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Guest post by: Dr Don Yates Sr PhD Become an Author

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Like many small business owners, I work with a small marketing budget. Okay, truth be told, I hate to spend money on advertising. Especially if I can get better exposure at a very low cost, sometimes even FREE!

During the past three years online, I've learned some great ways to do just that. Today I'd like to share them with you. Don't worry; I'm not going to tell you to spend days and days at free classified sites or newsgroups. The methods I will be sharing with you are much more powerful.

So how does the cost-conscious marketer get the best free and low-cost exposure? Simple. By utilizing various forms of the best free marketing tool ever invented... Email! There are many ways to utilize email marketing. For the most part, email marketing can be broken down into two distinct categories... Targeted and Untargeted. First, I'll touch on the untargeted, just to show you why it is a waste of time.

Untargeted email marketing on the internet usually takes on the form of "Unsolicited Bulk Email". Whether you are doing it yourself or hiring one of the thousands of email blasting companies online, it makes no difference. Bulk email is NOT a smart way to market.

Let me explain exactly why... "Spamming” or sending mass email to "unqualified" email addresses is considered bad "netiquette". If you send unsolicited email to addresses that do not want commercial email, not only do you risk the reputation of your business, you can get into more trouble than you would expect. What kind of trouble? Well, since many ISP's do not allow this activity, they will discontinue your account as soon as the inevitable complaints start to trickle in. If you want better results without the risk, consider the following alternatives...

Targeted email marketing works. Truly targeted email means getting your email to recipients that HAVE approved of it. Not only do your get better results, you won't have to worry about ISP cancellation and more importantly, the reputation of your business. Here are the best-targeted email marketing methods I've used. (Listed from most expensive to least expensive.)

• "Opt In" email list rental.
• Ezine advertising.
• Ezine publishing.
• Email Discussion group participation.

Did you know that you could actually rent email lists of people who have approved email about certain topics? This method is not the cheapest form of targeted email marketing, but it works! On average, you'll have to spend about ten to fifteen cents per address. The companies that rent the addresses even do the mailing for you.

You just sit back and wait for the orders! When I released my book, "Insider Internet Marketing", I used this method and sold a few thousand dollars’ worth of books in a two-day span. The company I used is called Postmaster direct.

I'm a big fan of ezine advertising and regularly utilize this low budget technique. I'm not just saying that to drum up advertisers for my own newsletter, actually I have a waiting list of about a month just to get an ad in here. Why? Quite simply, email advertising works!

Take a look at the advertising section of your favorite email ezine. The reason there are so many ads there is because the advertisers get results. Not only do you reach your target audience, you reach them by the thousands. Of all the online marketing methods available, ezine advertising could be the most effective.

Many larger companies are just starting to realize this and are entering into this exciting new advertising medium. Compared with the high costs of web site banner advertising, ezine advertising is a bargain.

One-step better than "advertising" in ezines, is actually publishing your own. If you are not already publishing your own e-newsletter, I highly recommend you do so. It is much easier than you might imagine. Your customers and prospects will constantly be "in touch”, your ezine can keep them abreast of new products, and services as you make them available. You can also generate income offering classified or sponsorship advertising if you wish.

Unlike traditional newsletters, there are no printing or postage costs. Since your own cost is zero, you can offer free subscriptions, thus insuring a steady flow of new prospects. To get started publishing your own ezine, you do not need to pay for list management. You can manage and deliver your ezine yourself with a good email program like Qualcomm's Eudora or Pegasus Mail by David Harrris. These are the best email programs available on the internet and they can be downloaded for free at the following URL's

http://www.eudora.com, http://www.pegasus.usa.com

Once you have your email program installed, practice mailing to a few people at once by using the BCC (blind carbon copy) feature. It's important to use the BCC field when mailing to a list. This insures that everyone on the list does not see other email addresses on the list. No one wants their email address publicized all over the net. After you have perfected your emailing skills, all you need is some subscribers. That is easy; simply post a message announcing your newsletter to the "NewList Announcement List". Full details on posting are here:

http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/new-list/format.html

An email discussion group is delivered via email like an email newsletter. But a discussion list differs from an email newsletter in one major way -- you are allowed to voice your opinion, usually through a moderator.

Discussion lists also allow you to ask for help from others with similar interests. What's more, you can assist people in need while your sig file (the footer you include at the end of every email message you send) invites readers to your site.

Discussion group marketing works because the posts are delivered directly TO a targeted audience. Once again, push marketing at its finest! In addition to posting to discussion groups, you should consider advertising if the group you join offers it. No matter what you are marketing online, participating in discussion lists makes sense. Not only will you learn some valuable information, it's is a great way to soft-sell some of your wares.

To find some discussion groups on your particular area of interest, visit http://www.e-groups.com. While you're there you can even start a group of your own!

Now that you are armed with the facts about email marketing, go out and start your email marketing campaign today! And remember, whatever email marketing method you choose, be sure that everything single email you send out includes your URL and a brief description of exactly how YOU can be of service to anyone who may be reading that email! JimDaniels

Many successful online entrepreneurs are doing very well with their blogs and articles. They have branded themselves as an expert in on one subject or another. Do not overlook the potential of this method of advertising and building your subscriber list. All of us are expert in one thing or another; how about your job, your hoppy, your experiences on line, or even your life experiences.

If you're new to writing online, you need to promote blogs and articles to maximize your chances of driving in more traffic, and making money online. You can drive traffic to your sites and make good money. It can be difficult; a lot of work, but it can be done if you put in the time. You need to understand some of the basics in SEO words, where to promote your blogs, websites, or articles you write online for like ehow, or other writing sites.

Use good SEO words. This is one of the most important ways on driving traffic to your sites, and promotes your work. Search engine optimization is using search friendly words that are familiar with what you are writing, or product you are using to sell. If you are going to drive in traffic to your sites, you need to understand simple terms of SEO words. For help, use Google’s search-based keyword tool. This will help beginners to writing online, or blogs.

Sometimes it can be difficult, and easy, it takes time adjusting. It is very important if you want to make money on the internet. This will help promote more traffic to your blogs and articles.

Use social bookmarks. You should use social bookmark sites like Digg, Mixx, and Stumble Upon as ways to promote your blogs, or articles. It is a great way to expose more views to your work. You are going to need to create many backlinks, and use good SEO words when it comes to making money online. Those are key.

Also, check out shetoldme. It is a promoting site, that allows you to not only create free promotion, but they have a Google AdSense program. If you have a Google AdSense blog, you are probably familiar with it.

If not, you need to sign up for Google AdSense, which is free. You keep 100% of the shetoldme clicks on Google AdSense. This is great way to make money on a site, while getting more traffic at the same time. Check out Xomba as well, to create links to your sites. They also have a Google AdSense program to make money from as well. You can also write articles on their site. Both sites are extremely helpful.

Use search engine submissions. Go to submitepxress.com, for free submission. Your blog or articles will go to over 40 search engines. Why just limit your exposure to Google, or Yahoo? This is a helpful way to drive more traffic to your site. You cannot underestimate the smaller search engines, and using them to drive traffic to your site. Obviously, Google and Yahoo are the big ones, also very important but there is also more competition on those sites. The more search engines, the better for your site.

Place likes Facebook, Myspace, along with Twitter is very helpful. If you can generate a large following on twitter, you can definitely increase quite a bit of exposure to your site. It all depends on the following you can get, though. Adding more friends to your social network can definitely help drive a decent amount of traffic to sites. If you want to make really good money, I wouldn't rely on that alone, though. How To Promote

One of my first blogs regarded my retirement boredom and that I had turned to the internet. For sure it is hard to adjust from 12-16 hour days to zip, narda hours with nothing to do. I tried many social networks; however, I found some popular sites too Social for me and lacked the business minded members that I was looking for.

I retreated to my 1-on-1 networking, just me and my computer. I knew the computer and it knew me and my frustrations. Although I belonged to several social networks including a paying Direct Matches, now called myNwtworkingPro, I could not find the satisfaction that I was looking for in trying to interact with these members. For the most part, unless they were really social, the interaction was more of spam and link pushing than trying to get to know me and interact with me.

As of this writing, myNetworkingPro has gone into Phase2 with a cleaner interface, improved communications, etc., and is now considered a must-have social business network and is the largest such site online.

Swom became my first real social business network where I took an early position and leadership role in helping others focus on business, connecting and interacting with others. Since then I have added several others all of which support our ISA Groups: Swom, BizOppers, Fast Business Network (formally Sonar 247), ISMmagic, myNetworkingPro and ApSense.

While these sites all have different personalities, benefits, etc., the members all represent leads, FREE Leads for your business opportunities. While the previous post “Use social networks to promote your work” closed with “If you want to make really good money, I wouldn't rely on that alone, though”. I haven’t found the statistics as yet, but I feel that these social business networks are increasing market share as advertising resource that cannot be ignored.

I am sure not many might admit it, but every member that you connect with is a potential Lead for your business ops, but like many downlines, the numbers mean little, unless you learn to cultivate them. Unlike neighbors, that you cannot always choose, members can be connected and disconnected. (I disconnect with the spammers and link pushers) Be sure to consider Social Networks as one of your better resources. Where else can you talk and interact with your leads.

The blogosphere is a big and busy world with over 100 million blogs and growing. How do you attract visitors to your blog? Follow these simple tips to drive traffic to your blog.

Frequently updating your blog with useful content is the first step to building your blog's audience. The content you write is what will keep readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them loyal. Furthermore, post frequently to increase the number of chances you have for your blog's content to be noticed by search engines such as Google or Technorati.

Get on the radar screen for the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! by submitting your blog's URL to them. Most search engines provide a 'Submit' link (or something similar) to notify the search engine of your new blog, so those search engines will crawl it and include your pages in their results.

It's important to understand that simply submitting your blog to search engines doesn't mean your pages will appear at the top of a Google search results screen, but at least your blog will be included and will have the chance of being picked up by a search engine.

By adding links to sites you like in your blogroll, the owners of those blogs will find your blog and will be likely to add a reciprocal link in their blogrolls. It's an easy way to get the link to your blog in front of many readers on other blogs. The hope is that some of those readers will click on the link to your blog on the other blogs' blogrolls and find your content interesting and enjoyable turning them into loyal readers.

Commenting is a simple and essential tool to increase your blog's traffic. First, respond to comments left on your blog to show your readers that you value their opinions and draw them into a two-way conversation. This will increase reader loyalty.

Second, leave comments on other blogs to drive new traffic. Make sure you leave your blog's URL in your comment, so you create a link back to your own blog. Many people will read the comments left on a blog post. If they read a particularly interesting comment, they are highly likely to click on the link to visit the commenter’s website. It's important to make sure you leave meaningful comments that are likely to invite people to click on your link to read more.

Setting up an RSS feed button on your blog makes it easy for your loyal readers to not just read your blog but also know when you publish new content.

Links are one of the most powerful parts of your blog. Not only are links noticed by search engines, but they also act as a tap on the shoulder to other bloggers who can easily identify who is linking to their sites. Linking helps to get you noticed by other bloggers who are likely to investigate the sites that are linking to them. This may lead them to become new readers of your blog or to add links to your blog from theirs.

You can take links to other blogs a step further by leaving a trackback on the other blog to let them know you have linked to them. Blogs that allow trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments section of the post that you originally linked to. People do click on trackback links!

It takes a few extra seconds to add tags to each of your blog posts, but it's worth the time in terms of the additional traffic tags can drive to your blog. Tags (like links) are easily noticed by search engines. They are also the key to helping readers find your blog when they perform searches on popular blog search engines such as Technorati.

Taking the time to submit your best posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and more can be a simple way to quickly boost traffic to your blog.

When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or completely irrelevant keywords.

Doing so can be considered spamming and could have negative results such as your blog being removed from Google's search entirely.

Images do not just make your blog look pretty; they also help people find you in search engine listings. People often use the image search options offered by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines, and naming your images with search engine optimization in mind can easily boost your traffic.

Guest blogging can be done when you write a guest post on another blogger's blog or when another blogger writes a guest post on your blog. Both methods are likely to increase traffic as your blog will be exposed to the other blogger's audience. Many of the other blogger's readers will visit your blog to see what you have to say.

Find online forums, web rings, groups or social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn where you can share ideas and ask questions of like-minded individuals. Add a link to your blog in your signature line or profile, so each time you post on a forum or participate in another online network, you're indirectly promoting your blog. Chances are many people will click on that link to learn more about you.

Promoting your blog should not stop when you step outside the blogosphere. Add your blog's URL to your email signature and business cards. Talk about it in offline conversations. It is important to get your name and your blog's URL noticed offline, too.

There are a number of blog awards given out throughout the year. Nominating yourself and other blogs and bloggers can draw attention to your blog and drive traffic to it.

The most important part of the blogosphere is its community and much of your success as a blogger will be tied to your willingness to network with that community. Do not be afraid to ask questions, join conversations or just say hi and introduce yourself. Do not sit back and hope the online world will find you. Speak out and get yourself noticed. Let the blogosphere know you have arrived and have something to say! BloggingTips

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