Other ways exist to advertise online besides a website.
Advertising is one of the most important ways of generating customers for any-sized business. Ways exist to advertise besides paying for commercials or ads in newspapers, especially on the Internet. But many small businesses cannot afford to pay someone to advertise online for them. In addition to your business website, take advantage of the Web and advertise for free.
Blogs
You need to update a blog at least weekly to be a success!
Blogs are a great way to keep your website at a decent ranking in the search engines, and are free of charge at sites such as blogspot.com and wordpress.com. Use your blog professionally -- write posts that are informative, up-to-date, and do not include cutesy stories about your kids or pets or recipes you've created (unless you run a daycare, or a pet store, or are a cookbook author!). By updating at least weekly, you'll keep your blog getting attention, and that attention will transfer to your business's website.
Social Media
Facebook and Twitter allow a business to stay in contact and in front of many, many customers and potential customers. Taking the time to post small messages to your customers about pertinent information keeps your company in their minds. Saying something like "Tomorrow only, save 25 percent on all shoes!" can drive business your way -- especially on the not-so-busy days.
Local Listing Services
Local listing services such as yellowpages.com or superpages.com are an excellent, free tool to garner advertising online. They provide a link to your website and other contact information -- including driving information.
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal links -- or link swaps or exchanges -- are website links that other small business websites exchange with you. Contact the site administrator and ask if he would exchange links with you. This will help both businesses out by increasing the number of potential customers. It's best to make sure the sites you exchange links with are in a similar but non-competing industry so that you aren't selling the same products or services.
Comment Sections
Comment sections on other websites and blogs that relate to your business or industry provide a great way to put your business in front of potentially interested customers. Make thoughtful, helpful, informative and professional comments about the site or article, and then place a link to your business website in the signature.
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