How To Advertise Your Business For Free

Building a blog is not like the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams where “If you build it they will come. Well…actually it is a little bit like that, it just sounds all too easy when you say it that way. The truth is once you learn the ropes, promoting yourself and your blog or website online is neither too difficult or too time-consuming, or even expensive. It can literally be done for free while you drink your morning coffee before you go to work or in the evening during the commercials on your favorite TV shows.

With a blog or website, content is, always has been and always will be the quintessential Belle of the Ball. And like the Belle of the Ball you cannot just doll yourself up, sweep into the ballroom and say, “Look at me here I am.” That may result in some cursory attention while everyone is dancing, but it will not last long with the quality folk that hang out in the Salon. The real Belles that stand the test of time, offer one or more of the following:

Intelligence, Knowledge, Wit, Humor, Scintillating Conversation, Familiarity with Timely Topics, A Thick Skin As Protection Against The Comments Of All Who Take Exception To Your Words, And finally, the all important ability to laugh at one’s self.

So I say all of that to say this…to truly succeed at blogging, you must write, and it must be unique content! Scrapped, unedited Private Label Rights(PLR) products and RSS feeds might get you a little traffic or a few AdSense clicks but it will not make you rich, famous or successful. However, the good news is.... Once you have made the commitment to writing something--anything--unique everyday, the promotional part will not be nearly as difficult or as time-consuming.

So here are the rules for blogging or distributing content around the web.

Share information liberally and share it for free. No one is going to pay an fledgling writer for information. Not even if your mother really believes you are the world’s next Mark Twain or Shakespeare just waiting to be discovered as an overnight sensation. That is just not realistic unless, of course, you are already famous and your publicist set up your blog and sponsors for you.

So quit dreaming and start by writing articles on pretty much any topic you are familiar with. You really do not have to be the world’s greatest writer as long as you can capture you audience’s attention. So write articles and send them to article database and social bookmarking sites where they can generate more buzz and get free promotion. Always include a short introduction about yourself and a link back to your website or blog. You can do this for free all day long, because the people who own the article sites will welcome the additional free content that you are providing... as long as it is of good quality and unique.

“But wait…that’s not all,” as the Ronco man says, the people who come to the content site for the free content will also get to know your name, and they will also probably visit your blog or website in the bargain. Plus the people who visit the blog or websites that you frequent will see your name and the link back to your website as well.

With a little luck, and a little hard work, one really good article could literally translate into thousands of visitors to your blog or website.

Another way to advertise for free is to seek out online forums that feature topics similar to, or likely to be of interest to your target audience. Forums offer free advertising opportunities over and above just a signature file and a link back to your blog, and they give you the opportunity to build a supportive social network of your own at the same time.

You will also want to link up with other blogs whenever possible…especially topically relevant blogs. Never underestimate the power of a good link. Many bloggers form blogger associations, like you find at MyBlogLog, with other bloggers and reap the rewards of a mutually beneficial relationship in the process. By joining a free Blogger's site, you can automatically swap links with the added bonus of auto-posting your picture for that human interest touch. They do this by swapping links, allowing themselves to share their audience with other bloggers like you.

Another bonus from this type of association is that other blog owners will often allow you to guest write an article or post on their blog, just as you should allow them to post on yours. This kind of cross promotion doubles the audience for both blogs.

So visit other blogs and post often and post well. A canned, mechanical, or auto-posted comment like “Hi. This is interesting.” just to get a link back to your site, will not only NOT win you any friends with the blog owner, but it will not catch anyone’s attention and entice them to visit your blog either. So, do as your mother taught you, play nice and “Do unto others…as you would have them to do unto you.”

Some people might think that helping someone else’s blog might be counter-productive to their own success, but that is not true at all. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship… i.e. you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. They win because they get good additional free content, and you win because you are promoting yourself and your site to an audience that is already attuned to blog reading.

Finally, if you do not particularly feel like writing on the occasional day, head for Amazon and set up your profile there, including a picture, a bio, and a link back to your blog or website…and write a quick review of your favorite book or movie or whatever. It’s fast, it’s easy and if you make it interesting enough the person reading it just might check out your blog or Google you.

So like that teacher back in grade school that made you write in your journal every day, I am saying “Write! Write well and do it every day.” Only this time, the credit you receive for a job well done could change your life instead of getting you a dollar from your Grandma.

****

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.

– W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915

How To Advertise Your Business For Free - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.

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