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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Online Marketing on a Budget

Time and money are two things that seem to go hand in hand. When business is good, you don't have any time, but when things slow down you might find yourself counting your minutes and your beans. This post focuses on a couple things you can do with your time to increase business without increasing your budget.

Internet marketing is great... most of the time it's the most cost effective marketing you can do! But we've all had those times when we've been forced into virtual "no-spend" mode. Yet, these are the times we need to look to market the most! So how do we do that?

Believe it or not, there are many FREE ways to gain visibility online. One of the best examples is this blog. It doesn't cost me a cent, I have an RSS feed to stay in touch with my readers frequently, I'm establishing myself as an expert in my field and if I was really pushing my company, I could include links back to our website everywhere! All I invest is time (and how long does it take me to come up with a 250 word article about something I know a good deal about? Not long!)

It could even help you make a few pennies... Remember that post about placing ads on your website? You can do it with blogs too!

Another way to gain some inexpensive visibility is through online PR. There are a multitude of sites out there that act as a syndication point for articles. Some are topic specific, others are open to anyone. Places like EzineArticles.com are a great place to start for online publishing.

If you do choose to do some online publishing, be prepared for some work. It's going to take a lot of research not only on your topics, but in finding places to publish your work. Other bloggers and published online writers make a great resource to helping you learn the dos and don'ts of online PR.

Last, but never least, don't forget about the best form of free marketing... word of mouth. Sure these last two ideas can help you generate some chatter, but what are you doing help? Get out to your community events, visit your local chambers of commerce... just find some way to get out and meet people! You might be surprised to learn that although I work for an internet marketing company, nearly 90% of our business comes from old fashioned verbal communication! You just can't beat it!

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