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Online Marketing on a Shoestring
Budget
Businesses large and small have
embraced the Web as a place to have
a presence. Fewer, however, have
really figured out how to cost
effectively market online. While
there are plenty of ways to spend
your marketing dollars, if you
really know what you're doing, you
can do a lot of online marketing on
a fairly limited budget.
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Here's a handy
list of "shoestring" marketing
initiatives you ought to
consider: |
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Search Engine and Directory
Submittals
Search engines are the #3 way people
find websites and are the source of
up to 85% of all site traffic. Aside
from Yahoo & LookSmart, most search
engines allow you to submit your
website at no charge.
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Paid-For Search Engine Listings
Several search engines, the
granddaddy of which is Overture, now
allow you to pay for top placements
through advertising and bidding
programs. Costs vary by search term.
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Site Linking
Getting other websites to link to
yours is not only free, but can also
help with your search engine
rankings, as many search engines now
factor "link popularity" in the
relevancy of their search results.
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Email Signature File
"Sig files," which automatically
appear at the bottom of every email
you send out, are like little text
billboards, helping you promote your
company.
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Participating in Discussion
Lists, Forums, Message Boards, and
Newsgroups
An excellent way to build your
credibility and awareness of your
company. Don't forget to use your
sig file!
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Auto-Responders
These automated emails can be a very
helpful (and dirt cheap!) way to
send out follow-up information and
customer communications. AWeber and
GetResponse are examples.
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Co-Registration
When users can subscribe to more
than one email publication at a
time, this is called
co-registration. Use a
co-registration service, or recruit
your own partners.
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Ad Swaps
If you publish your own email
newsletter, you can swap ad space,
content or other types of prominent
placements with other newsletter
publishers.
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Low-Cost Classified Advertising
Even if you don't publish a
newsletter, you can still buy
relatively low-cost ad space which
can work well when placed in email
newsletters targeted to your
audience.
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Remnant Ad Buys
Websites that don't sell out all of
their ad inventory might be willing
to sell you a mish-mash of
locations, sometimes called "remnant
space," on the cheap. Ask!
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Pay-Per-Performance Ad Buys
Pay only when you get a click (CPC)
or a sale (CPA). Ad networks like
Advertising.com and ValueClick are
examples, but they still have
minimums, so be prepared.
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Content Placement
Re-use or write articles and content
that you offer to others to publish.
You and your company get exposure
through your byline.
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Contest & Sweepstakes
If you're trying to appeal to the
masses, contests & sweepstakes are a
great way to attract people. You can
even give away something you already
own, manufacture or produce, that
others will find valuable.
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Co-Branding/Partnering
Work with other related websites to
cross-promote one another or share
the cost of advertising and
promotions.
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Affiliate Programs
A kind of partnering where one
website compensates another for
traffic, leads or sales. There are
inexpensive do-it-yourself software
programs as well as outsourced
services that can help.
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Press Releases
Do you have REAL news? (by this I
mean the kind that journalists, not
just you, find interesting and
relevant) Spread the word by writing
and sending out a press release. You
can even use services like Bacon's,
Business Wire or PR Newswire to help
select target areas to send to. The
website PRWeb even allows you to
post your press release for FREE!
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"Online Marketing on a Shoestring Budget"
by Hollis Thomases
Article first appeared in a Constant Contact Newsletter.
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