5 No-Cost Site Promotion Ideas
When I say no cost, I mean it. Nothing. Nada. Out of pocket = $0.
What do you likely have tons of? Skill, talent, creativity, time, energy, perseverance… yup, that’s all you’ll really need to make these work.
“Prize” away something you already own but no longer need or want. Sure, you can unload for cash on eBay, Craig’s List or Amazon, but for lower ticket items (and even more expensive ones, really), the promotional value of offering an item as a contest prize to help draw traffic to your site can far exceed the item’s worth in the marketplace. Books, for example, are perfect for this.
“Prize” your service. The objective is to draw in potential clients willing to pay for said service. With that in mind, I can’t honestly come up with a service where this promotional technique won’t be applicable (the assumption being that there is a target market reachable online, of course). If you do this, make sure to document the project fully, before and after, which will help you squeeze as much promo value from it as you can.
“Prize” your site’s advertising space. (Starting to notice a “contest” trend, are you? Don’t worry, it’s the last.) If your niche/specialized site already has respectable traffic, you could give away advertising and banner impressions on your site… and your ezine too, if you’ve got one. This idea’s probably more useful if you’ve got a B2B (business-to-business) operation, but you may be surprised at the interest it generates regardless.
Participate regularly and visibly in related special interest online forums. Schmooze with your target community, in other words. Remember: You’ll very likely be interacting with community influencers at these forums, meaning that there’s an excellent chance that if you do this right, you’ll really be multiplying your efforts.
And my favorite no-cost site promotion technique for wordpreneurs is…
Write, publish and give away a related ebook. We’re writers; this should be easy enough to do — heck, the thing could even be added to your portfolio. Make sure you’re generous with the number of references and links back to your site. And the information you provide really has to be valuable (don’t waste anyone’s time, please). If it clicks and goes viral — whoosh! — hang on to your hat!
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One Response to “5 No-Cost Site Promotion Ideas”
By NathanKP on Feb 28, 2008 | Reply
This is very good advice. Thank you for sharing it.