Here are more than a dozen ways to promote your Wisconsin business online.
1) Market your site via PPC advertising
Many companies are realizing extraordinary responses from PPC, or "Pay-Per-Click" advertising. See
this from Google for an introduction to the largest of the PPC offerings on the web. Contact
http://RegisterSuccess.com/ (a sister company of theBubbler) for more info or for help getting started.
2) Blog
Low-cost, easily updated way to have one-to-many and one-to-one communication with your prospects and clients. I've read
blog! how the newest media revolution is changing politics business and culture and
Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, and strongly recommend both, in that order. Clients of
OnYourMark, LLC (the parent company that publishes theBubbler.com) all got a free blog and blogging instructions as part of the service we provide to them.
3) Podcast
You've got to try
iTunes! You don't have to have an iPod. Just a computer (Mac or PC) and an internet connection. The wealth of video and audio content is astounding. Even more so - a HUGE amount of it is FREE. It doesn't take long to see that PodCasting could be a useful marketing tool for you. Check out Podcasts that talk about PodCasting. You'll be amazed at the opportunities. Watch for PodCasts at some of our WisNetwork.com sites soon.
4) Video
I've long believed that we will not have 500 channels on cable. Instead, we'll have 50,000 channels on the web. I was wrong. We'll have 5 million, if not 50 million, channels on the web. Video channels. Witness the rise and acquisition of YouTube.com by Google. Coming soon: WisTube.com !!! If you'd like help getting started in business video, contact
www.Videocracy.com
5) TheBubbler.com Free Classifieds
That's right. F-R-E-E * W-I-S-C-O-N-S-I-N * C-L-A-S-S-I-F-I-E-D-S right here at theBubbler.com. It amazes me that we don't have 15,000 of them instead of over 1,500, particularly since we do our best to keep out spammers and scammers and present it in a family-friendly site.
6) Permission-based email marketing
SpamIsBad!!! That's why we recommend
www.eSponse.com - a business partner - for PERMISSION-BASED email marketing.
7) Forums
Being a good citizen in forums means a) NOT hyping your business without offering some information of value <like I'm trying to do in this post>, and b) going out of your way to be helpful and communicative with Forum Members as your first priority. The more you do that, with perhaps a simple link to your own site in your signature, the more likely you are to engender goodwill and the first consideration of your business when people who know you from the online community have a need.
8) Live Chat
Guilty. We don't have it here yet. Hope to soon. In the meantime, the advice from #7 above applies.
9) Online Newsletters
No cost for printing, envelopes and very low cost for distribution. See
www.eSponse.com - a business partner - and theBubbler's parent,
www.OnYourMark.com for info
10) RSS Feeds
Let people subscribe to your information the new way. Real Simple Syndication, or RSS. See
http://www.wisfeeds.com/ and
this forum thread (for theBubbler Members Only) for more information.
11) Internet Press Releases
Almost no-cost. Even if you don't distribute press releases to news media, put them up on your site.
12) Career Opportunities
Career Opportunities are often a missed opportunity to put the best possible spin on your business and to make valuable new contacts.
For example, if you don't have a need for new people, write something like this: Though we don't presently have a need for staff because we have excellent people with an average tenure of over eleven years, we're always interested in talking with other bright, ambitious, customer service-oriented individuals with impeccable ethical standards. Do you think the prospect who's looking at buying from you might be impressed?
13) Add-A-Link to Your Site
Another free service of theBubbler.com and many other sites, adding a link not only helps people find you directly, it increases your link popularity, a crucial component of good results in search engines.
14) Yellow Pages Online
If you're still advertising in the yellow pages, be sure you're getting everything you're entitled to in the online version! I have over ten years of experience with directory salespeople and am sorry to say that most do not go the extra mile to be sure you get everything you're entitled to with your program. That's a shame because you'll never even know the business you may be missing.
15) Social Networking via Member Pages
Be a good neighbor, whether at MySpace, myYahoo or theBubbler.com. Many sites like theBubbler.com make it relatively easy to find people with similar interests - both personal and professional. Just being friendly and accessible online may open doors to you just as it does in the real world.
16) Toll-Free Phone Number
Use a (separate) toll free number in your online marketing. When you get your monthly statement (and often 24/7 in real time online) you can see exactly how many calls you're getting, the geographic origination of the calls, the length of calls, etc. I pioneered this technique in directories and brought it online over ten years ago and would be pleased to help you with toll-free tracking numbers. email info <AT> OnYourMark.com with Toll Free Tracking in the subject line.
17) SEO, SEM, SER
Content is king! Optimize the content on your site, maintain it, register it.
SEO, SEM, SER = SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, SEARCH ENGINE MAINTENANCE AND SEARCH ENGINE REGISTRATION.
We offer Do-It-Yourself service at
www.DIYsubmit.com and full service at
www.RegisterSuccess.com
I hope you've found this information helpful. Feel free to PM me for more info.
Regards,
Keith
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