How to promote your business and find customers online free

Are you looking to find customers online? Then this article is for you. Read on.

Before the internet, business had cheap ways of marketing themselves but  could only reach very few people and it was not necessarily effective. These methods were through their customers, by printing fliers and distributing them or by sponsoring small local events. Today there many effective ways to reach more customers and generate profit thanks to the internet. However, these ways come along with so many competitions, you have to be clever and know the best ways to market your business online.

We will show you seven ways that you can market your business online and it will not cost you a thing;

Start a blog.

A blog helps you connect with your customers more directly, it also helps advertise your product to your followers, and through them, other people will know about it. However, you should keep in mind that the main secret of blogging is to keep your blog updated. A dormant blog is useless. Write on topics that can that relates to your business. If your business is make-up, on your blog you should write about diverse make-up tips and secrets of make-up, information your customers will want to digest. That will draw your customers to you and they will view you as authority in the field. Just writing interesting contents can help you find customers online, especially in the long term as your content will always be there for people to look up.  If you want to know how to start a blog, read our guide: How to create a blog in less than 20 minutes

Use local listings or search engine services.

Registering your blog or website with Google, help people find you more easily with just a click. With Google Places, it is also easy to track your location for new and non-local customers on Google maps. All you need is to register your business with Google and it is free! Click here to register your business free with Google.

Yahoo! like Google also have a big database, this database is free to get into and takes only few minutes to set up. This database is called, Yahoo! Local. Click here to get your business listed on Yahoo local free. Microsoft’s Bing has the same services and is also easy to set up. Click here to list your site on Bing free! If you want to find customers online, then it is important to register in all the listed directories as it will help your visibility online more than you can imagine.

Take advantage of social media.

So many people assume that social media is just a tool for gossip and fame. But it is more than that!  If you know the millions of people that are glued to social media like Facebook, twitter and Instagram everyday, you will understand the benefit your business will have when you showcase it on social media.

You can advertise your business on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. LinkedIn can also help you start up. The more followers and fans you get on these platforms; the bigger your brand.

SEO your blog or website.

You can write or make content that will help you in Search Engine Optimization. This step must not be underestimated, since so many people are ‘googling’ all the time. Make sure that your site or blog is primed for performance search engines.

Join and contribute to online communities.

There are different communities in every niche. You can search for forums and communities that talks about your kind of business and share your business. But take not that just joining the communities and posting only about your business can be so annoying and might not be of help to people or might even get you banned. Being an active member of any community you join is every advisable, contribute to discussions, let other members get to know you and connect with you.  You may post about your business few times to avoid being penalized for spamming. Mentioning can even promote your business passively when you put a link on your signature.

Have press releases.

Do not hesitate to send a press release whenever your business does something that is newsworthy. This is also a great way of increasing your business’ publicity. To do this, you have to start calling email list and phone numbers of your customers and people interested in your business. Then use email marketing service to send your press release to them all at once. Leading email marketing service companies include: MailChimp, Awber, Mailerlite and more

Put up a multimedia on Flickr or YouTube.

People love visuals. I mean people love pictures or videos. They love what they can see. And if they love what they see, they will likely look for them. Get videos and pictures online. YouTube provides a free platform where people can post and distribute videos. The secret of putting up an attractive video is putting a short one, you may only have 2 seconds to make an audience stay on the video, or leave, this is why it is important to go straight to the point.

Put more emphasis on the advantages of your product. A short and straight to the point video attracts many people.

A Flickr profile on the other side helps you put together all your business photos and allows you to link them back to your website.

Rememeber, as you find customers online through the free way, also consider setting up a budget reach even more customers. At MakeMoney, we have a team of experienced digital marketers. If you need help in this area, send us an email!