Monday, February 15, 2010

Best Tools of Marketing: Free and Low-Cost Online Methods Used by Savvy Internet Marketers

In order to be successful in any business, everyone knows you have to have a product or service that interest a targeted audience.

Getting those customers is not always an easy task, and it often costs a great deal of cash outlay. However, some of the best tools of marketing are available free or at a minimal cost, if one has a computer and a little knowledge of the Internet.

One of the best ways to market your business is through a blog. A blog allows you to inform potential customers or business partners about your product or service via daily or weekly posts you make to your page. You can also have a link to your store or company page so readers will be exposed to what you have to offer. You may choose to use a free blog or purchase hosting, depending on your budget. While a free blog is attractive because it is free, it is suggested that you host your own blog through a paid provider. Free services seem to disappear overtime, this will cause you to lose all your hard work.

Now that you have a blog, you need content to help drive traffic to your site, but how do you know what to post on it? When writing new articles for your blog, it is recommended to target your leads with good keywords. Keywords are the phrases people put into the search bars when they are looking for something on the Internet. There are many keyword search tools available, from the simple to the complex, and the cost ranges from free to a few hundred dollars. Even the most simple and inexpensive tools can help the newbie accelerate in rank for their posted articles on their web site when done right.

Once you have your keywords, it's time to get writing! Short blog posts might include testimonials, case studies, or press releases, and even your own articles. Remember marketing is all about attracting like-minded individuals to your opportunity or product, thus comes the term "Attraction Marketing".

If you've just started your website and your new to blogging, sometimes it is good to use an outsourcing service to provide valuable content for your blog. Ghostwriters take the keywords you provide and write the articles or blog posts for a small fee. These articles are now yours, just as if you had written them yourself. If you use these services, be sure to check the articles for accuracy. A few changes may be needed to personalize them to YOU.

As you gain popularity, you will need to set up your RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication)so current followers will know when you upload a new post. Most blog templates have this feature built in, and it only requires a few simple steps to set it up. This free feature can help you get even more readers, as current followers will share your content with their audience.

Submitting your articles to directories will help drive even more free traffic to your blog. After posting the original article to your site, you should upload the article to directories with a link going back to your blog. If done correctly, this alone can put you in the top three percent of Internet Marketers. There are hundreds of article directories, and if this approach sounds like your cup of tea, it is recommended that you get the tools to make this task a lot easier.

Last but not least on the list of best tools of marketing are social networking and bookmarking sites. These sites are a golden nugget to people with little or no money. It is easy to find your target market and add them to your following, and they become a willing audience to your marketing efforts.

Proper use of these services will help to grow your list of prospects. Keep in mind that the best tools of marketing are not always the most expensive ones. Do your research, and find people who are willing to give testimonials about the methods they use. Then get ready to employ them for yourself and watch your business grow!

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