Home Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Free Advertising’

The hardest part of writing an article is getting an original idea.  There is so much written on work at home business, home business, home opportunities, and every other combination that come to mind, that it is hard to write something new and informative.

For the newbie one good way of getting ideas is to research several articles by the “experts”, then take the main talking points of the articles and write in your own words how those talking points has helped or will help you with your home business.

One of the ways I find subject matter is to do something relaxing.  For instance, I love to fish.  From April through November I fish every opportunity I get.  Living in Michigan I am surrounded by water and lakes, so there is plenty of opportunities for me to indulge my favorite past-time.

I take a small notebook with me, and as I am sitting in my boat waiting for that one fish to come eat its lunch, I let my mind drift along with the boat.  You would be surprised at the ideas that pop into my head.  Not all are printable!  For most of these ideas I will take the time, as the fish aren’t hungry, to write down key points of the thoughts.

If I thought of a new way to market a product, or a product itself, this gets written down in my little black book along with other tidbits I don’t ever write about.  I think you can see where this is leading.

I write at least five articles a day for my three blogs, for ezine sites, and for pleasure. Even if I don’t publish them right away, I save them in a folder on my desktop for further use when the muse goes dry.   When I started writing I struggled, because I was so tense and unsure of my abilities that the ideas never came and I would have to rely on those “experts”, I even wrote an article once on “What It Takes To Become An Expert“, if you would like to read this one just click on the title and it will take you to the article.  I wrote that article when I was new to article writing and frustrated.

There is plenty of opportunities during any given day for you to let your mind drift.  Soon you might be thinking of what your children are doing, or something your husband said to you, or your shopping experiences, you will be surprised what you will end up writing about.  Most every subject I can think of can be turned around with words to fit a home business article or a blog.

So start writing as it is one of the key components to advertising your products for free!

Couldn’t they have come up with another name for junk mail on the Internet? I mean Spam, that is a meat by-product that as far as I can figure out only older men seem to like.

I mean no insult to the Spam connisseur.  I am sure it taste wonderful, if you like salty canned meat.  I prefer my meat to look like meat and not all pressed together so it resembles a brick.

First off…meat is not supposed to come canned.  To me and I am sure to thousand of others, this is not natural.  Then there is the jell type substance that is in with the meat.  What is that?  Is it necessary to the canning process?

So why is internet junk mail called “spam”?  And when someone speaks of it they almost have a combative tone to their voice or email.  Thou Shalt Not Spam!  They say it like it is the 11th commandment.  I don’t remember anyone saying anything about Moses coming off the mountain with 11 commandments, or was I sleeping through Cathecism again?

So why not call it what it is “Junk Mail”  “Unwanted Mail” anything is better than “Spam.”

And another thing, even though as an internet marketer I am not suppose to do “it”, I receive hundred of unsolicited emails in all 5 of my email accounts daily.  I didn’t ask Joe Blow to send me information on Viagra, I am sure I would remember.  So didn’t Joe spam me?  That didn’t sound right, but I am sure you know what I mean…or if you want take it anyway you want…let your imagination flow.

Before you ask why I have 5 email accounts in the first place, I have no idea anymore.  But they all get “spammed a lot”.  I think that is a Broadway show, I know that doesn’t have anything to do with the unwanted messages in my email accounts.  I saw the show.

So “spam” is obviously an analogy for something.  But I tried to find out and no one seems to know.  Just think of it this way, some programmer in a back room, getting paid good money said one day…”hey, I think the unwanted junk mail in our email accounts should be called Spam!”  Because he rarely gets out of that back room he thought it was original.  Poor Guy.

SPAM-Special Post and Mail?  Send People Awful Mail?  I could come up with a few more, but they are not printable.

Now that you have decided you want to work at home, you are not sure how to get started.  Am I right? First of all you are not alone.  So take a deep breath and live your dream.

If you plan on your home business being a success, and I am sure you do, then you need to learn to market it effectively.  Meaning figure out if you want to market it only online, offline, use only free methods, use paid advertising or both.  How do you market your business?

In this article I will concentrate on only free methods, because frankly that is how I started.

If you don’t already have a website, it is best to have one of your own to market.  Don’t panic, if I did it, you can do it.  A domain name can be purchased online anywhere from $1.99 (Go Daddy) to $7.95 and up.  Pick a name that is relevant to your business.  For instance if you are selling affiliate work at home programs like I do, then you do not want a name like HorseRUs.  That is fine if you are selling saddles and bridles, but not home business opportunities.  After you settle on a domain name, you need to find a hosting service for your new website.  This too can be done as cheaply as $4.95 a month (Ipower) and I have seen it as high as a yearly cost of over $500.  Stick with the cheaper plans, believe me, all you need is someone to host your site on the web, you will be doing all the promotions, changes to your website, and anything else that needs attention.

With that done, the next step will be designing your website.  There are many free website building editors on the Internet, that all you have to do is download them to your computers hard drive.  The one I use and like is NVU.  It is simple, you don’t have to know html, and their support is great for someone who has never built a website.

All the while you are building your website, use some of the methods outlined in this article to advertise some of your affiliate programs.

Now that I have scared you to death at the thought of building a website, I will let you off the hook, and tell you that if you don’t have the money for a hosting account.  You can create a blog through Blogspot.com, and do just about anything with it.  It is not as effective as your own domain name or website, but it can get you started.  If you are reading this article on my work at home blog…I use WordPress.org, which requires you to have your own hosting and domain name.  I find it easier to make changes and have an original design.  I use Blogspot for another blog, if you would like to see the difference:  Senior But Not Senile

FREE ADVERTISING

This is one that I am very familiar with and have used extensively.  As a matter of fact I wrote an e-book on how to use free advertising.  The link will be at the bottom of the article if you wish to download it.

Do a search on the Internet for free advertising and you will find more sites than you could use in a year.  These sites generally have both free and paid advertising.  The costs of the paid are generally extremely low.  Try and stay on the sites on the first page of your search, as these sites will be the first to pop up when someone puts a query into the search engines.

When writing your copy for your ad, most affiliate programs have written it for you.  You can generally change the wording to suit your needs.  However, I have found that by using their headlines, my ads receive more attention.

Post as many ads as are allowed on the site without posting duplicates.  Most free ad sites frown on duplicate ads and can get you banned from the site real quick.

FORUMS

I spend a lot of time on forums and not just for advertising.  You can learn so much from the other people on these home business forums and most people are happy to help someone get started.  They are a friendly group of people, generally speaking.  Again do not spam, do not answer questions that you are unsure of the answers.  If you don’t understand something…ask!

The way the advertising works for the forums is in your signature.  When you sign up you will be asked for your websites url or address.  On most forums you can put your affiliate links, but once you have your website up and running, go back in and put your websites address in the signature also.  Two or three addresses are more than enough.  If you put more you could get banned from the forum, and that is not a good way to start your business.

ARTICLE WRITING
This is one sure fire method of getting customers.  When I started it scared me to death.  I knew nothing about writing an article, some say I still don’t, but I learned to do it and as I went along I became more confident.

Your first articles could be reviews of different affiliate programs that your sponsor.  If you think you do not know enough about the programs, then look up reviews on the Internet for that particular program.  Read several of them, and you will have a pretty good idea what the program is all about.

Once you have written a few article start publishing them in different online magazines (Ezines).  Again look up “Ezines” on the web and you will find a listing of the most popular sites.  Ezines.com is the largest and most popular.  It is a free signup.  Be sure to put a brief biography of yourself in the signature portion of the sign-up.  If you are not sure what to put..read a few of the others and come up with something that will fit you.  I have changed mine about 10 times now.  Eventually I will get it right.  Only submit 1-2 articles a day with any Ezine.  It will take up to a week to get your article published, but it is a great feeling when you get that first one recognized.  I remember when I went to “Platinum” at Ezine.com, I was thrilled, they even sent me a ceramic mug in the mail as a thank you.  I drink my tea from it every morning.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

This one of the newer free advertising methods, and one that I am still becoming familiar using.  Facebook, MySpace, and a few others are useful in making contacts.  And once I fully understand how to use them effectively I will write another article.

Turning a profit using only free methods will take time and a lot of work, so prepare yourself if this is the only method you plan to use.  In my next article I will explore some of the paid methods of advertising and how to use them along with free advertising to really give your business a boost.

So I hope this gives you some insight into free advertising on the internet…if you want to download my book…it is free (just kidding about the price).  Remember it was written when I was still a novice, so don’t be too critical.