You Don’t Have to Spend a Lot of Money to Promote Your Business

When most of us think of having to advertise our business, we start seeing dollar signs. While some individuals are able to spend a lot of money, all of us aren’t. And that’s ok because there are ways of marketing without a lot of cost.

•Article marketing-Join article sites such as ezinearticles, articlesbase, etc… These are free to join and you are able to place your business in the signature/resource box. Make sure that you read their guidelines. Write articles or hire a ghost writer to write them for you. Submit at least two articles a week and they will distribute them for you. Your business information will be at the bottom of the article giving your readers a chance to check you out. This is also a good way for you to build up a reputation.

•Forums-Join forums and, again, include your business in the signature/resource box. These are free to join and you do have to participate, so join forums where the discussions will interest you. Every time that you make a post your business information will be at the bottom which will entice the reader to check you out.

•Google Adwords-This is not free but it is worth using. You need to be careful or you will be spending more money than anticipated. The first time that I placed an ad using Adwords, I messed up. When I would go check on my keywords it would tell me that my bid was lower than the first page bid. Of course they are going to recommend that I change it. And like a dummy I changed it. In two days I had spent my weekly budget. Luckily, I have a friend that works online and I asked him to look at it. He told me what I did wrong and what to do to change it. You need to keep your keywords tight and you don’t need to bid high. I took his advice and made the changes that he proposed. Although it is a slow process, I am definitely seeing better results without spending a ton of money.

The bottom line is to just be careful when using Google Adwords. Don’t get yourself into a money trap. There is tons of information on using this service all over the net and you should research this type of marketing until you understand it.

What I like about Google is they don’t make you deposit a certain amount of money in your account, they do a direct debit once a month. This works out real nice.

•MSN and Yahoo Search-These are similar to Google Adwords. I haven’t had too much experience with them at the present time but I am sure they would be worth looking into.

•Classifieds-Let’s not forget about placing ads in the classified section of newspapers. Shop around for the best deals and there are websites on the internet that are free. The problem with the free ones is that they don’t give you as much exposure. Although any exposure is good when you are just starting out.

•Site Submitters-You will find businesses online that will submit your site for free. Like most sites they will usually have a free version and a paid version. The paid is always better than the free. Always start with the free to make sure that you want to spend money with that company. Having to ask for refunds is not a fun task.

•Let us not forget about offline marketing. Consider creating some business cards or printing up some fliers. Hand out your card everywhere you go. There is bound to be someone that needs your product or service. Pass out the fliers or hire someone to do it for you.

•Word of mouth is also a great way to advertise.

You will need to be persistent and consistent with whatever form of marketing you are using. To achieve success you need to spend time, a little money and have lots of patience. After all, Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb in one day.