Promotion Tools - What Will Work The Best?
In order to promote yourself, you're going to need a variety of tools to help you reach your target audience. But how do you know which are the right tools for the job? That's what this article is all about. This blog post will discuss the best ways of promoting yourself online with a focus on websites, blogs, social media platforms and networking opportunities.
There are a range of things that you can do to promote yourself online. Some will take longer than others and some will be more effective than others.
Promoting yourself online is a long-term strategy. It's not something that will create an overnight 'buzz' about yourself or your business but it has the potential to help you build a strong online presence over time. You won't see a vast amount of traffic coming to your website on the first day after publishing, in fact, you might not see any traffic at all but it takes time to build up that presence and turn visits into income.
So, this is a long-term strategy that requires patience, dedication and persistence. You'll need to take time to build up your online presence, it won't happen overnight.
Let's start with some of the most valuable 'tools' for building up that presence:
1. Website/Blog - All businesses need somewhere to showcase themselves and their products or services and a website is by far the best way to do this. It doesn't have to be fancy; it just needs to provide all the basic information about you and your business in an attractive layout. For more information on how you can create an attractive website for yourself, check out this article on "creating a website" .
2. Social Media - Social media is owned by Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (amongst others) but if you look online, you'll see that there are literally hundreds of social media websites that you can use to promote yourself online. For example, Instagram... no-one knows how many people use it but I'd guess that it's in the billions! You can use these social media platforms to connect with people who enjoy your products or services and give them a common area where they can share their good experiences with each other.
3. Blog Posts - Blog posts are a great way to get your business and your name out there into the public eye. They take time to create but can be very powerful tools in your arsenal. They offer an opportunity for you to put your information out there where people can read it, it's easy to share with friends and family and it also gives an opportunity for bloggers to re-publish it if you give them permission (include a link back to the original blog post). Your blog posts should be informative and interesting, not promotional. Make sure you're writing about things that will benefit people. For more information on how you create a blog post, check out this article on "how to write a blog post" .
4. Link Exchange - There are many websites out there that you can use to link to your website and in return, they'll link back to your website. This is one of the most effective ways of promoting yourself online but it can be quite time consuming and it's not something you do once and then never do again. As I mentioned above, it takes time to build up your online presence so you'll need plenty of time to set up this type of thing.
5. Online Surveys - An online survey is a great way of getting feedback from people in a quick, easy way that takes only a minute or two per question (the results are emailed straight back). They're also a great way to promote yourself online because surveys are often promoted via email and social media. For example, some people run their own email lists and communities and when they want to get feedback on a subject or get suggestions for topics, they conduct an online survey. That survey is then sent out by email or through social media with a call-to-action at the end to "click here" and visit the website of the company that's conducting the survey. There are also plenty of websites out there that specialise in conducting surveys where you can give more information about yourself and then they'll send your information on to potential clients who are looking for someone with your skills/experience.
6. Presenting at Events - If you have a niche, then it's likely that there are events out there for you to present at. There are events for all sorts of different things, just Google "presentation" and your industry/niche to find some. For example, if you're a dog-walker, then there are plenty of events where people with dogs can go and listen to others talk about how they walk their own dogs. If the event is focused on networking, then you'll be able to meet new people who might want your services. If the event is focused on the subject matter then you'll be able to meet other experts in your field (and potentially give them some business!).
7. Conference Calls - Conference calls are a great way of taking part in online activities at times that are convenient to you. If you have a specific area of expertise or interest, then you might find that there are plenty of other people out there who share the same passion as you. You can find them by conducting Google searches for related topics and having a look at the events calendar on the main website for that industry/niche. There will often be 'call-in' lines where anyone can sign up to take part in a call and there will usually be some kind of topic or question they're trying to bring up. If you're able to answer that question, then you'll be automatically put forward as having the knowledge on that topic and will be invited onto the call.
8. Online Accessibility - Make sure your website is optimised for mobile devices and search engines like Google. Small changes can have a big impact on how much traffic you get to your website; things like having a descriptive title tag (titles use 50 characters max) will help to make it easier for Google's spiders to pick up on if they're looking for that specific topic and information. Having a good description meta tag (metadata uses 65 characters max) will also help people understand what your page is about before they click through to it. Having a simple, single-column layout will help performance of your website on devices like mobile phones and tablets. Having your website built with a responsive design will make it more user friendly as well - this means that the layout will adjust to the size of the device being used to view it.
9. Online Shopping Cart - If you sell online and want people to buy from you, then having an online shopping cart is a good thing. It can be quite difficult for people to buy things online unless you provide some kind of service in exchange.
Conclusion
The above is just a list of some ideas that are available to help you promote yourself online and I've included many options as well as a number of different options for each idea. As you can see, there's plenty that can be done without investing too much effort into finding it, so I hope the information helps with your online marketing.
If you have any questions about this article or how to promote your business then please contact me on the Contact page.
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