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Content
22 September 2006, 23:28
Marketing on a Shoestring - or Less!
Marketing on a Shoestring -- or Less!
By Lisa Merritt
You have a great product or service. The best in its field, without a doubt. You get a great new website, open your doors, and...
Wait. And wait.
You see, developing a great product is only half of the equation, maybe less. If no one knows about it, you won’t have any customers. How do you get people to find you and buy what you are offering?
It is very difficult to stand out in the marketplace today. Everyone is clamoring for attention, information overload is prevalent, and consumers have little time or money to spend looking for you. Unless you pop up on the first page of an internet search, very few customers will find you, but it is next to impossible to get on that first page without a lot of volume on your site! Classic Catch 22.
The key is for you to go out and find customers, don’t wait for them to find you!
Marketing campaigns and Search Engine Optimization providers can cost a lot of money, but here are some things you can try without breaking the bank:
1. What, you don’t have a website? You have to have a website to sell anything these days. Search around, there are many companies that will design your website just for free if you host with them on a monthly basis. You might not get the most customized one, but at least it gets you out there. Or maybe you can barter one for a service that you provide.
2. Analyze your website. That’s right, not all websites are equal in the mechanical eyes of the search engines. You need to make sure that your website has the right key words, that the density of those key words is high in your site, and that your links work, etc. Type in “Search Engine Optimization” on Google or another search engine, and you will get a list of companies that provide services to improve the rank of your website. Just reading these sites will give you a wealth of information, but using some of the free tools on these sites can greatly improve your website and how traffic gets there. Of course if you can afford it, give them some business and let them analyze your site and redesign it for you!
3. Put the word out! Write letters, articles, email your friends and ask them to email their friends. Your local business section in the newspaper probably has a new businesses feature. Submit news about your product or service to ezines. All of this is free!
4. List on Craigslist.org. Its amazing how popular craigslist has become, and listings are free.
5. For a little more money, sell on ebay or Amazon. They have a variety of services for small businesses. Their customer service workers are knowledgeable and polite, so don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t know how to get your product up and running. Some services cost a monthly fee, some are one time, so make sure to read the fine print.
Get ready to start making sales!
Lisa Merritt is president of Pegasus Consulting Group, Inc., a full-service grant writing company, and author of Simply: Grant Writing. Please visit her website, http://www.pegasuswriter.com, for more information or to purchase Simply: Grant Writing in electronic format to get started grant writing today. She also writes fiction and is completing her first novel.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Merritt
Content
22 September 2006, 03:37
2 Lesser Known Ways To Brainstorm For Internet Home Business
2 Lesser Known Ways To Brainstorm For Internet Home Business Keywords
http://denero.wordpress.com/2006/08/08/brainstorm/
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doctrine states that you should always find a keyword that has little to no competition and that has high demand so that you can rise to the top of the search engine results and dominate that particular keyword. The problem with the internet home business area is that many people online are creating new websites with the typical keywords like “work from home” and “home business” so as a result it is almost impossible to rise to the top of the search engines or risking having to pay lots of money for pay per click advertising.
Instead of trying to compete with long established websites in the internet home business niche or high paying pay per click advertisers, this article suggests two ways you can think outside of the box and think of new keywords to promote your internet home business and its products.
Motivations and the internet business opportunity
It has been said that if you figure out someone’s motivations well enough, you can determine what he could do. Instead of hitting the “work at home” keyword when promoting your internet business opportunity, why not instead start thinking of reasons why people would join an internet home business. Reasons such as early retirement, starting part time income, quitting the rat race, getting out of debt come to mind. So if you target the reasons why someone would be interested in an internet business opportunity you are in effect targeting your actual online target audience.
So what you could do is write articles on these topics, optimize your websites to these topics with links to your internet home business which fit in with these motivations rather than the run of the mill work at home business websites.
Another way to generate more internet business signups is to hang out at website forums that discuss such things and offer some constructive advice and have a signature that leads to your internet home business website. If people trust your advice on the forums, they are more likely to trust the internet home business that you promote.
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Solve health problems
Many internet home businesses have as their products health supplements. The reason for this is that such products are consumable and can be consumed monthly. As a result of this, nearly every internet home business owner selling vitamins either floods the Google Adwords with ads promoting vitamins or builds websites promoting vitamins.
One way around this problem is to find keywords targeting the problem rather than the solution. E.g. Heart attack if you are trying to promote antioxidants. Do some research into the area you are talking about and then either build a website that tells people more information about their health problems or advertise your product via Google Adwords as the solution to such a problem. Your competition may be significantly lower than if you had targeted “Vitamins” directly. So the lower the competition, the potential more money you might make with regards to product sales.
In conclusion, always aim to find these niches and once you do, spend time on Search Engine Optimization in addition to PayperClick advertising and you will find that in the longer run you will make more money online that you would have dreamed with your internet home business.
Content
22 September 2006, 02:43
Brainstorm Your Way to Your Work from Home Business Success
Brainstorm Your Way to Your Work from Home Business Success
By Roger Broggi-Garcia
Roger Broggi-Garcia is a work from home business expert. Roger’s views and ideas are published regularly on www.employment911.com
One of the best ways there is to reach your goal of Work from home business success is to sit down and do some serious brainstorming. You do not need to have someone else hand you a golden job on a silver platter in order to attain Work from home business success. Many people will all but offer you their version of a job on a silver platter. The problem with too many of those offers is they are simply too good to be true. If it sounds too good, it likely is.
If you’re single sit down by yourself or grab a couple of your friends, if you’re married or have a significant other who will be involved in striving to attain Work from home business success along with you, sit down with them. In some cases it may be a family effort in which case kids too may give some input.
Once you have assembled your little group take out a sheet of paper or two. Then start writing down anything that comes to mind that could possibly be done as a business. It doesn’t matter if at first glance it seems silly. The key is to get down as many things as you can possibly think of. The more possibilities you list, the more chance you are going to come up with something to lead you to your version of Work from home business success.
The following list is the result of a portion of one such 60 minute brain storming session: Online writing and translation, pool & Jacuzzi cleaning and maintenance, house painting, music lessons, plumbing, house cleaning, child day care, Karaoke, Avon, website building, ceramics, clothes design, wedding planning, answering services, house sitting, snow blowing and removal, landscape design, home delivery services, Tupperware, installation of car sound systems, data entry, family history research, graphic design, lawn care, janitorial services, handyman, interior design and hunting and fishing guide. Combined with the rest of the list that was generated, there were certainly viable ideas for an undertaking which could end up in Work from home business success.
In reality the above list is only about one third of the original list that was generated. As you can see it is very eclectic in its outcome. Once you have generated your list then you need to start going through it trying to determine which will provide you with the best chance for your Work from home business success. You will need to start eliminating things that you either cannot afford or know you would not be happy long term doing.
Your best chance for attaining your Work from home business success is by identifying something that you enjoy doing. If you like to spend time in the outdoors then you will likely find your success story in a job that involves being out of doors. On the other hand, if you are not much of an out of doors type you might be better suited to a job which allows you to work strictly inside. A third option for attaining your work from home business success is obviously to choose something that allows for you to split your time between the out of doors and working inside.
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