How to Promote Your Business Online - A Primer of 3
Being a complete online solutions company doesn’t come easy. Even we have a hard time keeping up with the cutting edge application that come online each and every day to help you (and us) promote ones business in a world that online.
So, how do we do it?
Probably in a lot of ways that you have done it for the past 20 years, but with a twist. Below we will walk though some of the tools we use, hopefully inspiring you to dive into the the world of cutting edge online marketing.
VFlyers
The way it was…Flyers
You would print them up, and put them under car windshield wipers, post to telephone poles, hand them out on a street corner.
How it is now…Vflyers
Create and manage attractive virtual flyers that can be automatically or manually submitted into leading online marketplaces!
With this application, you can create multiple flyers, image galleries, and post to craiglist and dozens of other advertising sites with the push of a button. Vfler tracks flyer views and contacts and you can manage these all in a very intuitive and user friendly interface. Best part of all, like most application we use here at inspiring design, llc - IT IS FREE. No better way of cutting costs then to do free online advertising.
Blogs
The way it was…Editorials
How could you get your voice heard? Submit an editorial to a local paper…Stand on a street corner and shout…
How it is now…Blogs, Blog, and more Blogs
Even my grandmother has one. Everyone now a days has a blog, and if you don’t, just get one, it is easy, cheap, and we can help you set one in in a snap. Once you have a blog, you have a voice, and if you get people interested in what you have to say, you have an audience, and then you have prospective clients… So, once you have one, how do you get readers? Here are some sites, tips, and tricks on how to promote your blog.
- Blog Rush
- Submit to RSS directories
- Submit to blog directories
- Submit to general directories
- Find out how much your blog is worth
- Social Media - Digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube
- Forums - AuthorityBlogger, Bloggeries, SitePoint, Blogger Forum, BloggerTalk
Google Adwords
The Way it Was… buy ad space
Maybe in local newspapers, trade magazines, if your big enough, billboards - promote your business, pay even if nobody sees it, or if people you don’t care about seeing it are the only ones that actually do.
How it is now… buy ad space though Google, only pay if someone clicks the link
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a paid form of advertising, popularized mostly by the Google Ads. The concept is fairly simple. Businesses bid to be placed at or near the top of the search results for particular keyword phrases. The bidding is done on a “per-click” basis, meaning that a company pays a specific amount every time the engine sends them a visitor. In addition, the top results on Google also show up in the results of many of the popular search engines (usually listed as “sponsored” or “featured” results).
Read more at inspiring design, llc.
This is the first article in a weekly series of how to promote your business online.
Black Friday
People go nuts for this, and you can always grab a great deal on computer equipment or electronics.
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Google Everything - AdWords, Analytics, Apps, Base, Calender, Code, Gmail, Local, Maps, Webmaster Tools
SpeedTest - Self explainitory, but this one gve as great interface and you can save results from session to session.
Yelp - Review and talk about what’s great (and not so great) in your area (restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local)
ZapReader - Web based speed reading program. Grain of salt alert: the site says you can experience a 300% increase in reading speed, without any loss in comprehension
YouSendIt: Have you ever had to clean out your inbox just so you’d have room to send out an email? YouSendIt puts and end to that trouble by sending files up to 2GB to your clients.
Basecamp: Basecamp offers a way to improve project communication. Use it to keep your teammates and clients informed about what’s going on with your projects.
Lulu: Lulu gives fledgling writers an easy way to get published. Each product is printed as it’s ordered, so you don’t have to build an expensive inventory.
PayPal: Give your clients a way to pay without sharing their financial information by using PayPal.
Campfire: Campfire is a web-based chat tool that’s ideal for online meetings with clients or coworkers.
LogMeIn: Don’t let your business suffer because you can’t take your computer on the road. Use LogMeIn to get access to your computer’s desktop anywhere
LinkedIn: LinkedIn offers online networking at its best. Find opportunities and contacts based on your work and the people you already know.
Craigslist: Craigslist is an invaluable tool for any freelancer. Find clients, sell your work, buy supplies, network and more using Craigslist.
l8r: If you’re working at 2AM but prefer that your client thinks you keep normal hours, you can use l8r to delay sending messages until a specified time. You can also use it to schedule emails that you know you’ll send, like reminders.
Pinger: Forgot to send an email? Don’t worry, you can send an audio email message to your recipient instead using Pinger.
Yugma - Free online collaboration with real-time desktop sharing, virtual meetings and more.
Plaxo - Plaxo offers toolbars for major email clients and web browsers (at least in Beta release) to keep your address book updated across all the applications that you use.
vflyer - Create a standardized classified ad that can be used online or in print.
GrandCentral - One phone number that will ring all of your phone lines and organize all of your voicemail into one mailbox.
Website Grader - How good at you at optimizing your website for Search Engines?
Lipsum Generator - Generate Latin filler text for mock-ups and story boarding websites
stock.xchng: Add photos to your writing or web design at low or no cost. stock.xchng provides tons of stock photos, many of them royalty-free.
MorgueFile: MorgueFile’s high resolution photos are has-beens in the stock photography world, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do a great job spicing up your work.
Designers Toolbox: Get set up with all the legal forms your design business may need with Designers Toolbox
Nolo: If you’ve got a legal question about your business, head to Nolo. Experts there offer legal advice for independent contractors and consultants.
Prosper: Using Prosper’s people-to-people lending website, you can borrow money for business expenses from real people. If you have extra cash, use Prosper to earn interest by lending to others.
MiddlePost Docs - Electronic signature services that allow you to get legally binding electronic signatures on your contracts.
IconnectE - Network with start-ups, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and others to create more business opportunities for yourself.
88 Miles - Unobtrusive time tracking that allows you to punch in and out of projects as you’re working, and includes on-screen timers that show you how much time you’ve clocked.
For Webdesigners - 295 helpful links for webdesigners
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