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mschuerer
Forums Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
Posts: 6
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#1 · Posted: 14 Oct 2009 23:21 · Edited by: mschuerer
I would really like to know how some of you go about advertising your retail product for free online? Do you use forums like this, or do you write articles. I'm not sure how all of this works.
I'm still working my full-time, under-paid JOB and need to create some cash flow through retailing the product. I have literally NO advertising budget and don't have time or inclination to leave 1500 fliers/week on windsheilds at the mall (my coach's suggestion).
How are you getting retail customers online, if that's what you're doing? I need a little help in this area.
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 3044
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#2 · Posted: 14 Oct 2009 23:35
First of all - welcome.
Second, make sure you keep your business url in your sig or the admin will remove it...
And third, please don't put flyers in windshields. Nobody likes that!
Now, to get to your question... there are many ways for you to get 'out there' with your product and the best way to learn is to look at some of the things others are doing, what they are using, etc...
I personally like using free places like Squidoo, and writing articles to get traffic to my website...
For instance you can write articles on all kinds of angles about your product and link to your website from the bio part of the article - you can set up blogs or Squidoo pages with good quality information and then link back to your website where they can buy stuff...
Most of it is simply getting stuff floating on the internet to attract visitors to your site and as you go along you will learn more and more about all the ins and outs of doing it..... like how to find good keywords, etc...
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mschuerer
Forums Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
Posts: 6
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#3 · Posted: 14 Oct 2009 23:50
Thanks so much, Mountainmom5! It's pretty obvious I am new to all this. I wrote my first Squidoo lens a couple of days ago and they locked by lens telling me it had the potential for spam. What does that mean exactly?
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mschuerer
Forums Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
Posts: 6
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#4 · Posted: 15 Oct 2009 00:16
Why isn't the text link code working in my signature block?
[It's working now. Please check the code - Admin]
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 3044
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#5 · Posted: 15 Oct 2009 00:48
I have not had a lens locked yet, so I would ask them why it has the potential for spam... and on the signature, try putting [url=http://yoururl][/url] around your phrase there - that should work..
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FreeCashMan
Forums Member
Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Posts: 1036
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#6 · Posted: 16 Oct 2009 01:15
Selling a particular product on line is going to be similar to niche marketing. You may want to study up on that.
However, if you think that free online marketing is going to instantly and quickly make you a bunch of retail says to make the percentage you get add up to substantive money, you may be in for rude awakening. Sorry!
You coach was right in the foundation of what he told you. You need to get what you are offering in front of as many people that fall into the niche of what you are selling. If the mall was suggested because that is where consumers and buyers are then realize you basically have to go about achieving this same thing in your online marketing.
Either the mall or online, you've got to put in the work to get the reward.
I will say that many wise successful home business people are using offline marketing strategies to grow their business. Driving offline traffic directly online to your website with a focus to go directly to your website can be very effective and profitable.
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drunyan
Forums Member
Joined: 19 Mar 2010
Posts: 49
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#7 · Posted: 30 Mar 2010 16:43
Welcome to the internet. I am new to internet marketing also. I came across Mike Dillard's Magnetic Sponsoring and that has been very helpful for me as far as getting started on the internet and learning the lingo. He also has some great ideas for free or almost free marketing. Good luck.
Diane
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BusinessBuilder
Forums Member
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 12
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#8 · Posted: 30 Mar 2010 21:35
So many people try to use the Internet before learning how to market their business. If you have not marketed an offline business, then the Internet won't do anything for you.
Invest in good marketing materials, the right Internet tools and consistently marketing your business every day. Using sticky methods will grow your website traffic and your business.
Use offline techniques to send visitors to your website. You simply must have the money to market your business or you're not "in business."
Building your business takes time and persistence.
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1485
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#9 · Posted: 31 Mar 2010 01:58
BusinessBuilder: So many people try to use the Internet before learning how to market their business. If you have not marketed an offline business, then the Internet won't do anything for you. Invest in good marketing materials, the right Internet tools and consistently marketing your business every day. Using sticky methods will grow your website traffic and your business. Use offline techniques to send visitors to your website. You simply must have the money to market your business or you're not "in business."
Not necessarily. I had no marketing experience offlline before I started on the internet. And yet the internet has done a LOT for me.
It will depend on getting good training, as you said, but that can be obtained online as you learn to build and grow your business. I got everything I needed as far as training and tools all included in my SiteBuildIt package. It was completely an online education that resulted in an ever growing business.
Also, I didn't have "the money" to market my business. Instead, I learned to build an online business that doesn't need advertising because the search engines send traffic to my business for free.
Offline techniques are a plus, but not a necessity.
BusinessBuilder: Building your business takes time and persistence.
And THAT I agree with wholeheartedly!
Blessings,
Angie
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carterstory
Forums Member
Joined: 14 Mar 2010
Posts: 139
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#10 · Posted: 31 Mar 2010 07:04
One of the best things that we did was spend money on training, (The guy in my signature). Going online is just more than putting up a web-page and being there , it takes work, you need to know about Lead capture pages, and social networking. There are ways to point leads / customers to your page without spending a dime in advertising (paid ads on, google, yahoo, msn, back-link services etc. ) but they take more time, you can set up a good ad-words campaign in probably around 1 hour, and then play around 10-15min a day for a week after that to tweak it. To successfully market for free you are looking at 1-2 hours a day every day to get your name out there.
(self serving) I am working on sharing some of the things we've learned in a 3-5 day basic training, if you're interested I will share the link for you once its done.
As for your squidoo page, it's got to be unique, you need to add some text content, (like a review of your business, or some tips to succeed in your business) then a link.
Please no fliers on windshields, for ever 1 person you get that's a lead.. you'll get 100 that are pissed off that you put a flier on their car.
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BusinessBuilder
Forums Member
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 12
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#11 · Posted: 31 Mar 2010 21:00
happywife: It will depend on getting good training, as you said, but that can be obtained online as you learn to build and grow your business. I got everything I needed as far as training and tools all included in my SiteBuildIt package. It was completely an online education that resulted in an ever growing business.
Excellent product, Angie! Unfortunately, most people are not as ambitious as you, especially when it comes to the technical tasks.
There are plenty of free marketing techniques you can use on the Internet to get traffic, and that's what I prefer - as you said, getting search engine placement is free if you know how!
Getting offline traffic to your online business though will take marketing know-how and a bit of cash for marketing materials.
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