5 Ways to Get More Exposure Without Dipping into Your Funds
Argument of the day: Do you go for free advertising on social media, or do you dip into your cash?
I believe there is plenty of room for both methods, but if you are just starting out you are probably being careful with your resources. I am picking you would be happy to get some free exposure, so here are 5 ways you can get your website URL in front of eyes for no cost.
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Build Up Your Social Media
At some time those of you who are starting out and who are a bit anxious about this aspect of building your business are going to have to come to terms with the importance of social media.
When advertising online, you should at least have accounts with the most popular social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram – and there are many more for later down the track.
Use these sites to direct traffic to your website. It costs you nothing and it is not difficult to do – it just means that you have to develop a list of followers and friends.
To do this, you must first analyse your target market – that is the audience you want to market to. Then you work on adding members of this audience to your network. You can do this by joining relevant groups, for example, or by developing a presence on the fan pages of ‘influencers’ in your niche.
Check the relevant feeds daily, comment seriously on the posts you like and you will soon make connections that you can follow up later. You can then share relevant content through status up-dates, images and tweets, all of which will bear the URL of your website. Time consuming maybe, but time is your currency if you are chasing free stuff.
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Create Useful Content
Your readers should be able to rely on finding useful content that offers value and relevancy to your niche. Google, along with all the other major search engines runs algorithms that are able to gauge the amount of relevant content you are supplying. Your ranking will depend on what the search engines find. They will rank you higher in your niche if you offer specialised content rather than generic information.
In practical terms this means that the higher your ranking, the nearer to the top of Page 1 in Google search you will be found. The old statement ‘Content is King’ is as pertinent today as it was when I first heard it 5 years ago.
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Optimize for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
If you have your pages properly optimized and then ranked by the search engines, you will surely get plenty of free traffic – all things being equal. SEO in itself is not hard, but there is plenty of discussion around what works and what doesn’t. Be ready to do proper keyword research. Take the trouble to find out how to find the right keywords. Check out which strategy you will use. No use in starting with one method only to change half-way down the track. This can ruin your ranking status for a long time. Google’s rules change often and you need to keep up with them.
If you have a WordPress site, you can make use of plug-ins such as Yoast SEO to regulate and to keep you aware of your SEO status
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Leave Your URL Anywhere You Can
Become a familiar figure on forums and groups which are connected to your niche. Register for an account on the most popular ones and start posting the kind of content we talked about in Tip #2.
Usually, you can edit your signature and include your site’s URL. Hopefully, you will stun them with the brilliance of your content, and they will cross over to your website to get to know you better. (and sign up to your list)
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Look For ‘Free Site’ Promotions
Free hopefully will always be with us, so keep your eyes peeled for new ideas. Don’t forget classified ads, content submission and web-directories which may be of value and which you can maintain without taking up too much time.
To finish – there are plenty of opportunities for free advertising on social media. It is now up to you to implement your knowledge and get your stuff ‘out there’!
Extra Bonus Information About Free Advertising on Social Media
A method of free advertising on social media that I use is through this program at: >>>http:// snip.ly.com<<< Well worth a look and there is a free version if you are just starting out. It works through content curation. Just contact me if you need any further details on how to use it.
a very helpful post indeed, especially for ones in early stages as the most common problem is all the expenses that come in the way,
As you said social media is a must for new marketers as it helps to spread the word, but one should focus on creating quality content first, then worry about social media because otherwise sharing crappy content won’t get anybody’s attention
Keep up the fresh useful content as it feels good having it around :))
Regards
Aydo