If you truly want to grow your online presence to maximum proportions without spending tons of money, you need EFFECTIVE search engine optimization (SEO).

If you are not sure what search engine optimization is, don’t worry, it’s really not that complicated. Unless you are in a super competitive niche, most likely you can be quite successful with a few simple techniques that anybody can easily implement (once they know what these are, of course).

Before your dismiss the thought of delving into SEO, however, forget anything you may have heard about it, including complex algorithms, pricey consulting services, hours of time, or black-hat tricks that can get your site penalized or banned.

Let’s take some mystery out of the search engine optimization. SEO is really quite simple, and the only constant that seems to be in play lately is this: the more you attempt to artificially or even just intelligently boost yourself in Google’s rankings, the less likely you are, these days, to succeed.

The truth is you can outrank even internet marketing companies – and anybody else – if you master a few simple techniques.  The key contributor to your success is (1) good selection of keywords (2) proper search engine optimization and (3) great content.

Keyword placement within your site is another crucial element. You should put your keywords:

- In the html title tag of the post or page. The page title is a phrase that appears in the top bar of your browser window, and is part of each page on the web. It is one of the first things that search engines look at to determine what your web page is about. Your page title should contain some keywords that describe your business in a generic way. Some really common mistakes we see are homepage titles that are “Home” or “Welcome” or “Company Name” – make sure you are not making that mistake and use some keywords.

- Between H1 tags near the top of every page of your site.

- Throughout the text on the post or page, up to 3 or 4 times.

- In a tag at the end of the post. You can take care of this in your WordPress admin, in the tag box that’s directly below the ‘write post’ box.

- Make sure you are not optimizing for the same keywords on many pages - Each page of your website is a unique opportunity to optimize for a unique keyword phrase. Many people reuse the same keyword phrase over and over on many pages of their site, which is usually a waste of effort.

- Make sure that whenever you are linking back to your site (from other pages), you are using the keywords as your anchor text (more about this later). So, you are not using any “Click here” or “visit my page” phrases, but your keywords.

If you are using WordPress, make sure you use a WordPress theme that has been optimized for the search engines and/or use the SEO plugin. Many WordPress themes haven’t been properly configured, and some of them even have hidden links that could get you banned by Google if you use them with your sites. Read about the Premium WordPress Themes that I recommend.

Internet Marketing Mistake #5. You Are Not Using Keywords To Attract the Search Engine Traffic

I wrote about it on my blog a few times already, but I feel that it’s sooo important – and so often overlooked – that it’s worth repeating it again here.

Search engine optimization and the proper use (but NOT overuse) of keywords are a HUGE part of having our web pages found online.

So, let me ask you this:

• Have you (or your assistant, webmaster, system administrator, wife, husband or nephew) looked at your website traffic statistics lately?
• Do you know where are your customers coming from or what keywords are they using to find your site?
• Do you even care?

You can have the most amazing web page in the world, but if no one can find them through Google or other search engines, you’ll have a really hard time making any money from them.

Do you know where are your customers coming from or what keywords are they using to find your site?

Let’s face it. Targeted traffic is vital to success of your business website. Search engine traffic is considered the best type of traffic because people have to type a particular keyword or keyword phrase to find websites related to their interests or to find a  solution to their problems. So the traffic is usually very targeted and if your site appears among the top, chances are high that they will stop by. If your site doesn’t appear there, consider search engine optimization, or SEO, to move your site up and make it more visible.

Let me ask you this. Are you spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on newspaper ads, yellow pages listings, billboards, TV commercials, and other advertising methods? These traditional advertising methods reach thousands of people, but only a small percentage of them make up your target audience.

What if you could generate more and more quality leads – consistently – while getting a higher return on your precious marketing and advertising dollars?

With search engine marketing, ALL of the viewers who see your ad or website, are already looking for YOU.  Examples of keywords that people type into Google search box EVERY DAY are:

• New York City Divorce Lawyers
• DUI attorney in NJ
• New York CPA
• New Jersey real estate agent
• Divorce attorneys New York
• Seattle masonry contractor
• plastic surgeon
• private yoga teacher
• business coach
• and more….

Why spend your marketing budget on an uninterested audience, when you could be closing leads who are already looking for your services?

Yes, it requires an initial investment, but if done right, the targeted traffic will keep coming in, with little additional effort or expense.

To be continued…come back to my blog to read more of this series.

What web marketing mistakes caught your attention lately? Tell me about them in the comments!

You can read more in my post How to Save BIG TIME On Web Designer Fees – Buy a Professionally Designed Premium WordPress Theme for Your Small Business Website. If you need a marketing consultant to get some internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

Online Marketing Mistake #4. You Suffer From The “If I Build It, They Will Come” Delusion

Many business owners become victims of the completely unfounded and bizarre -  if you know anything about online marketing -  belief, that customers will miraculously flock to their website once they have it designed and published. So they spend all they money and efforts on design, usability, navigation, latest and coolest features, and stuff.  They hire a designer to create a beautiful graphics, and a writer to polish every page of text for the site.  They agonize over every little detail on every page.

Don’t get me wrong, all these things are very important, but if you *only* do these things – you’ll be missing some important elements of the puzzle.

Are you missing an important piece of the puzzle?

The harsh reality of internet marketing is this: it’s ***NOT ENOUGH*** to just build it.

After all, what’s the use of even the most beautiful website, if no one even knows that it exists?

And yet I hear it all the time – when I offer my services to business owners – many of them still think in terms of building a web page. They reply “Oh, no thanks, I already have a website” or “I just want a brochure-type of site”.  

What you need to do is: build it, OPTIMIZE it, PROMOTE it, and then they will come.

You need to spend at least as much time, effort, and money on marketing and promotion of your website.  

• Once you’ve built your website you have to optimize it for the search engines, so they can direct to you people searching for the exact products and services that you offer.
• You need to promote it by posting content on other sites: article marketing sites, PR sites, video sites (Youtube is huge at the moment). But don’t make it all about you. Write and talk about topics that interest people in your niche.  Offer helpful advice and tips.  Participate in discussions on forums and related blogs.
• You also need to tell people about it.  Include your web address on your stationery, business cards, brochures, and email signatures. Create social media profiles for your business: Facebook and Twitter are huge, but don’t limit yourself to those two. Go where your audience is.  Create a blog and start a conversation with your audience.

Think of your website the same way you’d think of a box of marketing brochures: if you don’t get them into the hands of people, no one will read them.  They will be useless and the money and effort spent on creating them will go to waste.

You need to be proactive in building content, optimizing for search engines, building links and collecting visitors’ email addresses from day one, so that you can lure people back to your website time and time again. If that sounds like it’s a lot of work, you are right, it is. But it’s totally worth the effort if you want to build a successful online presence for yourself or your business.

So….what are you waiting for…?

If you need a marketing consultant to get some internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

To be continued…come back to this marketing consulting blog to read more of this series.

What web marketing mistakes caught your attention lately? Tell me about them in the comments!

#3. You Website Looks Outdated, Like It Was Built Ten Years Ago (and maybe it was)

Imagine two scenarios: First, you come to a store that is dusty, dimly lit, and features just a few of last year’s products on display.  You don’t seem to be able to find anything you need, as all goodies seem to be hidden in the back storage area, and there is no one in the store available to ask for help. You leave the store in a flash, and stumble upon a second store.

The second store is neat, inviting, well lit, laid out in a way that makes everything easy to find, and well-stocked with the latest merchandise.  Plus, there is a helpful sales person waiting around to answer any questions you may have.

So, which store are you most likely to buy from?

At a minimum, you should refresh your business website content every few months, or once a year, at worst. Even better, add fresh content weekly or daily. A good way to do this is to have a blog where you post content about your latest activities, products, and promotions.  Post how-to tips, and answer the Frequently Asked Questions. Update your contact information regularly. And make yourself accessible via various channels, your blog, social media, user forums, etc.

Perhaps you have a website that is built entirely using Flash, or your home page uses frames, gif animations, displays too many irrelevant ads and offers, or starts playing music as soon as the page has loaded.  Flash websites, gorgeous as they may be, are largely invisible to search engines. Search engines do not properly index Flash, so avoid having a flash-based homepage, or having flash-based product pages.  Frames should be avoided, because they don’t allow content to be indexed properly in most cases, and make navigation and bookmarking individual pages difficult or impossible.

Load times are also important both for search engines and for visitors. So, excessive use of JavaScript should be avoided, and your images should be optimized so they load quickly.

So, what are you waiting for…?

To be continued…come back to my blog to read more of this series.

What web marketing mistakes caught your attention lately? Tell me about them in the comments!

You can read more in my post How to Save BIG TIME On Web Designer Fees – Buy a Professionally Designed Premium WordPress Theme for Your Small Business Website. If you need a marketing consultant to get some internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

If your website was designed by someone without design skills, it may look sloppy, confusing, and unprofessional. You may have tried to save money by getting your neighbor’s nephew create your site.

The truth is you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get an absolutely stunning, professionally designed website that is robust, feature-rich, and easy to change on the fly to boot.

You can build it yourself – if you have the time and some very basic computer skills (by modifying a professionally designed WordPress theme)- or you can pay a modest fee for someone to do it for you.

While you may be reluctant to pay for a professionally designed website, especially if you are just starting out, the money you put into them will be worth it in the long run.

The more professional your website looks, the more clients it will attract, and the more money you will be earning. A site that is ugly as a mud fence and poorly designed will be about as useful to your business as a screen door on a submarine. Such a site can actually repel clients away from you, costing you more in the end.

If you are concerned about the cost of having a web designer re-design your website, you should know that there are many affordable web re-design solutions available out there.  I am a big fan of using the WordPress platform for any website, whether it is a business website, a portfolio site or a personal blog.

The big advantages of WordPress are that it’s free, expandable, flexible, and extremely easy to use by any one – not just programmers and professional designers.  Once the site is set up, adding new posts, pictures, video, social plug-ins, etc. is so easy a caveman can do it!

With the technology available today, there is really no reason why anyone these days should have a  five-year old Flash site (Flash is not read by the search engines, in case you were wondering why I dislike Flash websites), a site that uses frames (again, this causes multitude of problems for the search engines and the visitors), or has more than 5 blinking GIFs on the home page.

So, what are you waiting for…?

To be continued… read more of this series:

Internet Marketing Mistake #3 You Website Looks Outdated, Like It Was Built Ten Years Ago (and maybe it was)

What web marketing mistakes caught your attention lately? Tell me about them in the comments!

You can read more in my post How to Save BIG TIME On Web Designer Fees – Buy a Professionally Designed Premium WordPress Theme for Your Small Business Website. If you need a marketing consultant to get some internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

If you truly want to turbo charge your search engine rankings and turn on an unstoppable torrent of visitors to your website – make sure that you are not making these inexcusable mistakes that may be standing in your way to online success.

Top 20 Online Mistakes to Avoid

#1. You have no website at all

According to one study, 46% percent of small businesses did not have a website.

No, this is not a joke. It’s astonishing, but according to one study, 46% percent of small businesses surveyed said they did not have a website. The respondents of the study said it’s a myth that every company needs a website.  Businesses that don’t want to be successful certainly shouldn’t spend the time and money to develop a web presence. So they may be right.

After all, you can still be found in yellow pages, online phone directories and on Google maps and such, right? But is that impressing your prospects? Does your business  at least have a Blogger blog, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook page?

I doubt it.

Without your own website, you lose your ability to:

• Differentiate yourself
• Create authority with customers and within your industry
• Share your story and ideas
• Get social
• Take advantage of free traffic coming from search engines
• Benefit from the engines bias to show local results
• House your own community
• Save time and money by providing information about your products, services and answering frequently asked questions
• Build a list of subscribers.

Still undecided?

If you’re still not convinced that you need a website, I have one question for you:

How many big, successful businesses and entrepreneurs don’t have a website?

I’m betting not many (or maybe none at all). That’s because a company website is just a basic, must-have marketing tool for the 21st Century.

If you don’t have a website, do you have plans to get one soon?

Or do you believe small businesses don’t need websites?

How do customers find you online, or do you not get customers through the internet?

With today’s technology and free tools, don’t try to tell me that you can’t afford one.

If you are concerned about the cost of building a website, you should know that there are many affordable website solutions available out there. Also, read more in my post How to Save BIG TIME On Web Designer Fees – Buy a Professionally Designed Premium Theme for Your Small Business Website.

I’d like to hear from you, so email me or leave a comment on my blog and me know.

Read the next article in this series:

Internet Marketing Mistake #2: Your Website Looks Like It Was Designed By An Amateur (and maybe it was)

If you need a marketing consultant to get some internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

* Have you ever wished you could LEVERAGE yourself and your knowledge to generate more PASSIVE income online? Would like to be able to make MORE money while working less?

If you are a small business owner, a consultant, coach, freelancer, or solo-entrepreneur who is wondering how to grow their business in today’s tough economic conditions – you definitely should take advantage of the power of internet marketing. Recession or not, there are still plenty of people out there with money to spend, looking for just the products or services that you have to offer.

Bringing part of your business online can help you, for example, broaden your customer base – to reach prospects around the world, automate parts of your business, such as lead generation and sales, and make passive income, by selling ebooks, e-courses, and other information products.

Your Internet Marketing Essentials – What You will Need:

***1. Online presence***. A website or a blog. It can be as elaborate as a fancy website with hundreds of pages, or as simple as one page designed strictly for the purpose of collecting email addresses from visitors (called a “squeeze page” or “opt-in page”). Creating a website is easy and does not need to be expensive. Read my post about the cost of building a website and how to build an affordable website for your business.

***2. Targeted traffic***. You need to attract visitors to your pages that are looking for what you are offering. There are many methods that you can use, some are free (require only your time), others will require some investment (pay-per-click advertising).  I suggest that you start with the free or low cost methods, selecting two or three that work best for you and doing them consistently over an extended period of time.

One of the most powerful methods is using search engine optimization to attract traffic from the search engines. You can take advantage of the free traffic coming from the search engines by optimizing your web pages for the search engines and building lots of incoming links to your site.

Article marketing is another highly recommended method. You need to write lots of articles about your niche and posting them to free article publishing websites, such as Ezinearticles, Article Base, etc. At the bottom of the article you should include a brief “bio” about yourself, with the most important piece of information being a link back to your squeeze page or your website. This method is referred to as “article marketing” and it has two important advantages: (1) it builds your expert status in the mind of the reader and (2) the reader clicks the link after reading your article – so they have the time to decide that they like the information that you are presenting and they like your style. This means these readers are even more likely to give you their email address and buy from you.

Video marketing has become extremely effective lately, so creating lots of useful videos about your topic, optimizing them and posting them on Youtube – with links to your site (you’ll have to create a video channel first) – will drive hordes of visitors to your pages.

***3. A loyal list of subscribers.*** Drive the traffic to your opt-in page or form and encourage people to subscribe, by offering them a free item – a short (10-15 pages is best) ebook, an audio recording, a newsletter, etc.

Of course, you will need to build a relationship with your list and – once you gain trust of your readers – you will make money by selling them products and services that they want. (To find out exactly what people on your list want, just ask them. It’s as simple as that.)

***4. Products to Sell*** (duh!). If you have your own products or you are selling your services, great. But, if you don’t – do not despair. Even you don’t have your own products, you can find some affiliate programs and promote the products that you like. Or, you can create your own information products – such as e-books, e-courses, CDs and DVDs, coaching programs, etc. to sell it to your subscribers. (It’s not as difficult as you may think.)

These are just the basics, but it’s really all that you need.

Remember, the possibilities that exist on the Internet today are incredible. Right now, if you are not utilizing the power of the Internet, you may be missing out on one of the greatest things that ever happened in the world.

For more information on how to leverage email, the Internet, and information products to spend less time working hours-for-dollars and START generating steady passive income, contact me for an internet marketing strategy session.

However, if one or more pieces are missing, you will not be able to finish what you started and your efforts will go to waste.

What is an Internet Marketing Plan?

An Internet marketing plan provides a step-by-step outline how to market a product or service to a specific target market and it helps a you stay focused on your marketing objectives. Creating an internet marketing plan will help you see all the pieces of your puzzle and how they all fit together. It will also make it easier to notice if anything is missing.

Every Internet Marketing Plan needs to include all of the components of your online strategy, which usually are market analysis, product or service description, sales strategy, online and offline promotion, advertising, PR, etc. The best Internet marketing plans integrate both Internet marketing strategies as well as offline marketing methods.

The following is a sample internet marketing plan outline if you are planning to sell a product or service online.

Internet Marketing Plan Outline: What You Need to Discuss in Your Internet Marketing Plan

1. Executive Summary
Answer “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how” with respect to marketing objectives and strategies; forecasts; marketing and product finances; etc. The Executive Summary should be done last, after all marketing plan analysis and details have been completed.

2. Mission Statement
The Mission statement is simply a description of your:
•”Target market” – who are your customers – be very specific!
•”Contribution” – what you’re selling
•”Uniqueness” – what is your USP– why are you different from your competition?

3. Research Your Market
Describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in industry.  This can be really easy – albeit time consuming – with all the online research tools. Learn as much as you can about the market that is currently buying the product(s) or service(s) you will sell. For example,

• Target Market(s)—it’s recommended to focus on one or two small niche markets instead of a large general market. Niche markets have far less competition and they tend to be more profitable.
• Visualize and describe your ideal customer with details such as income levels, age ranges, interests, activities, living environments, other geographic descriptions, psychological mindsets, political affiliations, family situations, etc.
• What is the market dynamics, trends, seasonal patterns, etc.
• Industry or societal trends that affect your customers.
• Research your competition. Find out what competition is offering.
• Find suppliers, vendors and service providers that you will need to rely on.

4. Describe Your Product or Service
Describe your product or service and explain how it relates to the market. How does it meet the needs of the market? What value does it offer for the buyers.

5. Competition
Analyze your competition. Explain your “unique selling proposition” or USP. What makes your offering unique and different from your competitor’s?

5. Internet Marketing Strategies
Describe the Internet marketing and promotion tactics that you’ll be using in your campaigns.

Take advantage of the low-cost, but highly effective methods, such as SEO (search engine optimization) and article marketing. Other proven methods include video marketing, writing a blog, link exchanges with other webmasters, pay per click advertising, link exchanges and joint ventures. I’m not recommending pay-per-click advertising if you are a beginner, although it can certainly be effective in many situations.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO). By optimizing your pages for the search engines, you can get literally thousands of people to your website every day for free.
• Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing. You can pay to advertise on the first page of the search results. You will be bidding on keywords so that your ad is displayed when a person searches for a particular keyword or key phrase.
• Affiliate Marketing. This is where other websites market your products for you and you pay them a commission on each sale. This is an outstanding way to create a successful Internet business.
• Article Marketing. This simply means that you will have to write lots of articles and distribute them online. Both article marketing and optimizing for search engines (on page and offpage) – if you do them right – will bring you traffic that is highly targeted. Article marketing has an added advantage that the readers get to know you a little bit – so they are even more pre-qualified than visitors coming straight from the search engines
• Write press releases and distribute them online. Just like writing and submitting articles, this is a very simple and extremely effective way to get tons of links pointed at your website.
• Video Marketing. Set up a video channel on Youtube and post optimized videos about your product or service. Most popular types are funny videos or how-to videos.
• Social Media Promotion. Find out where your audience is, set up accounts on those social networks, and build relationships with your audience.
• Advertising in newsletters and ezines. Find publications with big readership and find out if you can advertise there. This is another simple yet highly effective way to market your products or services online.
• List Building and Email Marketing. When a visitor comes to your site, you need to have an opt-in form to capture their email address. Many marketers say that the money is in the list, and that is certainly true, the money is in the TARGETED list. You’ll need to give people some information for free to build trust, but don’t give away too much – this will only attract hordes of freebie-seekers who have no desire to spend money with you (or anybody else for that matter). Have some free and inexpensive products to offer to your subscribers, but also make sure that you have high priced items in your product funnel.

6. Offline Promotion/Traditional Methods
Even though this is an internet marketing plan, the traditional methods should not be neglected, as they can be very effective at reaching even wider audience. These strategies may include:

• Face-to-face marketing and networking – participating in events, industry association meetings, at your local Chamber of Commerce, etc.
• Mailing sales letters, brochures, postcards, flyers, etc.
• Traditional Advertising – Print media, directories, billboards, yellow pages, radio, TV
• Public speaking, giving lectures, seminars, etc.
• Renting a booth at trade shows and conventions
• Writing articles for magazines, your local newspaper, and other publications read by your industry.
• Submitting press releases
• Partnering with businesses in the same target market
• Other conventional and unconventional methods (guerrilla marketing)

7. Pricing
Based on your research, determine your product/service pricing. Make sure your pricing is right. Consider your income goals, so for example, if your goal is to be making 5,000 dollars per month, if you only sell an ebook at $10 profit, then you will need to sell 500 copies of that ebook. On the other hand, you will only have to make 5 sales at $1000 to accomplish your goal.

8. Positioning and Branding
Think where your product will be positioned in the market and how you will achieve brand awareness. Think about your product funnel.

9. Estimate Your Budget
Estimate your monthly spending. How much will you have to spend per month to reach your goals?

10. Establish Quantifiable Marketing Goals
This means goals that you can turn into numbers. For instance, your goal might be to gain at least 10 new clients each month or to generate 100 leads per month.

11. Track and Analyze Your Results
By tracking and analyzing your results you will be able to measure the return on investment per each marketing activity. You can use  tracking software, such as Google Analytics, to track the effectiveness of your campaigns: website traffic, where is the traffic coming from, how long do they stay on the page, etc. You will be able to track sales, as well as the percentage of sales to impressions (page views). You can also conduct customer surveys.

If you need internet marketing consulting help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

Although posting articles online, creating websites, sending e-mails, is easy, fast, and cheap; these are not always the most effective ways to get out the world about you or your offers.

First of all many markets are super competitive in the online world, and very hard for newbies to break into. But you rarely see people using offline promotional methods to promote a website or online business.

Also, keep in mind that there are still plenty of people out there who rely more on print media: magazines, newspapers, local publications, trade publications, than the Internet to get their information. The reasons for that may be very diverse, from lack of time to browse the web, to lack of computer skills or lack of trust, as they feel a printed article is more “trust-worthy” than any information they can find online.

And the fact that these people are not online does not mean that they are not worth pursuing – they include some wealthy consumers (for example, executives, who don’t have time to browse the web, but take magazines and newspapers to read on planes), or people in their 60s or older, who do not  trust the stuff that is published online or just do not like to sit in front of the computer too much – much preferring reading a printed word or hearing a news on a radio or television (I know my mother is one of them – she does not like computers beyond the use of video player to watch the latest video featuring her grandson performing in a school play, learning to ski, or other fascinating stuff like that. She definitely does not trust what is published on the Internet – and I cannot blame her for that  ), and many others.

So whether you are trying to promote your business and find more customers or want to build a passive income online, these ideas can give you some unconventional ways to get started in the world of offline marketing.

List of ideas to get you started in the world of offline publicity (and add sizzle to your marketing).

1.  Offer the local newspapers to write a series of articles about a popular subject. For example, if you have a site about gardening tools, you can create a series with Gardening tips – you can provide some timely information how to maintain your garden and what tools to use – with information about your site. You can also offer surprising facts about the products, invent a new use for the products, or tie what you offer to a season.

2.  Write about something controversial or break-a-news story and tie it to your niche, and submit it to the local papers, to attract attention and build traffic.  You can also turn your TV-watching to good use by expressing an opinion about an issue raised in a popular show.  Raise a question prompted by a best-selling book or blockbuster movie.

3.  Write an e-book about something relevant to your niche an/or your community and promote it in the local media.

4.  Hold a contest and give away a prize and write about it to the local newspapers. For example, if you have a costume site, hold a “best costume” contest – ask people to submit pictures of their costumes for a prize.  If your site sells unique chess sets, hold a chess competition.

Add sizzle to your marketing

5.  Hold a contest or other event and give away a prize and post a notice about it on community bulletin boards found in local libraries, grocery stores, and community centers.

6.  Conduct a survey, offer a prize for participation, and publicize it in the local media.

7.  Launch a community service project and publicize it.

8.  Do something memorable or controversial to encourage “word of mouth” marketing.

9.  Solicit the help of a local reporter to write up the articles for you.

10.  Print business cards and promotional cards and leave them wherever you can – for example, local libraries often have a place where local businesses leave their promotional materials for others to take, community centers, etc.  Ask if you can put your promotional materials in related retail or office locations.

11.  Write a press release and submit it to local newspapers.

12. Promote your sites using cheap or free classified ads in local newsletters and newspapers. This can be a great way to test the response to different offers and headlines.

13.  Submit articles to trade magazines with a link to your site in your bio.

14.  Offer a free email mini course or e-course and send announcement to local newspapers.

15.  Get some t-shirts printed with your URL and wear them everywhere.

16.  Participate in a trade show and bring a give-away with your site address.

17.  Network with other people at seminars and other live events.

18.  Speak at seminars and give the audience a reason to visit your website. Join local Toastmasters to improve your speaking skills and help you get rid of stage fright.

19.  Set up a kiosk or booth at community events and give away something free to create buzz.

20.  Place ads in the Yellow Pages.

21.  Place classified ads in targeted magazines.

22.  Place ads on a local radio station. Talk radio is best.

23.  Place ads on internet radio stations. It’s cheap.

24.  Advertise on TV. This can be seem cost-prohibitive if you think about the national TV stations. But being a sponsor of the program on a local station can be surprisingly affordable and will give you huge exposure.

25.  Partner with a local business to integrate your products with.

26.  If you have a physical location, such as store or office, that people visit, put up a large advertising  with your web address.

27.  Donate money to a charity. This way you often end up on their promotional materials and website as a contributor.

28.  Sponsor a local event – for example, a local sports tournament.

29.  Go to the meetings of your local chamber of commerce to network. Ask them for a link to your site.

30. Send snail-mail letters or flyers to local businesses that could benefit from your products or services.

31.  Participate in package insert program with other local businesses. This involves mailing a package of flyers, brochures, business cards, etc. to potential clients and splitting the cost with non-competing businesses.

32.  Organize a free workshop at a local store, business, library, or organization.

33.  Constantly brainstorm for more ideas.  Always carry a notebook with you to record new ideas or record them on your cell phone, before you forget them.

Remember that you don’t even need to actually live in the area where you are promoting your stuff. For example, the fact that you once spend a vacation in the area and loved it can create a connection that may get you covered in places far away from home.

More Resources:

For printed resources, contact your local library. Most libraries carry at least one or more media directories.  You may try asking for the following:

• Bacon’s Newspaper/Magazine Directory.  Two volumes: newspaper and magazine.  Both volumes provides names, e-mails, phones and addresses of publications in the US, Canada, and beyond, with names of editors, columnists, news syndicates, and circulation.
• Bacon’s Radio/TV/Cable Directory. Provides names, addresses, phone numbers and profiles of all US and Canadian radio and broadcasts stations, cable TV stations, with names of hosts, producers, and broadcast times of specific programs.
• Encyclopedia of Associations. Guide to over 20,000 organizations, professional societies, trade groups and interest groups.  Most of them publish a newsletter or magazine for members.
• For online resources, try some of the following:
• Alternative Press Online Directory – Directory of alternative-lifestyle publications.
• ERSys – Find local media for thousands of cities and towns in the U.S.
• Magazines Directory – African-American, Latino, Home/Garden, Fitness/Health, Travel and some other niches.
• Magazine Mastheads – Volunteer-run directory of who’s who on staff at hundreds of magazines.
• MediaPost – Free directory for 13,000 radio, TV and cable stations, 8,000 publications and more.
• Radio-Locator – Search for radio station web sites by zip code, city, state, call letters, format or country.
• State by State Newspapers – Links to newspaper web sites by state.
• Go to http://www.yudkin.com/resources.htm for more ideas.

If you need a marketing consulting to get some strategic internet marketing help, contact me for a online marketing strategy consulting session to see how we could work together to build your website and online business.

Are you spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on newspaper ads, yellow pages listings, billboards, TV commercials, and other advertising methods? These traditional advertising methods reach thousands of viewers, but only a small percentage of these viewers make up your target audience.

What if you could generate more and more quality leads – consistently – while getting a higher return on your precious marketing and advertising dollars?

With search engine marketing, ALL of the viewers who see your ad or website, are already looking for YOU.

The following are actual keywords that people type into Google search box EVERY DAY:

New York City Divorce Lawyers …. DUI attorney in NJ ….. New Jersey business lawyer….. south jersey homes for sale …… buy 3 bedroom house secaucus nj ….. apartments for rent in hackensack nj… medical equipment rentals ….. speech language pathologist nj …… trade show exhibit designers….wedding photographers nj ….. yoga studio montclair nj …. and more….

How many people are looking for your services using Google and other search engines?

How many of them will end up on YOUR website?

Whether you are a lawyer, real estate agent, financial adviser, writer, designer, personal trainer, doctor, yoga teacher, or business consultant, there are people looking for just the products and services that you offer every day on Google and other search engines.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of making your website more visible to search engines with the goal of being listed higher in search results, therefore becoming more visible to people who are looking for your services.

Without an optimized website, you are losing potential leads when a client looking for your services in your area only finds your competition. You need to get on the first page, and let your website do the work for you!

Fact: 90% of users will not search past page three of Google and other search engines. That means if you’re not in the first three pages, then search users aren’t finding you.

(Side Note:  It always amazes me that people are annoyed they have to pay for SEO.  People will pay for a doctor or a mechanic, or even a web designer but they seem to resent having to pay for SEO.  If you have the time and knowledge, then by all means, don’t pay anyone, do it yourself.  However if you don’t have the time or knowledge, it’s a valid, and important expense and not something you should begrudge.  Driving traffic to your site is the foundation and not the area you want to go cheap. –End of Side Note)

Keywords are a big part of having our web pages found online. We can make the BEST web pages in the world, but if no one can find them through Google, you’ll have a really hard time making any money from them.

Why spend your marketing budget on an uninterested audience, when you could be closing leads who are already looking for your services?

How would it feel to have people coming to your website every day – even when you sleep – looking for the exact products and services that you have to offer?

Imagine putting your marketing on autopilot – letting Google and other search engines direct targeted traffic of potential customers straight to YOUR site 24×7.

If that sounds interesting, let me know.

We can sit together and do the assessment of your website from the SEO perspective.

Just fill out the form here, and let’s strategize how to make your marketing goals become a reality.

Also, let me know if you have any questions regarding search engine optimization, keyword selection, or other, by posting comments below.