30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 22

22. Publishing an Ezine or Newsletter

Whether you are the CEO of a multi-national corporate network or a stay-in-your-pyjamas entrepreneur, one of your primary business objectives should be to develop long-term relationships with everyone you communicate with – website visitors, prospects, customers, employees, suppliers, service providers etc. And one of the best methods of building strong relationships is through your own Ezine (electronic magazine) or Newsletter.

If you've been marketing on the Internet, then you know it may take several contacts with a prospective customer before closing a sale. What better way to make those contacts, without spamming... In addition, you can eventually make a nice income selling sponsor advertising and classified ads.

To publish an effective Ezine will take some time to develop and there are thousands of resources on the internet that will help you – simply go to your favourite search engine and type in “ezine publishing” or “ezine publishing articles”.

In the meantime, here are some tips to get you started.

(a) Give your readers quality content - not rehashed or well-worn articles that have been published hundreds of times already.

(b) Write your own articles whenever possible or hire a ghost writer to help you. Talk to your readers as you would normally talk. Be yourself and let your sense of humour and uniqueness show through in your writing.

(b) Ensure the ezine has been properly edited, you have checked your spelling, grammar and formatting. Ensure all the links are working

(c) Personalise each issue for your subscriber. If your email software allows it, include a field so that your ezine is addressed to your subscriber by their firstname.

(d) Don’t publish too many ads or too many affiliate links

(e) Ask for feedback to help you improve your ezine

(f) Stick to publishing a text ezine rather than HTML.

(g) Publish your ezine regularly and on time.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

Highly recommended reading.

What do women want? Money, power, platinum credit cards. No longer are women finanially controlled by men anymore. The world is our bank and we just have to gain the skills to source that money!! Suze Orman teaches women a lot about learning to make their bank balance grow and grow. While you might have to sneak into overdraft to buy the book....you'll soon be far far from scraping the bottom of the piggybank!

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To order this book in USA, click here

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 21

21. Ezine Advertising

One of the best, cheapest and most targeted way to promote your product or service is through ezines (electronic magazines). Ezine ads reach people who want what you have to offer. As Ezines are generally based on a theme or particular interest and their subscribers have requested to receive them, you can be sure that they are going to be read.

Prices for advertisements vary depending on the popularity of the ezine and the actual location of your ad. Top position ads generally cost more than those found mid-way or at the bottom. Most ezine publishers will also send solo ads (advertisements about your product/service) to their subscribers. However, this is generally more costly.

To get the most of your ad, ensure you develop a killer title or headline and that the ad is straight to the point.

The best way to get started advertising in ezines would be to contact the editors of various ezines and check their rates, publication dates and number of subscribers – go to www.ezine-dir.com or www.go-ezines.com for a comprehensive listing of ezines.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

Highly recommended video to watch!

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Video #1 is called "The New Path Video" and is available for immediate viewing.

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In these 5 videos over the next 5 days, Nitro is going to give you The Big Picture of an online business system, including not only what to do, but also WHY to do it - and just as important - how to properly THINK about your business. (The missing piece that you never hear any of the "Gurus" talking about - the Internet Business Success Mindset)

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To your success,
Ivana Katz
http://www.web4business.com.au/

PS: When you get in on Day 1 video today, you will make sure and get all 5 videos that cover all 10 Steps of the Nitro Blueprint System as they are released over the next 5 days:

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Airing Dirty Laundry ...

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Why are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying to start, launch, and grow an online business - with all of the information available showing you how to do that - still frustrated,
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(And even worse - further in debt and totally discouraged from continuing after your dream.)

Well, they are exposing exactly what the problems are and it's all revealed this special report that was just published for you which will give you some real answers, expose the real truth to
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http://www.NitroBlueprint.com/dl.o/Web4Business

Chapter 1:
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Chapter 2:
The Get Rich Quick Myth – BUSTED!

Chapter 3:
The Bamboozler In Hiding

Chapter 4:
The "House Of Cards" Are Not Playing With A Full Deck

Chapter 5:
What To Look For In A True System To Follow? (And what not to touch with a ten-foot pole)

Chapter 6:
Real Value, Real Results – Given To You For Free

Chapter 7:
Does It Really Work?

Download "The Internet Marketing Dirty Laundry Report" and get the truth at:
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To your success,
Ivana Katz
http://www.web4business.com.au/

PS: Watch out for the Bamboozler in hiding. Nitro exposes him for what he is in this report.
Some people will find what is revealed to be shocking, others will nod their head and say that makes sense...and most will do both!
http://www.NitroBlueprint.com/dl.o/Web4Business

PPS: You'll also see an explanation of life of a typical product in this marketplace. Warning: you may be seriously disgusted.

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Recommended Reading

Make Money, Not Excuses
by Jean Chatzky

It's easy to become wealthy: Earn money, spend less than you make, invest wisely, and have a plan for financial disasters, says the TV and print financial expert. The rest are details that mean nothing if these four basic strategies are not in place. Chatzky is a refreshing and her persistence is ever present as she pushes women to accept financial responsibility.

She takes money management out of the competitive realm and encourages gentler practices, such as mindful and humanitarian spending. With encouraging warmth in her voice, she describes the internal conflicts women have about being more proactive with money and describes relationship issues that often lead women to abdicate money responsibilities to a man. T.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

Praise for Jean's Work: “Simply brilliant.” —Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad

To order this book in Australia, click here

To order this book in USA, click here

Till next time ...

Ivana Katz

Websites 4 Small Business

http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 20

20. Webrings

One of the more interesting ways to add some targeted traffic to your site is to join webrings. A webring allows visitors to surf through sites that are related in one way or another. They are free of charge to the owners, members and visitors.

Webrings deliver targeted traffic day after day and once they are set up they tend to stay set up with little further maintenance

Each webring is created and maintained by a person known as a ringmaster. This person accepts site submissions and validates that the site meets the topic of the webring. For more information visit: www.webring.org

Till next time ...
Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

Recommended Reading

If you would like to learn more about promoting your business, check out the following books:

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 19

Articles

Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free publicity. Getting an article published is free. The publicity you receive by having your article published in a newspaper, magazine or website can be worth thousands of dollars in equivalent advertising space. Well written articles yield better results than advertisements and earn you respect from customers, who see you as an expert in your field.

The best articles are “tips” or expert pieces. People are looking for guidance and will purchase from the experts who show them how to solve their problems.

Your article should include the following elements:

(a) The Headline

This should be attention grabbing and use power words and phrases, such as “How to …” “10 Ways that …”, “Do you want to …”

(b) Lead Paragraph

The first couple of sentences should tell your readers why they should read the whole articles. Show them the benefits they will gain or the pain that they will avoid by reading the article.

(c) Body Copy

This is where you inform the reader how to do something that will enrich their business or personal lives. Use short sentences and provide step-by-step directions that they can easily follow.

(d) Conclusion

At the end you will want to summarise the topics you covered and briefly review the main points. Since you have helped your readers they will most likely want to know more. This is your chance to make your sell by making them an offer with a call to action.

(e) Resource Box

The resource box should supply the reader with the following information:
- Your name - Company name - Contact information - Website details - How to order your product, etc

If writing an article seems too daunting for you initially, you can hire a ghost writer to do this for you – generally at a very reasonable price. If you need someone to help you with this, you may wish to check out:
www.elance.com

Once your article is written you will need to submit it to various publications on-line and off-line. For a listing of Australian printed publications, including the editor’s details, you may wish to buy “The Australian Writer’s Marketplace”, available from most bookshops.

For a listing of on-line magazines (e-zines), visit: www.ezine-dir.com. You can then contact the editor of each magazine and offer them your article.

If you don’t have a lot of time to submit your articles manually, you may wish to consider using article submission services by companies such as:

Submit Your Article – www.submityourarticle.com orThe Phantom Writers – www.thephantomwriters.com

For a small fee they will submit your article to thousands of publications.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

Get Free Business Cards

Whilst recently looking for useful resources for small businesses, I came across this great offer of Free Business Cards.

To get your free business cards, click here

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 18

18. Visitor Exchanges

There are many websites popping up on the net that are known as Traffic Exchange, Click Exchange, Visitor Exchange or Surf For Hits programs. People become members of these sites with the goal of generating free traffic to their site.

The way it works is quite clever.

You visit another member's website and in exchange someone visits the website of your choice. Most of these programs work on a 2:1 ratio. This means that for every two sites that you visit, someone else in that same Start Page program will visit your site.

Simple concept, isn't it?The great thing about these programs is that you will receive all of this traffic to your website, without having to spend a dime!

One of the biggest benefits from these programs is the ability to develop a downline of people that will generate 1,000's upon 1,000's of click thru visits to your site over time! In other words, you receive credits for the credits they chalk up for themselves!

For more information go to:
http://www.web4business.com.au/FreeVisitors.htm

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 17

17. Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click advertising is when an advertiser (you) pays for each qualified click that sends a search engine user to the advertiser’s web page. PPC requires you to bid on keywords or phrases that relate to your business. The best known pay per click services are Google AdWords and Overture.

Generally you can bid from as little as a few cents per visitor. However, the more you bid the higher up in the search engine your advertisement will appear. Pay per click is a great way to deliver targeted and qualified visitors to your website at a very reasonable price.

It is a good idea to experiment with different PPC search engines to find the one that works best for you. In addition, you will need spend time testing your keywords and ads.
For more information check out:

Google Adwords - https://adwords.google.com
Overture – www.overture.com

If this is all too hard, you can employ the services of a company such as Sponsored Linx www.sponsoredlinx.com.au and they will organise the campaign for you. In fact, they promise that they can get you on the 1st page of Google when someone searches for your company's keywords within 24hrs.

If you mention the following promotional code, you will receive a 5% discount.web4business868

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 16

16. Office Stationery & Merchandising Materials

It is extremely important that your website is included on ALL your office stationery so that customers can see it over and over again. That way they are more likely to remember it. If you’ve just had your letterheads printed, you can always add your website address on your wordprocessor, when printing your correspondence. For brochures, business cards etc, consider having small labels printed up. Your office stationery should include not only your website address, but also your email. Consider adding your details to:

- Letterheads
- Business Cards
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Labels
- Packaging
- Merchandise bags
- Catalogs
- Invoices
- Fax headers
- Display units


Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 15

15. Newsgroups

A newsgroup is a message board on the internet where users come to discuss topics of mutual interest. As a user you can start a thread (topic), post messages and respond to other postings. There are tens of thousands of Newsgroups on every possible subject. The best way to find a suitable newsgroup is to use Google Search. Go to www.google.com. Then click on the “Groups” tag. Run a search using a keyword related to your on-line business that you would like to promote from the groups search page. For really worthwhile information use moderated groups.

You can use Newsgroups for conducting market surveys, get new clients, promote your site, get answers to your questions, make friends.

The idea of newsgroups is to make a valuable contribution and by doing so promoting your business. Please do not post commercials, ads or press releases and never post unrelated messages as this will be considered spamming.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 14

14. Bonuses

We all love freebies and your customers are no exception. Ideally you should pile on the bonuses to get people excited. Sometimes they will buy the main product only to get the bonuses.


The easiest and least expensive are informational products – reports, articles, ebooks. You can find literally thousands of these on the internet. Simply go to your search engine and find one that would appeal to your target audience. For example, if you sell wedding cakes, you may wish to give away ebooks or reports on planning a wedding. If you sell children’s clothing, you may wish to give away tips on parenting or ebook which features activities to do with your children.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 13

13. Autoresponders

Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system. If you send an email to an autoresponder address, you’ll get back a pre-written message. Autoresponders have come a long way in the last couple of years. Not only are you able to send HTML messages with graphics, but you can set up a whole sequence of autoresponder messages going out on any day or at any time you choose.

Once you set up your email messages, everything gets done automatically. As soon as a prospect sends an email to your autoresponder, the system keeps working over and over again, like a tireless robot making sure no prospect ever slips through the cracks. Most autoresponders systems now handle your whole mailing list, so you are not having to manually manage your prospects.

Because the vast majority of customers will not buy from you on their first visit to your website, it is extremely important that you have an automated way to follow up with them several times to entice them back. You can use autoresponders to cross-promote various products and services your business offers.

Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong:

1. Make time sensitive offers in your email follow up.

2. Build extra incentives into each follow up, until your prospect can’t resist any more. Offer free reports, free ebooks, freeware programs, mini-courses etc

3. Include a survey as part of your autoresponder sequence, so you can find out what your customers like about your messages, what they dislike and what other information they want.

Some great autoresponders include:
GetResponse
www.aweber.com

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 12

12. Affiliate programs

Affiliate programs also known as reseller programs are an agreement in which a website owner displays an ad for another company in exchange for a commission on the resulting sales and/or leads.

There are two ways you can start your own affiliate program.

1. You can have a service bureau take care of nearly everything for you. They’ll handle the recruiting and administrative functions like sending out payments, tracking, reporting etc. A good example of a service bureau is Commission Junction – www.cj.com

2. Set up an affiliate program yourself, using on-line services. Some you may wish to check out include:

www.synergyx.com
www.marketerschoice.com
www.assoctrac.com

Tips for setting up successful affiliate programs:

1. Should be free to join.

2. Offer real time statistics so that affiliates can check their sales and commission without having to contact you.

3. You should provide your affiliates with proven tools they can use to sell your products (eg. Sales letters, endorsement letters, banners, ezine articles, ezine ads)

4. Technical support 24/7

5. Stay in touch with your affiliates to keep them motivated

6. Give your affiliates the highest commission you can.



Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 11

11. Domain Name

Your domain name represents one of the most important decisions you have to make in going online. The purpose of a domain name is similar to that of a street address or telephone number. The domain name directs customers to you on the Internet. The most popular domain names in Australia are “.com.au” and “.com”.

Ideally your domain name should be rich in keywords (words relating to your business) to ensure on-line success, especially with search engines.

If for example, you are a florist based in Sydney, it would be preferable for you to have one of the following domain names:

www.sydneyflorist.com.au
www.florist.com.au
www.sydneyflowers.com.au

You will, however, find that generic names such as the above are already taken. In that case, register something like:

www.cindysflowers.com.au
www.sydneyflowersandgifts.com.au

If your business name is for example “Jim & Sons”, ensure you include a description of what you actually do, eg.

www.jimandsonscarpetcleaning.com.au or
www.jimscarpetcleaning.com.au

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 10

10. Classified Ads

Classified ads are one of the most inexpensive ways to advertise your products or service. Unfortunately many people misuse classified ads. They try to sell a product directly from the ad.

The best way to use a classified ad is as a two step process.

1. You place a classified ad in your local newspaper/magazine. The ad should be simple and straight to the point. It should then direct readers to call a phone number of your answering machine.

2. Your customer will dial the number where they will hear a powerful sales message and at the end customers are directed to send an order to the address you give on the tape or they can leave their contact details.

An example of such classified ad would be:

“Double your mail order business’ profits. Incredible recorded message tells secrets. Call 1234 5678 24hours or visit www.yourcompany.com”

People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.

The selection of words you use is the most important aspect of classified ad copy. You need to choose precisely but don’t skimp on words to save the cost in the ad.

The best way to prepare copy is to first write about your products/services at length. List all the major benefits and features. Choose a powerful heading that points out the most significant aspect of your product. Follow up with a few words or details and finish with a request to contact for more information.

For more information about writing effective classified ads, you may wish to download a free copy of “Classified Ads Secrets” Ebook from: http://www.web4business.com.au/ClassifiedAdSecrets.htm





Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 9

9. Trade shows

Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.

Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers, introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.

There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on each show, which should tell you about its size, target market and typical exhibitors. If your direct competitors are likely to exhibit, your company may be conspicuous if absent.

It's a good idea to exhibit at least once a year just to get your name out there, especially if you're an early stage startup looking for publicity — or funding.

Once the show space specifics have been established, then you can move on to deciding what to take and how you can ‘show your stuff’.

The following are just a few ideas to help you get ready for that all important trade show.

a) If the trade show display table you have does not include a tablecloth, be sure to get one that complements your display and represents your company’s image and colour

b) Erect a stand-alone presentation board. On the board, you can show how clients can benefit by using your products/services. Be creative and make it stand out. Include pictures, if possible, and be sure your company name and logo are more than obvious.

c) Arrange your trade show display table in levels. Put the larger items at the rear, shorter items in front of those, and even shorter items in front of those.

d) Develop a PowerPoint presentation to display on your table. You can make it on your desktop computer and transfer it to a laptop, which you can rent or borrow if you don’t already have one. Your visitors will find this visually appealing and it will draw in their attention.

e) Have plenty of trade show giveaways, such as business cards, brochures, pens, magnets, and anything else that has your company name and/or logo on it.

f) Offer something a little different as a trade show giveaway… FOOD. Package your food in a way that will allow you to have your company contact information on it.

g) Offer Gift Certificates for some of your services as a trade show giveaway.

h) Have a draw for a prize. Offer a prize that in some way complements your business if possible, and appeals to anyone. Have visitors and entrants sign a guestbook, fill in a ticket, or drop their business cards into a fish bowl or gift bag. The great thing about this trade show giveaway is that you can then use this information at a later date to make a follow up contact.

i) Have a portfolio of your work available as part of your trade show display. Print off some of your best projects, put them into plastic sheet protectors, and arrange them in a binder.



Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 8

8. Giveaways

Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.

By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.

For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.

Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.


Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 7

7. Feedback and testimonials

When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.

For more great info, go to ....

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Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 6

6. Email Signature

Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.

To set up your signature using Outlook Express:

Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.

Step 2: Click "Signatures".

Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"

Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:

Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:

Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 5

5. Banner Advertising

Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.

To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 4

4. Link Exchanges

Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.

By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.

On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.

Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.

If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:

http://www.linkexchanged.com/
http://www.powerlinks.com
http://www.links-pal.com/

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 3

3. Search Engines & Directories

A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently there are thousands of search engines and directories on the internet. Some of the main ones include:
Google - www.google.com
Altavista - www.altavista.com
Yahoo - www.yahoo.com
Excite - www.excite.com
AllSearchEngines - www.allsearchengines.com
Northern Light - www.northernlight.com
DogPile - www.dogpile.com
AllTheWeb - www.alltheweb.com
Lycos - www.lycos.com

When submitting your website to the search engines, you can either do it manually by going to the search engine website and adding your URL (website address) or you can employ the services of a Search Engine Submission company, who will do it for you.
www.submitexpress.com
www.wpromote.com
www.website-submission.com

Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe your service and products. For example, if you are a florist, use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as possible to ensure high search engine ranking. To find out what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your family and friends or go to:http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/http://www.wordtracker.com

Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page - This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags - Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics

Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.

If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher. www.melbourneit.com.au (for VIP treatment - advise you are our customer - partner ID 5597)www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au

For a comprehensive listing of search engines, go to:
http://www.web4business.com.au/ResourcesListSearchEngines.htm

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 2

2. Leads

There are many companies who will provide leads or prospects for your business. For a fee, they will display your advertisement (similar to a classified ad) and when someone clicks on it, they will be taken to your website. The great thing about these targeted leads is that you are only paying for the people who want to know about your business and products. If you work out the cost of a lead versus regular advertising, you will no doubt come out on top. Generally the cost per lead is between $0.50 - $1.00. If on the other hand you advertise in a newspaper or a magazine and pay $200 for the advertisement from which you get 20 enquiries, the cost per lead is $10.

Check out:
http://leadfactory.com/leads/
http://www.getresponse.com
http://www.prospectshop.com.au/

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 1

You are very excited!! You have finally created your own website!! But the trouble is customers aren’t knocking on your website door. Why? What should you do?

The most probable answer is that your customers don’t know about your website.

Creating a website is like building a house. If you don’t tell your friends they won’t know you’ve built a house. Even if they do know you’ve been building it, if you don’t tell them your address they’ll never find you.

And the same goes for your website. There is no magic internet fairy who will knock on people’s door to announce your website’s arrival. The task is up to you. To get your website marketing off the ground you either need to spend time learning and doing it or spend money and get somebody else to do it.

There are hundreds of ways to promote your business. You can do it on line or off line or a combination of both. Much will depend on your budget and the time you have available. Choose as many options below as your time and budget allows. Test as many methods of marketing as you can and see what brings you best results. Website marketing is not a one off exercise. You need to constantly work on it, fine-tune it, discard methods that are not working and implement new ones.

1. Email Marketing

Your first step should be to send an email to your existing clients announcing the arrival of your website. In your message, you can even ask them to forward your email onto their friends, family and colleagues.

If you are starting a new business and don’t have any customers, send an email to people you know who may be interested in your offer.

The next step should be to send your announcement to an opt-in email list. Opt-in email lists contain people or businesses who have requested to receive information about a certain topic(s). There are many companies who can provide you with these lists. For more information visit:

www.prospectshop.com.au/email_lists.html
www.4webmarketing.biz/email.htm
www.ezemail.biz/list_power.html
www.ezemail.biz/list_consumer.html
www.webfirm.com.au/email-marketing-australia/

Under no circumstance should you EVER send unsolicited email (spam) to people you either don’t know or who have not requested to receive your information.

Next time we will look at getting leads for your business.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

Before submitting your website to Google ...

Inclusion in Google's search results is free and easy; you don't even need to submit your site to Google. Google is a fully automated search engine that uses software known as "spiders" to crawl the web on a regular basis and find sites to add to our index. In fact, the vast majority of sites listed in our results aren't manually submitted for inclusion, but found and added automatically when our spiders crawl the web.Before you submit your website to Google, Google recommends you do the following:

* Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."

* Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

* Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

* Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold(tm) that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

* Avoid hidden text or hidden links

* Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.

* Don't send automated queries to Google.

* Don't load pages with irrelevant words.

* Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

* Don't create pages that install viruses, trojans, or other badware.

* Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

* If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

For more information visit: http://www.google.com/ or for Webmaster Guidelines, go to:

http://www.google.com.au/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Busines

http://www.web4business.com.au/

11 Reasons you need a website now!

Whether you are an architect, florist, doctor, consultant or a builder, having your own website means:
1. Saving money on advertising.
2. Making money via an on-line store.
3. Being able to easily change the content.
4. Saving money on postage.
5. Gaining exposure to new local & global customers.
6. Having a more professional image.
7. Saving time by providing information about your business.
8. Automating your business.
9. Providing excellent customer service.
10. Staying ahead of the competition.
11. Promote your business on a shoestring budget.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

How to Get Free Super Powerful Publicity for your Business

Having worked with a large number of small business owners, one common mistake I see over and over again is the obscene amounts of money they throw away on advertising. Many of them believe the more money they spend, the more business it will bring. WRONG!!! WRONG!!! WRONG!!!

So what’s a new entrepreneur to do?

It’s simple!!! Write articles.

Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free publicity. Getting an article published is free and some publications even pay for your contributions. The publicity you receive by having your article published in a newspaper, magazine or website can be worth thousands of dollars in equivalent advertising space. Well written articles yield better results than advertisements and earn you respect from customers, who see you as an expert in your field.

So what exactly is an article???

An article is a short piece of information that aims to educate and inform people about something, which they may be interested in. They are usually between 500 and 3,500 words long and guess what....... you are reading one right now. That’s right, I have written this article because of my passion to share the idea that expensive advertising is probably not the best way to market yourself and get more business.

By writing and distributing these articles you are sharing information, which displays your expertise and gains you trust and credibility. No amount of advertising can gain you either trust or credibility.

So let’s look at this concept of writing and distributing articles as a form of free publicity.

The best articles are ‘tips’ or expert pieces. People are looking for guidance and will purchase from experts who show them how to solve their problems.

Structuring Your Article

Your article should include the following elements:

(a) The Headline

This should be attention grabbing and use power words and phrases, such as “How to …” “10 Ways that …”, “Do you want to …?”

(b) Lead Paragraph

The first couple of sentences tell your readers why they should read the whole article. Show them the benefits they will gain, or the pain that they will avoid, by reading the article.

(c) Body Copy

This is where you inform the reader how to do something that will enrich their business or personal lives. Use short sentences and provide step-by-step directions that they can easily follow.

(d) Conclusion

At the end you want to summarise the topics you’ve covered and briefly review the main points. Since you have helped your readers they will most likely want to know more. This is your chance to make your sell by making them an offer with a ‘call to action’ such as ‘mention this article and receive a 10% discount off orders placed before June 30th.”.

(e) Resource Box

A resource box provides the reader with information on your company and includes the following information:
- Your Name
- Company name
- Contact information
- Website details
- How to order your product, etc

Journalist, marketer and public relations specialist Belinda Crosbie has three top tips for clients writing their own articles:

1. What are the questions you hear most often from customers? Write an article to address these queries. Remember to provide valuable information; articles that sound like one big ad for your company rarely get published.

2. Write with the ‘st’ factor in mind. Tell readers about the latest, greatest, first, most, newest, quickest, best etc. Publications want fresh, new information, so where possible show them the ‘st’ factor with the ‘latest technique’, ‘newest technology’ or ‘10 best solutions for…’.

3. Edit, edit and edit again. As a professional writer, Belinda constantly re-writes and re-works her words. Ask someone to read your article and they’ll often spot errors you miss because they’re reading from a new perspective. If you want to double-check that your sentences make sense - read your article, sentence-by-sentence, from the bottom up. You’ll be amazed what you pick up when you’re not caught up in the flow of the story.


Topics to Target

There are thousands of problems people need solved, so the number of solution-focused topics is endless. If you’re stuck, here are some ideas to get you started.:

Florist
Flower Care Tips, Choosing Anniversary Flowers, Best Way To Buy Your Wedding Flowers, Choosing Centrepiece Flowers For Your Dinner Party, How to Press Fresh Flowers, How to Pick Perfect Flowers According to Occasions, etc.

Baby Related Products/Services
How To Settle Your Baby, Baby Shower Themes & Games, How to Baby Proof Your Home, Baby Sleep Routine, Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep All Night, Age Appropriate Toys, Gifts for 1/2/3/4 Year Olds, 20 Fun Silly Games to Play, etc.

Accountant
Tips For Getting The Best Home Loan, 10 Tips For Financing Your Business, Tips To Save You Money, Choosing Accounting Software, Bookkeeping Basics, How To Save Money On Bookkeeping, Setting Up Budgets, etc.

Hairdresser
Hair Care and Treatment, Hair Loss Prevention, Hair Drying Mistakes, Celebrity Hair Styles, What Hairstyle to Choose For Your Lifestyle, New Hair Trends, etc.

Restaurant
How To Make Restaurant Quality Coffee At Home, 10 Ways to Attract New Customers to Your Restaurant, Restaurant Décor Ideas, 5 Secret Recipes, 7 Publicity Tips for Restaurants, Choosing Restaurant Equipment, Making Healthy Food Choices when Dining In a Restaurant, etc.

Customer Service
How To Stay in Touch With Your Customers, How To Build Good Client Relationship, 7 Tips For Creating Customer Loyalty, Common Customer Service Mistakes, How To Get Back Lost Clients, Looking After Your Customer Service Staff, etc.

These are just some ideas – if you need help choosing topics for your business, please email me – ivana@web4business.com.au

If writing an article seems too daunting, you can hire a ghostwriter to do this for you – generally at a very reasonable price. A writer I highly recommend is Belinda Crosbie – www.lifebydesire.com/business.htm.

Getting Your Articles Published

Once your article is written you will need to submit it to various publications on-line and in printed publications. For a listing of Australian printed publications, including the editor’s details, you may wish to buy “The Australian Writer’s Marketplace”, available from most bookshops.

For a listing of on-line article directories, visit:
http://www.web4business.com.au/ResourcesListArticleDirectories.htm

If you don’t have a lot of time to submit your articles manually, you may wish to consider using article submission services by companies such as:

Submit Your Article – www.submityourarticle.com or
The Phantom Writers – www.thephantomwriters.com

For a small fee they will submit your article to thousands of on-line publications, also known as ezines.

Remember, article writing is far more powerful than any advertising you will do. It will prove to your customers you know your business and best of all, it won’t cost you a cent! So don’t be afraid to try it … what have you got to lose?

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au