As a business owner, you want to market your business without breaking the bank. In fact, few small business owners don’t have enough budgets to spend on marketing. That’s okay if you don’t have marketing budget, there are plenty of free tools for attracting targeted customers online. To help business owners, I’ve put together a list of five free online marketing tools that everyone can use.
1. EzineArticles
EzineArticles is the top ranked article submission directory; you can write a high-quality blog post and post it on EzineArticles.com. Many email newsletter publishers visit this website for fresh content to mail out and may be it’s your article in their next newsletter. These email newsletter publishers often have large email lists, so if your article is included your content could be seen by a large number of audiences. You can also generate back links to your website by including a resource box at the end of your article.
2. Online directories
In old times, phonebooks were used for searching business information. Now, people turn to search engines and local business directories for answers. You need to make sure that your business is “findable” online. To make you business “findable” online, list your business in top online directories. Merchant Circle, Yellow Pages, and Super Pages are great places to start.
3. Google My Business
If you haven’t listed your business at Google My Business, it’s time to list it now. It’s just like an online directory, but it has more features. You can set up a business profile page, add business location, store hours, photos and contact information. When someone searches for your business on Google, they’ll your business ad in the right column of Google search results. You can also integrate your business with G+ page for sharing updates regarding your business. Customers can also leave and read reviews.
4. Local calendar of events
Participate and present your business in the local community events. Visit the websites of your local newspapers and TV stations. You can visit the community website and submit the details through an online form for listing your event to a regional calendar.
5. Your company blog
One of the best strategies to gain free publicity and potential traffic is to invest time in a company blog. By writing informative articles, you’ll start gaining attention of industry leaders. You can also share your content via email and social media.
“The more help you can offer people, the more trust you’ll build.”
