While the advice already given should be very useful and, as described, 'provide the most bang for buck', I am a big fan of what I consider "guerrilla marketing" - taking advantage of every form of free exposure you can get your hands on. One of the most effective in my experience, is forum posting - not spam advertising your business, but making productive, contributing posts in forums related to the subject matter of your business. With a signature link to your business, you are providing a direct link to your business, while presenting a helpful face to public in need. I have found this can be useful for not only getting direct referal traffic (for free!) but also can be the beginning of your growing number of website backlinks.
Then there are all of the other standard internet marketing basics, and a few things which I just consider standard: - Write articles on the general topic of your business (or pay someone else to write them for you) and submit them to various article websites (Buzzle and ezinearticles are the first two which come to mind). With an imbedded link to your website, sometimes these articles will be indexed faster and higher than the articles on your own site, and be a way for that search traffic to be redirected to your store. More importantly though, it provides more backlinks to your website, which eventually add up and help make your website top ranker for those key words. - Aboutus.org - make a page for your website here. Add enough information, verify yourself and get the page set to "follow" - Every article you write in your blog should be shared on facebook, bookmakers in Delicious, submitted to Stumble Upon, submitted to Digg etc. Everyone of those services not only provides a chance of making that article viral in one way or another, but it at least creates another backlink to that specific article, and every little bit counts. - Find blog articles on subjects related to your topic, and comment on them (meaningfully again!). This won't help the backlink count as blog comments are nearly always "NoFollow" - but if people find your comment useful enough, they might click through to see your website. - Better still, contact the owner of that blog, and ask if they would be willing to post an article you have written. They get free content - you get free publicity. Do this to every blog you can find which is related to your area. - Submit link to DMOZ. And maybe some other directories too. Try googling "<mytopic> Directory" and any which come up, submit to them if you can. A lot of my early traffic came from a website which just provided a directory listing of websites related to my area - so while there are a Billion directory websites out there which are worthless, if you can find some which come up on Google when searched for in relation to your topic - they have already demonstrated their value in your niche. That's all I can think of for the moment. These require a lot more work than paying CPC, advertising, or mailing out to email lists (for a fee), but that is usually the case with free vs paid. If you lack money, but have some time, then these techniques definitely work. And if anyone else knows any more cool guerrilla marketing tricks, I'd love to hear them :) Shane ------------------------- http://www.sportarbitrageguide.com/ http://www.tdmskp.com.au http://www.shanegreenup.com http://www.surebetbookies.com/ http://www.comparebookmakers.com On 26 May 2011 06:05, Beck Rands <beckra...@gmail.com> wrote: > wow! thanks Mat, that is brilliant and helpful, and thanks to Jeromy for > piping in too, thats very useful stuff > > Beck > > > On 26 May 2011 15:01, Mathew French <mathew.fre...@subscribe-hr.com.au>wrote: > >> Hi Bec. >> >> Yes, I have come accross that with Mail Chimp and Also VR. When you set >> your website up, make sure you have facilities on your site to capture >> e-mail, as well as options to sign in for News. This is what they will look >> at when authorising your account. >> >> In terms of Mailing list, it is a little bit of a grey area. You can go to >> providers and ask them for what they call opt-in lists. Some providers will >> give you the list to send, or, they will ask you for your template and send >> on your behalf. If they give you the list they will "seed" it to make sure >> you are only using it once. You then get the enquiries based on the blast >> for your database (or Sales Made). This is what you would call renting a >> "once only" list. which costs about 1/3 of purchasing the list outright. >> >> I can vouch for companies like incnet and contactability. Have used them >> and their lists are great. >> >> When you do the blast, What you can do here is get some Help Desk >> Software, and insert live chat on your site, This was you can see in real >> time who is visiting (Track IP Addresses). Now, this may not be of use if >> your are sellinf B to C as Consumers don't have IP addresses you can easily >> track, but for B to B, you can. This will really help you get some runs on >> the board early. >> >> You may also like to approach Industry Associations that have Lists of >> their members that they will let you market to. Once again, they will ask >> you for your content (Mail Template) and send on your behalf. >> >> When you do this you need to be quite clear about what the purpose of the >> campaign is. Is it to generate leads (Prospect Names) that you can then >> continue to market to, or is it to make sales. THis will allow you to define >> the message in the blast. Remember, in e-marketing, the message needs to be >> short and simple. Otherwise you will not get the best results. For example, >> we do e-marketing based on Generating Leads to then use to build our >> database and then continue to work the list. (You will have about 5 Seconds >> to Engage). You need to write the message in your Tampate so that in the >> first 2-3 Sentences, you have convinved the reader about what you are >> promoting so that want to then click the Call To Action. >> >> You can also think about bolting your CRM system onto your website to >> automatically send templates to businesses or people based on Ket stages of >> the sales process. This is not easy to do and takes time and technical >> expertise, but is a good phase 2-3 when you are up and running. >> >> Hope this helps. >> >> Mat >> >> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 9:57 AM, Beck Rands <beckra...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Matthew >>> >>> All the stuff you say here is good and I had not heard of Vertical >>> Response so thanks for that. >>> >>> I just need to ask about purchased lists here. >>> >>> The reason being I did some marketing for a friends' business a few weeks >>> ago who had very little idea about the internet and marketing. So I went >>> the easiest route, through mailchimp.com (who I can highly highly highly >>> recommend, they are fabulous in every way and I will certainly use them for >>> my business) with a list of 750 email addresses that my friend had provided. >>> As well as FB Twitter, bugging them to start a blog etc >>> >>> She had gathered these email addresses by what she saw as legitimate >>> means over a period of a number of years. Unfortunately because these people >>> hadn't signed up for this specific newsletter we were branded spammers and >>> the account was suspended, which took a fair bit of wiggling and explaining >>> to get out of. So being classed as a spammer (using purchased lists or lists >>> that were not obtained legally) can throw a spanner in the works, and >>> untangling the mess can take time and be quite disheartening to the new >>> business owner. >>> >>> I thought I would just throw that out there as an experience that I had >>> the misfortune to encounter and I have learned that it can end up being more >>> of a pain in the arse than a benefit. >>> >>> Has anyone else had a similar experience with being branded a spammer? >>> >>> How did others build their email lists? >>> >>> Beck >>> >>> >>> On 26 May 2011 09:18, Mathew French >>> <mathew.fre...@subscribe-hr.com.au>wrote: >>> >>>> Get Your SEO Right. >>>> Learn about CPC advertising and how you can reduce your cost through >>>> have good web and good content. >>>> >>>> Get a Blog up and Running. I am not technical but am OK at Writing and >>>> we are getting good exposure through key words from our blog. Word Press is >>>> optimised well out of the box. >>>> Remember to make the content meaningful and place key words in it for >>>> maximum effect. >>>> >>>> Also, try to look at purchasing some lists. Not sure what you target >>>> market is but this is a good effective way to start driving traffic. Use an >>>> e-mail tool like vertical response. >>>> >>>> These types of things are going to get you out these in the shortest >>>> possible time and with the best bang for you buck. >>>> >>>> YOu need to track things to make sure your campaigns are working well. >>>> >>>> Put your website on some sort of CMS so you can make changes to content >>>> easily. >>>> >>>> Use Viral Sharing through Social Media to try and also get know in >>>> specific groups. >>>> >>>> Hope this makes sense. >>>> >>>> These things take your time to work through and put together. Most these >>>> things relate to Owned Content rather than purchased Content. In the long >>>> run, will be very powerful for you. >>>> >>>> Mathew >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 9:19 PM, doogirl <oliviamel...@hotmail.com>wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi all, >>>>> >>>>> Let me introduce myself, my name is Olivia, I am totally new to SB. I >>>>> am about to embark in possibly the scariest and most exciting thing I >>>>> have ever done. I am starting an online business (retail), it's still >>>>> early days for me. I have had this niggiling idea for years and >>>>> decided to finally take the punt into the online world, problem is I >>>>> am not a technical person! I am really looking to hear from other >>>>> young entreprenuer who started online companies, who weren't already >>>>> guru's. Luckily I have found some people who are advising me and >>>>> helping with the legal side of things to get my company off the >>>>> ground, but when it comes to marketing my business (without a huge >>>>> amount of $$$$) I am a little lost. What are the best ways I can >>>>> market online without spending a lot of money? >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon >>>>> Beach Australia mailing list. >>>>> >>>>> Guidelines on discussion: >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den >>>>> >>>>> No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>>>> >>>>> To post to this group, send email to >>>>> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> Mathew French >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon >>>> Beach Australia mailing list. >>>> >>>> Guidelines on discussion: >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den >>>> >>>> No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>>> >>>> To post to this group, send email to >>>> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >>> Australia mailing list. >>> >>> Guidelines on discussion: >>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den >>> >>> No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >>> >>> To post to this group, send email to >>> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Regards, >> >> Mathew French >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >> Australia mailing list. >> >> Guidelines on discussion: >> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den >> >> No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >> >> To post to this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. > > Guidelines on discussion: > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
