Secrets of a Home Based Business - Marketing on a Tight Budget

Starting your own business can be difficult if you don't have the financial resources to invest in your company. Many people struggle with the idea of starting a new business because they fear the cost to run their business is beyond their limits. However, for individuals on a tight budget there is hope. Here are several very effective ways to market your business with little or no cost to you.

To get your internet business off the ground you will have to be willing to invest in some key elements in order to be successful. What little money you do have, should be spent on a quality website that is appealing and easy to navigate. A good website will make a good impression on potential customers. Secondly, at a reasonable price, you can buy a domain name that is related to the theme of your site and easy to remember. Lastly, once your business is established, you may want to consider paying someone to host your website so you can spend your time elsewhere in your business. Consider these expenses long-term investments that will allow you to run your home internet business more successfully.

As an internet business owner, your main goal is to drive as much targeted traffic to your website as you can. If you don’t have the money to buy targeted leads you can use several methods to do this at no cost to you. Give your business some time to show you the results of your hard work. Best of all, you will have gained a wealth of knowledge along the way making you an expert in your field.

KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION

Brainstorm and write down as many possible keywords related to your home business that you think people will search for on the internet. Go to the major search engines and type in some of the keywords that you have chosen. Notice the top sites that come up in your searches and the keywords in both the titles and pages of your competitors' websites. Likewise, you can use any free keyword search tools to help you come up with a list of 30 or so important key terms.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Now that you have these keyword phrases, optimize your website with these words using free software like WebCEO. Be sure to place these words in the title of your site, the subheadings and throughout the content on all pages on your site. Limit your keywords to 5 – 8 per webpage to ensure you won’t be rejected by search engines for repetition. Manually submit your website to search engines to ensure your site is getting noticed. By optimizing your website with these keywords, you are placing your site in front of potential customers and sending traffic to your site.

CREATE YOUR OWN BLOG

An excellent and inexpensive way to advertise your company is to create a blog for free on Blogger.com. Blogging is becoming so popular because it is inexpensive and user friendly. This is especially true for individuals who don’t have html or web design experience. A blog could be used to advertise your company, to get feedback from customers, to collaborate with other professionals in your niche, to write your thoughts on or even to post your articles. Be sure to hyperlink your keywords to lead back to your site and ping your blog each time you add a new post.

ARTICLE MARKETING

Writing articles is one of the most effective and money sensible ways to market your business. Use your creativity to write articles on topics related to the theme of your website. Again, place important keywords in the title and body of the article but limit these keywords to 6 – 8 per page. Your article should have a catchy title and should offer a solution to a problem that will grab your readers’ attention. Top 10 lists or articles that offer helpful tips are always popular. In your resource box, include your website and important keywords. Send several articles a week to various free article directories and you will notice a change in your rankings weekly. Keep in mind, writing articles makes you a trustworthy source to potential customers and eventually you may even be regarded as an expert in the field!

BUILD MORE BACK LINKS TO YOUR SITE

As discussed above, you can build one way links back to your site for free using articles or your blog. Moreover, you can also build one way or reciprocal links to your site by contacting other webmasters in your niche. Without spamming, ask some of your fellow competitors if you can place your ads, reviews or articles on their site with a link that leads back to your website. In return, they may ask you to place their link on your site. This is called reciprocal linking. Both of these allow you to spread your reach within your niche and build partnerships with your competitors. Most of the time you can do this for free because you are providing these webmasters with content to put on their site and in return they advertise your website for free. Clearly, this is a win-win situation.

TRAFFIC EXCHANGES

There are several traffic exchange sites that are free that will help drive more targeted traffic to your site. Once you become a free member, you agree to visit sites of fellow members who in return send traffic to your site. Every time you click on a member site, you earn credits that are used to allow your link to be posted. The more searching you do on the site, the more credits you earn. The benefits of these exchanges are that they bring unlimited and qualified traffic to your site at no cost to you. The only disadvantage here is that having to search through fellow member sites can be time consuming.

FORUMS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Joining forums or social networks is a great way to market your internet business for free. Most social networks allow you to add your profile where you can advertise your business and therefore create back links to your site. Engage in regular discussions, answer questions or just chat and soon you will develop relationships and trust with members. Once that trust develops you may also earn some new customers.

In conclusion, if you are starting an online business on a tight budget invest the money you do have on a webpage and domain name first. Then spend some time using free marketing methods to enhance your search engine ranking and drive targeted traffic to your site. The best marketing tools to help you get started include keyword optimization, search engine optimization, article marketing, blogging and traffic exchanges. Once your business is established, invest in a good hosting company. Lastly, sprinkle a little hard work and some determination into the mix and in time your internet home business will be on its way to success!