can say from experience. If you follow this advise I’m offering you here, you will in time become successful.. Just wait and see. Don’t be a quieter, be a doer.. Stay focused and advertise everywhere…

Now here is another example: Say you are going on a trip to see someone Or vacation. Make sure you take your flyers, index cards, and business cards along with you…
Leave them in all kinds of places. Leave one on the table with the tip… How about placing business cards in the envelopes when you pay your bills.

Don’t just place 100 ads and say your done. You are never done placing ads. This is the life line of your business, your success depends upon it.

My moto is: The one who advertises the most, makes the most money.

When I can’t sleep. I get up and start placing ads. I look at it this way. If I get up only to watch TV, I’m spending money. But if I place ads I’m making money. I guess you can tell I’m so focused on advertising I even carry a small recorder with me at all times. This way if I think of a new title for a sales letter or ad. I just record it and come back to it later and write the ad. This works great for those with busy schedules. You have to be an aggressive advertiser to become successful at your business.

Tip for today: Start searching the web for new places to advertise. New ones pop up every day.
I even give my customers a free gift for just letting me know where they seen my ad…

Copyrighted 2006 John Arrington. Reprint rights granted to all so long as this article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live.

About the Author:

John Arrington has been in the marketing business since 1995. John is dedicated to helping others to become successful at their business.
You may visit his website at: http://sunsetpixels.com/
or contact him at: sunsetpixels@yahoo.com