Marketing Tips to Promote Your Business

After a tough 2009, the majority of small businesses have high hopes of emerging from the sales doldrums in 2010. Some 86% of small business owners expect 2010 revenues to be equal to or higher than 2009 figures,

according to research firm Ad-Ology. However, despite that glimmer of confidence, most small business owners don’t plan to increase their marketing budgets in the near term. In a February 2010 survey of small business owners called the Merchant Confidence Index, 46% of respondents said they expect their marketing expenditures to remain stable over the next three months, while just 29% expected to increase marketing spend.

Just because you don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on marketing and advertising doesn’t mean you have to sit back and hope for the best in 2010. In fact, there are many free online marketing methods small businesses can use to connect with potential customers. Below are eight proven marketing strategies you can use to boost customer acquisition and increase sales in 2010 – which will cost you only your time.

1.       Create a simple, clean website. There are dozens of self-service website creation services, such as Weebly, BlinkWeb, and Squidoo, which allow non-technical users to create simple, functional sites for free. Your site should include key words about your business so that people looking for your products or services can find you. 

2.       List your business on all free directory sites available to you. MerchantCircle, Google Local Business Center, Angie’s List, Yahoo! Local, Yelp, YellowPages.com, SearchLocal, and SuperPages are some of the online business directory services that allow businesses to create a free listing. If the site already lists your business, you can “claim” it by adding more details to the listing, such as your company website URL, a map, phone numbers, or business hours.

3.       Use email to stay in touch with your best clients/customers. You likely already have the email addresses of your best clients or customers, so use them! An email newsletter is a great way to connect with your loyal customers. Create an email that includes a quick update on new products or services, and perhaps a printable coupon or promotional code. You can also add an image, a link to your website or a video you’ve posted on YouTube, or a link to you’re a business directory page that includes lots of positive customer reviews. 

4.       Create business pages on Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites. Social networking is here to stay, so your company needs to join the fray. Start by creating a Facebook business page and a Twitter account in your company’s name; both are free. If you have video content about your business, create a free “video channel” on YouTube, while B2B companies should also create a LinkedIn profile that details your business profile, lists key contacts, and provides information about your products and services. Make sure to encourage customers to sign up for your pages by printing your Facebook address and Twitter handle on all business materials. 

5.       Get creative with promotions. Everyone loves a bargain, and people are increasingly price sensitive after recently living through one of worst recessions in decades. Try offering different types of promotions: downloadable and printable coupons people can bring into your store or office; online coupon codes redeemable for a one-time discount; a 10%-off coupon for signing up for your email newsletter or Facebook Page; a refer-a-friend discount; or a discount for writing a review of your business on a directory site like Yelp. You can promote these discounts via free or inexpensive advertising options: your email newsletter, in-store banners, Twitter, and Facebook.

6.       Search online for all businesses like yours. Use Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other search engines to find similar businesses in your city and in other areas to get a sense for what marketing tricks your competitors are using. Check out their social networking pages and their websites, and try searching for their latest promotions. Sign up for their email newsletters. Armed with this free competitive intelligence, you can see what’s worked for companies you admire, and fine-tune your own marketing strategies to compete with them.

7.       Show your expertise. There are many sites where experts can provide answers to people asking questions about anything under the sun. Yahoo Answers, MerchantCircle Answers, and LinkedIn Answers are some of the most popular question-and-answer sites. Search all of these sites for questions related to your business or service expertise, and then provide answers to them. Offer thoughtful, expert advice people can really use; that’s great PR for your business in and of itself.

8.       Create some online marketing videos. Most people prefer to 'see' something rather than 'read' something – so create some videos for your business! There are several sites, such as Jivox and Spotzer, where you can create simple marketing videos for free using stock footage, then add your company’s URL, phone number, address, and clickable coupons. You can also shoot marketing videos yourself using an inexpensive hand-held camera, and then polish them with free online editing tools like JayCut. Post your videos on your Facebook Page and on YouTube, and use them on your website and in your email marketing campaigns.

Small business owners are a creative and hard-working bunch, used to doing a lot with few resources. In 2010, take the time to invest in the growth of your business, implementing a few creative marketing strategies that deliver real results in return for just a little elbow grease.

----------------------------------------------------

GREAT 2 SITES 2 JOIN-

1.


2.

Tweet

How To Make Money Online with Squidoo

The first time I heard of Squidoo, I only looked at it as a source of interesting information. I didn’t realise that there are different ways to make money from it. How? Well, here are the few ways —

  
1.Be a content provider. Or rather, a ‘lensmaster’ as they are referred to in the world of Squidoo, as each page created by an individual is called a ‘lens’. This is the primary function of Squidoo: allowing everyone to be experts in their specialty areas. And, the great thing about it is that there’s no one way to create a page or lens. As a lensmaster, you are entitled to earn royalties from your lenses. Basically, when you create a page and Squidoo runs ads on them, you get a cut of the revenues whenever a reader/visitor clicks on an ad on your lens. 

2.Sell and promote your own products. If you have an eBay store or Cafepress shop, then creating a Squidoo lens is one way for you to get new buyers. You just create a lens that is related to the theme of your online store, use the built-in functions of adding eBay and/or CafePress items, choose items that you wish to promote – then publish and share your lens. 

3.Sell affiliate products. There are two ways you can make use of affiliate selling on Squidoo. One is with the use of their built-in affiliate tools (just choose the products to add to your lens and you get a cut off the commission that Squidoo will receive). The other is by linking to your own affiliate products on your lenses. In the built-in affiliate tools, you can choose from various well-known brands like Amazon, eBay, Netflix, CafePress, and iTunes. 

4.Drive traffic to your blog or website. When you create a lens about your blog or website, or a topic that can be used as a spin-off from your blog or site, then you just might find yourself with a flurry of new visitors, that may just turn in to readers, subscribers, and/or buyers of whatever it is you’re selling. Although I haven’t seen this myself just yet, apparently, search engine giant Google loves Squidoo. So, it might just help with your PR rankings too!
 
5.Promote Squidoo through their affiliate programme.  All you need to do is create your own account and get your referral link. If someone signs up through your affiliate link and then his or her lens earns its first $15, both you and your friend will each get $5 in to your account. This is great because it really encourages promotion and community.

6.Email Marketing
Email Marketing is useful, but not used by many. You can just put a signature link with all your outgoing emails about your “Squidoo Lens”. You may be sending emails very often and all your recipients have a chance to click and check your latest Squidoo Lens.

7.Forum Signature
Taking part in forums helps you lot with learning different things. You must be a registered member with many forums so make use of the signature link that is offered. Just add your Squidoo lens link at the signature space, through this you are revealing your lens page among many forum users. Also make sure you check their terms and services before you drop your signature.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GREAT 2 SITES 2 JOIN-

1.


2.

Tweet

10 Free Ways To Increase Blog Traffic

1. Join Trafficswarm.com and get a Free Lifetime Membership today. Surf your TrafficSwarm Page and view only the sites that interest you.Start increasing blog traffic today. It just couldn’t be any easier!
2. Submit your blog to as many blog and rss directories as you can. Here is a good place to start http://www.earnbonus.com/feed-directories/
3. Signup at technorati.com and add your blog then ping it when you update.
4. Get a free account at mybloglog.com and add your blog then join the communities and make friends. There is even a cool widget you can add to your blog like what you see on the right here.This is a great way to increase blog traffic.
5. Signup at Stumbleupon.com and make friends in your niche. You can then stumble your post and get your friends to also.Its a good way for increasing blog traffic.
6. Go to Socialposter.com and fill in the exact url to your blog post then title,general summary text then your tags. Now submit to as many social sites as you can. If this is your first time to use these sites then you will need to signup.
7. Leave comments on blogs in your related niche. This is a great way to increase links back to your site and get free blog traffic. Here is a great free tool to monitor popular blogs in your niche so you can be notified and make one of the first good quality comments. Check it out at Commentsniper.com
8. Make sure and add your blog url to your forum signature on any forums you are a member. This can be a powerful way to attract visitors especially if you have quality forum posts.
9. Find one of the top bloggers in your niche then write a good review post of them. Let them know and they will probably link back to you.
10. Join Squidoo.com and make a lens then add a link to your blog.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GREAT 2 SITES 2 JOIN-

1.


2.

Tweet

How to Make Money from Squidoo?

Squidoo is a very popular publishing platform. Most people consider Squidoo as a source of interesting information and fail to look at it as a wonderful money making opportunity. Squidoo is a great way to make money online even if you do not have any blogs or website to run your own. Squidoo offers opportunities for you to sell affiliate products, start PPC campaigns etc. Many bloggers even utilize Squidoo as a website to generate traffic to their blogs/ website. In this post I will explain some ways in which you can make money from Squidoo.

Become a Lensmaster

Lensmaster is a lot like webmaster. Basically, you are the person responsible for all the content on your lens. A Squidoo page is called a Lens and the person writing on it is called the Lensmaster. Whenever, you create a lens – you are entitled to royalties generated from the ads on your lens. Squidoo follows a revenue sharing program where you get a cut earned from the pay-per-click ads. That is whenever a reader clicks on the ad, you also earn a share of revenue from Squidoo.

Sell/Promote Your Products

If you have an Ebay store or have an affiliate product related to a niche – then you can use the Squidoo lens to promote it. You can create a lens that is based on the niche of your affiliate products and encourage buyers. Apart from this Squidoo allows you to make use of the in-built function of adding eBay or Cafepress affiliate products. So it becomes easy for you, publish it on your lens and promote it. Even search engines might turn up with your lens for a particular keyword.
There are actually two ways in which you can earn money from the affiliate products using Squidoo lens. The first one is as mentioned above, by selling products through the in-built function that Squidoo offers to its webmasters. Squidoo offers a ton of choices for you to use as affiliate tools. There are many well-known brands such as Amazon, CafePress, iTunes, eBay and NetFlix. However, you will have to share a cut of the revenue earned from affiliate sales with Squidoo in case you make use of their in-built affiliate tools.
The second way is by linking to your own affiliate links using the lens. This method is much more preferable because you get to keep hundred percent of the revenue you make from your affiliate product sales. The only advantage of using the Squidoo’s in-built affiliate product functionality is the ease of setup.

Driving Traffic to Your Blog/Website

Squidoo can also be used to drive targeted traffic to your blog or website. When your lens is focused on a particular topic or niche, you can use it to drive traffic to your blog or in fact a squeeze page. That way the visitors to your website/blog through can become your readers or customers. If your visitor is landing on a Squeeze page you can even become successful at selling a great deal of affiliate products. Apart from that, you can add your website link with an anchor text. So when the Google spider crawls it – you get a back link. This can do a great deal in improving your Page Rank.

Become a part of the Squidoo Affiliate Program

When you sign up for Squidoo, you also get a chance to earn affiliate income when you make other join Squidoo. Whenever, someone signs up through your Squidoo affiliate link and makes the first $15 then both the affiliate and the person who signed up get credited with $5 into their account. This is a case where both the parties are beneficiaries unlike usual affiliate programs where only the affiliate seller gets paid. For example, you sign up using my Squidoo referral link then when you reach the $15 mark in earnings for the first time then I as well as you will earn $5. Basically, the advantage of the Squidoo affiliate is that it is easier to promote as the person signing up also has obvious advantages.
The main advantage of Squidoo is that it is super-simple and fun way to share your interests. Along with the fun, it is also a powerful way to make money online. The registration is totally free and easy to get started. Many lensmasters are making more than $1,000 a year from Squidoo. Some even make $10,000, while others are happy with $40 or $4.
The main advantage of Squidoo is that it is super-simple and fun way to share your interests. Along with the fun, it is also a powerful way to make money online. The registration is totally free and easy to get started. Many lensmasters are making more than $1,000 a year from Squidoo. Some even make $10,000, while others are happy with $40 or $4.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GREAT 2 SITES 2 JOIN-

1.


2.

Tweet