This is a guest post from Melanie Duncan, the managing editor, a resource that helps website owners achieve online success by teaching them how to create websites and blogs.
1: Look for free advertising on community bulletin boards
“There are some great ideas here. We have a local paper called The Greenfield Recorder says Peter Decaprio. I look every Sunday it’s filled with things going on in town — garage sales, homes for sale, babysitters available, etc. A lot of what I do is just contact people who run ads & ask if they need help updating their website or making changes to it. Usually, they’re happy to have someone who can handle the technical part of it. I have done this for realtors, artists, etc. Also, I belong to another ad site called Claz.us. It’s not just ads but people can post other things about their business which is good if the person who wants the ad doesn’t have a website.”
2: Get your name out there with free classified ads
“Went through 3-4 weeks of learning how to make an Adwords campaign before getting any hits at all. Failures are good because they teach you what NOT to do. Now I get around 100 clicks per day for <$20/day & growing fast! There are some great places out there where you can get free or cheap advertising online — Craigslist, Back page, Kijiji, and Craigslist. Some are regional so you have to check whatever applies to you. I have had great success with Craigslist, but it’s not for the faint of heart — some people can be pretty nasty on there! And, if you’re thinking about doing Facebook ads…wow, that is a more complicated beast. Be prepared to spend some serious time figuring out how to construct your ad & then monitor it.”
3: Get listed in free business directories
“Start by looking at what’s available through Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages, City Search and Google Maps says Peter Decaprio. Also include other search engines like Bing or DogPile (Yippy) which are easy to list on because they are open directory style listings.”
4: Use blogging as a free marketing tool
“This is a great idea. Too often, people ask for advice & then don’t follow it lol. The biggest mistake I see online is that people start sites without giving much thought to their purpose or the content they want to share. There are some great marketing opportunities there if you can get creative enough. A good example of this (a real one) — a local cafe does free coffee tastings on Friday mornings & gives away coupons as part of the promotion. Their website was terrible but they were getting some traffic from social media and Yelp. People kept asking where they could buy this great coffee so we set them up on an affiliate program with Cafe press and now it brings in about $1000/!”
5: Write informative articles & give them away
“There are some great ideas here. We have a local paper called The Greenfield Recorder. I look every Sunday it’s filled with things going on in town — garage sales, homes for sale, babysitters available etc. A lot of what I do is just contact people who run ads & ask if they need help updating their website or making changes to it. Usually they’re happy to have someone who can handle the technical part of it. I have done this for realtors, artists, etc. Also, I belong to another ad site called Claz.us. It’s not just ads but people can post other things about their business which is good if the person who wants the ad doesn’t have a website.”
6: Free “classifieds” sites like Craigslist can work well
“You can also post ads on Craigslist for free. I had success with that in the past when making connections for some research I did. It really helped me find people who were willing to speak with me and share their experiences.”
7: You can get modest traffic from social media
“Post updates on your Facebook page and Twitter account about special offers and link to your site explains Peter Decaprio. This will bring you a boost in visitors, especially if you offer something exclusive or time-limited.”
8: Give stuff away & ask people what they think
“I give my eBook away for free but it didn’t happen automatically, I had to do a lot of promotion first. It’s not just about the freebie itself, you’ll need to let people know where it is and what they’re getting for free. The other thing that helps me is asking my readers what they think about the book. Getting feedback from them helps me make improvements to future releases.”
Conclusion:
If you want some more free marketing ideas, check out our list of 7 great sites for finding new customers and growing your business says Peter Decaprio.
