---

Back to Archives

WOW Training #9
More Free and Low-Cost Marketing Methods

1. SUBMIT TO SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES

Getting listed in the major search engines is a must. When people want to find something on the Internet, this is where they start. The engines below are responsible for the vast majority of all search traffic. It's best to submit to these manually.

• Google
  http://www.google.com/addurl.html
• Yahoo
  http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
• Open Directory (DMOZ)
  http://dmoz.org/add.html
• All The Web
  http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php

2. USE PAY PER CLICK SEARCH ENGINES

With a little research, pay-per-click engines can be a fantastic bargain. Start by looking for relevant keywords and the search count of your keywords across several different engines. You can get software that's perfect for this job at GoodKeywords.com.

IMPORTANT: Bid Low on tons of keywords and keyphrases instead of bidding high on the most popular keywords. Your budget will go much farther and you will get more hits for your money. Be sure to track your sales from pay-per-click engines so you can fine-tune your bids for maximum returns.

Below are the top Pay Per Click Search Engines:

• Yahoo! Search Marketing - reaches over 80% of active Internet users on sites like Yahoo! $25 in free clicks.
• FindWhat - highly recommended
• Enhance Interactive - $25 in free clicks.
• AdSonar
• 7Search - High traffic PPC search engine.

3. EXPRESS/GUARANTEED INCLUSION

Guaranteed Inclusion allows you to submit your entire website for inclusion in website databases such as Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Alta Vista, Lycos, Excite, Fast, Inktomi, Teoma, DogPile, Verizon, WebCrawler, MetaCrawler, NBCi, and more top search engines' search results. With Guaranteed Inclusion programs, you can submit your website for one price. Most offer regular 48-hour indexing allowing for updates to be reflected almost immediately in the search results on your web site.

Below are the top Paid Inclusion Programs:

• Priority Submit- GUARANTEES that URLs submitted through their service are included in a timely manner (usually within 48 hours).
• Get your site listed on Excite.com
• Yahoo Express Submit

4. SEARCH ENGINE SUBMITTERS

It is always best to submit your site manually to the major search engines. However, there are literally thousands of search engines and directories on the Internet. There would never be enough time to submit to all of them manually. Bulk search engine submitters are extremely helpful and will save you many hours by automatically submitting your site to thousands of search engines and directories.

Below are recommended search engine submitters:

• Submit Fire - Submit Your Website to Over 3000 Search Engines
• Traffic Blazer is an excellent tool that that makes it easy to prepare, analyze, optimize and submit your Web pages to key search engines and directories.

5. PUBLISH ARTICLES

An attractive advertising technique is through writing information articles and offering them for reprint to publishers. I have generated thousands of new visitors through articles that are picked up by large publications.

People that visit you through your articles are more apt to be buyers. Good, informative content establishes credibility and expert status - and people will buy from someone they trust. Some great places to start submitting your articles are:

• Idea Marketers - Submit articles and find thousands of articles to add content to your website.
  http://www.ideamarketers.com
• Article Announce http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce/
• Free Content http://groups.yahoo.com/group/free_content/
• Publish In Yours http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PublishInYours/

6. ADVERTISE IN EZINES

Advertising in ezines is still a great bargain. To find compatible ezines for your ads, try these sites:

• EzineAdAuction
  http://www.ezineadauction.com
• FreeZineWeb
  http://www.freezineweb.com/

Swapping ads with other publishers is another method of gaining exposure and increasing your subscriber base. Check out Ezine-Swap.com for lists of publishers wanting to exchange ads.

5. PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE FORUMS

Although you can't blatantly advertise in news groups and forums, you have the opportunity to both learn new things and share your knowledge with others. Through active participation in forums you will notice an increase in traffic to your site. Visit Groups.Google.com to find appropriate news groups you can join. Below are some recommended Forum Groups:

• Work at Home Business Forum
• WAHM Message Boards

7. WRITE TESTIMONIALS

Whenever you try a product or use a service you like - tell the owner! Business owners love to hear from people who have truly benefited from their service. Your endorsement might even get posted on their site with a link pointing back to your site. These testimonials are typically posted for long periods.

8. ADVERTISE LOCALLY

Get listed in your phonebook. When people want to buy locally this is one of the first places they look. Newspapers are also a persistent value and still widely read. Bargain hunters and local shoppers alike use the newspaper to find great deals within driving distant.

9. BUSINESS CARDS

Get FREE Color Business Cards here. Distribute your business cards EVERYWHERE! Leave them at restaurants, on bulletin boards, at the gas pumps, etc. When you receive junk sales mail that includes a postage paid envelope, put your business card in the envelope and mail back.

10. EMAIL SIGNATURE

A basic but powerful free way to market your website is to make sure you have a signature set up on your email accounts. Put your website URL in the signature with a brief statement about your site. Everytime you use your email, you have the opportunity of the recipient viewing your site.