Free Online Marketing Methods…Do They Even Exist?

 As an Internet marketer, you’re probably not too keen to spending money unless it is going to provide you with a return on your investment. It’s difficult to judge what a return is going to be, without an extensive amount of testing, and lots of money. This is where free online marketing methods come into play, if you don’t have a budget to invest in online advertising. There are lots of companies that spend millions, sometimes billions of dollars in marketing online. Smaller businesses just don’t have these funds available to find out what types of campaigns can work on the Internet. If you can work free online marketing methods to your advantage, why shouldn’t you use them? After all, this could provide your website with a substantial amount of traffic and interest, which could result in sales. In rrder to grow your brand, you have to engage in free promotional methods that don’t require a serious investment to get started.

Social media networks

Of course, you knew social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube would be at the top of the list. These are great sites to network with others, especially if you are in the business-to-business marketing industry. If you have products or services that other businesses need, you definitely need to be reaching out on these networks. If you’re selling products or services directly to consumers, you can use these networks to build an image and grow your brand. Branding is a huge part of being successful online, free social networks are great way to expand your branding and capture the interest of consumers without having to invest money. The best way to entice people into checking out your social media network accounts, is to post funny things on your profile. You can also update your profiles with regular updates, such as links or blog posts from your website. This can also come in handy for directing people to your website, if you have content that they should be interested in. You should always publish the titles of your blog posts, along with the link, in your status updates. This way, the titles might catch their eye and attention, resulting in interest that you would not have obtained if you didn’t post the title. They have to see what types of content you are updating your blog with, this way they will know if they have an interest in what you provide.

Forums

You may not have known this, but forums are actually very popular in any industry. Regardless of what types of products or services your company sells, you can probably find forums related to your industry, where you can market yourself on. For instance, even if you are a local automotive repair company, there are plenty of automotive forums out there where people discuss the best companies, products, etc. By advertising your company on these forums, you can get people interested in your products or services, without having to invest a dime. Forums are absolutely free, the majority of them at least, and they’re a great way to expand your brand and create interest. You can use your signature to advertise a banner or text ad of yours. When you post on someone else’s thread, this signature will be displayed below your reply. This means, every time you participate on the community, you are doing something good for your business and your branding.

Post to video websites, document sharing websites, article and press release websites, but post something useful, not SEO keyword garbage!

Unfortunately, a lot of people use video websites, document websites, article directories, and press release directories, in order to increase their search engine rankings. I say unfortunately because a large majority of companies misuse these resources. Instead of providing something valuable, they post generic and rehashed information that could be found elsewhere. They inject their keywords into the content, solely for the purpose of increasing their search engine rankings. The content really has no value to a reader or watcher, if it’s a video, and it’s just there to benefit the company in the search engines. Yes, a big part of being successful is doing proper search engine optimization and ranking your website for competitive keywords, but it is not the only solution. You can use these websites to grow your brand and spread knowledge about your products and services in a more professional manner.

Guest post by Charles Dodgson: A freelance writer and editor, Charles Dodgson works for WLM SEM Service Company that offers a complete range of search engine marketing solutions for businesses, including affordable, high quality link building services and more.