The Internet offers a wealth of free promotional resources that marketers can take advantage of. While you may consider paying for advertising at some point in your Internet marketing career, if you are still getting your feet wet, it is best to stick with the free or almost free (if you buy your own domain name and pay for hosting) methods of promotion. In the following paragraphs we’ll look at three of the top promotional strategies Internet marketers can take advantage of.
Article Marketing
When you write useful and informative articles around they keywords or keyword phrases upon which your niche is based, people performing searches based on those keywords will run across your articles when they are looking for information. If those articles are well written and compelling, they will lead people straight to your website. This free promotional tactic is a powerful marketing tool that you just can’t afford to pass up. Not only can you submit your promotional articles to multiple article directories, but there are some, such as Associated Content, Helium, and ehow that will pay you ad revenue as well!
Blogging
Blogs have been all the rage for some time and the trend continues to be popular. Most blog posts are shorter than the typical article and you can write dozens of blog posts in a short amount of time and then schedule them to post on a consistent basis. Now this particular technique will only work if you are blogging about a subject where the information doesn’t constantly change. If you’re blogging about celebrities, for instance, this approach wouldn’t work. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t blog but you probably won’t be able to compose your blog posts ahead of time. In this example, you’ll have to keep up with the very latest and constantly update your blog.
Even if you just maintain an informational blog where you earn ad revenue, it can be a profitable promotional tool. You can link back to your main website where you feature your products for sale. Alternatively, you can promote affiliate products on your blog as many affiliate marketers do. The bottom line is that if you are an Internet marketer, you need a blog.
Forum Posting
Forum posting can get old real quick if you’re in it just because you can post links in your signature line. But if you genuinely become part of the community you can actually get a lot out of this promotional tactic. In addition, you can learn a lot from others who are marketing in your niche and possibly in others. Most people on Internet forums are more than willing to help others out and many ideas are born and tested in these communities. So don’t look at forum posting as just a way to get another link posted but rather look at it as the valuable networking opportunity that it is.
