Free Online Advertising

Free Online AdvertisingFree Online AdvertisingIf youre a geschftsleben owner, there are a number of ways to get the word out about your products or services to people who want to buy them without spending a lot of money- or any at all. Free angeschlossen advertising techniques can come in handy when youre in the startup phase and dont have much, if any, money to spend on marketing. Theyre also great for testing new ideas since you may not want to risk your money on something unproven. These methods can help you generate leads, build your email list, get direct sales, contact previous customers to get them to buy again, and more on various digital channels. But although they can be effective, but its important to consider both the pros and cons before deciding if free online advertising methods are a good fit for your business. ProsA cost-effective way to connect with potential clientsGreat for testing new business ideasConsCan be very time-consumingRisk of low return on investment (t ime and effort) Now that you know some of the pros and cons, lets take a look at some of the top free methods to promote your business online. Facebook Marketing The great thing is that you can do it for free. You can join Facebook and even start a business page on Facebook for at no cost so you can interact with your customers. Its the ultimate free online advertising method. Some best practices Post regularlyOffer useful informationAsk questionsInclude special offers, sales, and discountsInclude links back to your website and/or ecommerce storePost photos and videos that grab attentionUse advanced features such as tracking pixels and retargeting One of the most important practices is to engage with your audience. If one of your followers asks a question or comments on a post, be sure to reply right away. After youve gotten some good results with free Facebook marketing methods youll want to expand into paid advertising opportunities as well. YouTube Marketing With YouTube you can join and post videos related to your business for free. Best practices here are to offer useful advice and information, or offer a strong point of view. It could be a how-to video related to your niche or a video of your product in action, for example. Always fill out the description with details about your business, as well as a link back to your website (be sure to include http// so that your link is clickable). Include that in the video too- in fact, add a call to action at the end of your video encouraging people to visit your website for more information. If youre creating videos and uploading them to YouTube you should upload them directly to Facebook as well. While youre at it, add the video to your blog, too. LinkedIn Marketing If your product or service would help business owners or companies- a business-to-business (B2B) type of product- you should also be active on LinkedIn. Here, you can network with potential customers and post links to articles and other re sources. Its a great way to get the word out about your business. Again, its free online advertising. They key to really leveraging LinkedIn is to make personal connections and develop real relationships with people that can potentially turn into business leads, sales, or referrals. If youre a great networker offline then LinkedIn will magnify your networking abilities by a huge factor. Forum and Facebook Group Marketing Although Facebook has stolen a bit of the thunder of forums, forum marketing isstill a great way to interact with prospect and customers. A forum is an online discussion group about a specific niche or industry. The idea here is that you join the forum and read through past posts. Get an idea of what people are talking about and the issues that are concerning them. You can start posting your take on the issue, offer advice and useful information, and in general be an active participant. The next step is delicate. You dont want to just start posting links and ads to your website and products. The forum folks will consider it massenmail and might even ban you. Instead, include a link to your website in your profile and signature. You could even make casual links and mentions to in some of your posts to your product or your website. But dont be salesy or pushy no matter what you do. Getting listed on popular social sites like Reddit could also be a great way to drive traffic to your website and turn some free online advertising into real sales. Reddit has very specific categories, or sub-Reddits, dealing with just about any interest or niche you can think. Again, join the discussion and link to your product once youve been around awhile and people know you. All of the above advice can be applied to Facebook Groups, which is a great free marketing method as well. Blog Marketing Another great way to engage in free online advertising is to start a blog. You can include text content, photos, and videos about important topics in your niche. Of fer useful advice and information, like how-to tips, news about your industry, and more. The important thing with a blog is to post regularly, several times a week isthe best-case scenario (if youre really limited in time or dont like writing then try to commit to an at least once weekly schedule or outsource your content). Youll grow your blog audience by posting your blog on social media, mentioning it in forums, and, once youve been at it awhile, youll get free traffic through search engine optimization as your site sits higher in the Google rankings. The blog will help people get to know you and your business (and its products and/or services). Youll become a trusted authority in your niche. And that, eventually, will turn your blog visitors into paying customers. Once you have a bit of experience and a track record, you can also offer to do guest blog posts on other peoples blogs. The blog should be in a related niche, since you want to make sure the audience is interested in w hat you have to say. Again, you can include a link to your own blog or website. Of course, you will have to reciprocate by letting others do guest posts on your blog. A final note on blogging Any time you post new content be sure to use all the methods above to promote your new content. Podcast Marketing Podcasts are a very popular way for entrepreneurs to get exposure andfree online advertising. You can even make money with a podcast. You can start your own podcast and/or appear on the podcasts of others. It could be as simple as you talking into a microphone with your thoughts on your niche. You could offer advice, answer questions that come in via email- the sky is the limit. If you appear on somebody elses podcast you could do an interview. In either case, always make sure to tell listeners how to find you online so they can check out your website. Make your podcast available for download on your blog and/or website, as well as on the major podcast services like Apples iTune s. Your podcast should, of course, be a free download. Check out these top podcasts that entrepreneurs listen to if you want to see examples of how its done. Article Marketing Content marketing is another great channel for free online advertising. You can submit articles for posting consideration to websites like Entepreneur.com, Medium.com, and more. In order to be accepted, the article should be well-written, useful, and about a topic in your niche. Once you get on the radar of their editors, you can be published multiple times. In this way, you can get your name out there and build your authority as an expert in your niche- snd you can include a link back to your site. One thing to keep in mind is that you dont necessarily have to be published on a major media website to have success. You can and should target smaller niched publications, websites, and blogs that reach your target audience. The audience will be smaller but can be much more responsive. Once youve started to dr ive traffic and generate sales online youll seriously want to consider expanding into paid advertising opportunities to reach even a larger audience more quickly.