The two most important aspects for any business are
generating new customers and getting repeat customers to
come back and do business with you again and again.
Home-based businesses are at a disadvantage when trying to
get the word out to the public about their goods and
services. Fortune 500 companies have the advantage of big
dollar budgets to smear television and the internet with
their ads. You have to use your limited resources. There
are ways that you can make a huge impact, generate new
business and make your presence felt on the internet.
Article Submission
Article submission sites are all over the internet. Ezine
publishers use them to find content to publish in their
newsletters. Content based websites also scrape content
from article submission sites to beef up their inventory of
content. This avenue has the potential of reaching
thousands of potential customers per day. You can start by
writing two or three articles per week to either give tips
or information about the industry your home business
operates in. For example, if you are a party event
consultant, write a short article about new trends in
wedding parties. Beware. Article submission sites will
reject articles that are too self-promotional.
Viral e-books
E-books can be used in two ways. They can be sold for
profit, or they can be given away. Giving them away works
best, because it has a better chance of being downloaded.
The visitor to your site doesn't feel obligated and likes
the idea of getting something for free. Best of all, if
they like the content, they will pass it on to their family
and friends. The more your e-books are passed around the
more viral it becomes. Everyone who receives it will know
your name and your website address. In deciding on an
e-book, you want to write something related to your field.
For example, if you are a financial consultant, then you
want to create a book that offers a few tips and financial
advice. It paints you as an expert. People are more
likely to see you as credible, which will in turn generate
business for you.
Blogs
Blogs are a great way to get customers to come back again
and again. It's also a good way to build up a lot of
content on your site that will excite new site visitors.
New site visitors will be thrilled at the amount of
information that you have available related to your
service. This translates into credibility. Credibility
translates into more likely to do business with you.
Social Networking
Social networking sites are exploding all over the
internet. People of all ages are using social networking
sites to communicate with one another. Because of their
popularity more and more business-to-business social
networking sites are springing up. These sites are great
for just what they are created for ' networking. Use
social networking sites to connect with others in your
industry or introduce yourself to others in different
industries. The business you can get through social
networking sites may be even more reliable than other
sites. Some of these are pre-qualified leads (people who
were already looking for your services). Alliances that
you make through social networking sites can refer business
to you and you can refer business to them.
Email Ads
Everybody has email these days. You'd be hard pressed to
find anyone who does not have an email address. That means
millions of people can be reached through email ads. Email
ads can work to advertise to new business or remind
previous customers that you appreciate your business and
welcome the opportunity to do business with them in the
future. You can either buy an email list or build up a
list by capturing the emails of every visitor to your
website.
Newsletters
Newsletters are another great way to either generate new
business or keep previous customers interested in your
goods and services. There are several ways you can publish
newsletters online. Create downloadable versions with PDF
software, html versions distributed through email, or use a
sub domain on your website just for your newsletter. Most
newsletters that are successful are generated to the email
list the business has either purchased or built up from
previous site visitors and customers.
Fliers
Fliers are old school, but they still work. Everybody has
the ability to create fliers with desktop publishing
software available on every computer. These days you can
also create virtual fliers that can be passed around
through emails. Fliers are simple to create and have one
focus. Advertise your business. Paper fliers can be
posted at libraries, events you attend, networking parties,
at church, at school, or anywhere you visit on a regular
basis.
Business Cards
No, business cards are not antiquated. Many a new
relationships have begun with the exchanging of business
cards. Ten years ago, you would have told someone about
your home business and they would have asked, "Oh, do you
have a business card?" Today, they ask, "Oh, what's your
website?" You give them your website address and they then
ask, "Well, give me one of your business cards. Is your
website address on that?" If you tell them you don't have
a business card, then your home business loses credibility.
And you suffer the negative perception people often have
of home businesses. Be professional. Get some business
cards.
Pay-per-click Ads
Pay-per-click ads are the internet's version of interactive
television commercials. Your services are advertised on
other people's websites. If someone is interested in
getting more information, they click your ad and they are
directed to your website. Pay-per-click ads can be
expensive if your website doesn't close the sale. Luckily,
search engines like Google and Yahoo! allow you to cap the
amount of money you want to spend on advertising each
month. Budgeting features put your home business on the
same level as Fortune 500 companies using the same tactics.
Classified Ads
Everybody uses classified ads. No longer as classified ads
just read in the Sunday paper, they are also searched
online. People looking for new pets, furniture, new cards,
tax accountants, event planners and all sorts of other
services, use classified ads. Most classified ad sites are
FREE. Some have paid placement to get your ad to the top
of the list. These fees are usually minimal. Even your
local newspaper offers their classified ads section online
now. Many of them don't charge to place your ad online.
They will even cut the costs to print your online ad in the
next issue of their newspaper.
Shared Advertisement
A great way to advertise is by sharing the expense or the
work with a partner. Major corporations do it all the
time. Car companies share the expenses for a television
commercial with a Beer company. Or a snack-chip company
shares the expense of a television commercial with a
grocery store chain. You can do the same with someone in a
non-competing industry. For example, if you make wedding
baskets, you can partner with an even planner to give
discounts to any of the even planners customers. Or the
even planner can give discounts to any of your customers.
All of these are great low cost advertising tools for small
businesses. Before you undertake any of these strategies,
plan your marketing strategy, set a goal for yourself and
put tools in place to monitor the progress of your
advertising campaign.
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