Once you have started your business, the next thing that you need to do is to advertise your business so that you can get customers.
It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your business. Start small with all that’s freely available and watch the money roll in.
Free online methods to advertise your business for free
There are numerous ways to advertise your business for free – word of mouth being one of the most effective, but you have no control over whether people will spread the word or not. But there are other free methods to spread the word and advertise your business.
Advertise your business free, tip 1: Email signature
One of the best places to advertise is on your email signature. It’s a non-threatening way to advertise your business, buy it gets the message across. Don’t make your email signature long or complicated, you just need to let people know what it is that you do.
Advertise your business free, tip 2: Social networks
There are plenty of networking sites online – and most of them are free – where business owners can advertise their products and services. It’s a good way to connect with other businesses and find new customers.
It goes without saying that you need to make a presence for your business on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Advertise your business free, tip 3: Blog
If you have a blog, advertise your business on it. Make sure that you choose good, solid
keywords, and that you let people know what it is that you are selling.
If you don’t have a blog you’ll need to create one. A good way to boost search engine optimisation on your website is to add a blog to your website and make sure that you blog about subjects to do with your business. So, if you run a nanny agency, you’d blog about finding good childcare, how to interview nannies etc.
Make your advertisement stand out and make it interesting. If you have the skills, you can create your own banner in Photoshop, but you can’t beat the skills of a professional.
Websites like www.peopleperhour.com and www.elance.com are a great way to get freelance graphic designers to create banners for you at low cost.
Advertise your business free, tip 4: Forums
Forums a good place to meet people, but from a business perspective they are also great places to advertise your home business.
There are forums that are set up simply for people to advertise their goods and services, and you will never know what you might find there.
Our sister site, Womens Marketing Forum (www.womensmarketingforum.com) is free to use and you can create a directory page for your business, blog about your business, upload press releases and any information about your business you would like to share.
These are just a few ways to advertise your business for free – start with the basics, then build in a paid advertising model when you need to.
