Free and Fee Based Online Marketing Methods

Okay, so I was chatting to a friend in Orlando last night, who’s looking to break away from his current position in the rat race to start his own business. We pretty much chatted around the different ways it’s possible to market yourself or your business online. This post is a quick summary of the methods we discussed…

You can’t beat FREE! - based on cost at least…

Free online marketing pretty much takes you into the social networking and web 2.0 categories; ie. Every day web users producing their own content online, as opposed to only hiring the services of a web designer / copy-writer etc.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, MySpace and Bebo all fall into this particular category.

The Blog Marketing Strategy

The “Power of the Blog” would also apply here, though it’d be a shrewd move to invest in hosting your blog at your own domain, as opposed to using only the free blogging services - if only to give the perception of being an established, and trustworthy business.

Check out WordPress.com and Google’s Blogger.com for the free blog option… quick and easy to launch, with good exposure online.

Visit the likes of WordPress.org or TypePad to explore options with a low monthly fee… though a monthly fee nonetheless. (Note: Use the “Contact” tab above to drop us a note here at AddIncomeOnline.com, we’re more than happy to establish the WordPress option for you at no additional cost.)

Video Sharing and the Rise of YouTube

The rise of YouTube.com is far from a secret to many, if not most, active web users today. However, uses vary considerably from the posting of home video and hobby films, all the way through to professionally produced movie trailers and political campaigning. The thing to remember is that it’s everyday people who browse video sharing sites, and it’s therefore an excellent place to begin self-promotion.

Check out YouTube.com, Revver.com (where you can also tie in revenue from automatically embedded Ads) and MetaCafe to name but a few. Alternatively, visit TubeMogul to post video to multiple sites at once.

Always remember to add text description/bio of the video content. Search engines don’t watch your video to establish the subject matter :o)

Marketing at a Price

“Pay Per Click” (PPC) is an extremely effective way of marketing both people and services, and is not to be underestimated as an online marketing strategy. It’s also wise not to underestimate the ability of PPC methods to drain your marketing budget should you “take your eye off the ball”. Research, research, research…

Google and Yahoo are the big guns in this arena, though it was Google’s Adwords program which took the online marketing world by storm. I would suggest that Adwords should be your first port of call in exploring PPC. Visit these links for starters…

http://adwords.google.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleBusiness

Affiliate Marketing and Finder’s Fees - the Middle Ground…

Somewhere in between free and paid methods of online marketing, lies the territory of Affiliate Marketing. It’s basically the same model as rewarding an ‘agent’, or a ‘middle man’ with a “Finder’s Fee”. I’d suggest it lies in the middle ground, given that your outlay is tied solely to your income; ie. “no money in” equates to “no money out”. It’s therefore an effective way to fund marketing whilst strictly managing cash flow.

The foundation of this method is this: Figure out a way to connect with people, who connect with your target client group or customers, and get them on board by offering a “reward” for succesful client introductions. There are many sites which ‘broker’ the relationship between businesses (the publisher) and web-site owners (advertisers).

Start with Commission Junction and TradeDoubler with regards to marketing offline or “brick and mortar” businesses, as well as web based endeavours.

ClickBank and the fledgling PayDotCom.com lend themselves more to the marketing of software and information products.

Professionals and Networking (Getting Jobs Done)

Lastly, there’s always the option of establishing relationships with businesses, whilst offering your services on a freelance basis. Businesses can avoid the over-hiring of employees, one of the most significant business overheads, by making use of short term contracts with freelance service providers.

Visit Elance.com and LinkedIn to establish an ID for your business today - why not sit on both sides of the fence as both service provider and service user…

Here’s to your marketing success!