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How To Advertise Your Business For Free

Written by: Teresa Bohannon

Article Overview: I said over twelve years ago, that the low-cost or free advertising potential of the internet provides a level playing ground that allows most anyone to have an at-home business. However, neither then or now, does low-cost or cost-free translate into a free ride. In order to succeed online you must put in time, money or pardon the expression–-sweat equity. It’s truly not at all like the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams where "If you build it they will come." Someone, somewhere, somehow is going to have to promote, promote, promote!

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

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Article Tags: adsense, belle of the ball, cursory attention, familiarity, favorite tv, field of dreams, fledgling writer, kevin costner, little bit, mark twain, morning coffee, private label, quality folk, ropes, shakespeare, share information, test of time, thick skin, web share, wit



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