Wedding Favors
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Ten Free Ways to Promote Your Site, Part One
   
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Floral Design And Floristry As A Career
Being a florist can be a very exciting and challenging career. Many people of all ages, from other working backgrounds are being retrained and entering the floristry industry.
If you are .....
Being a florist can be a very exciting and challenging career. Many people of all ages, from other working backgrounds are being retrained and entering the floristry industry.
If you are .....
Need traffic, but don't have a lot to spend promoting your site?
Here are ten ways to attract visitors that won't cost you a dime!
SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSION
While quite a few engines require you to pay to be included in
the database or to bid for rankings, there are still search
engines that allow you to submit for free.
You can use one of the automated programs readily available to
submit your URL to x thousand search engines, but most of your
traffic will likely come from the "big boys" - and it's a snap
to submit to them manually.
Many of the search engine crawlers will find YOU if you
establish quality links to your site, but it won't hurt to
submit the URL yourself, just to be safe.
A few places to submit your URL for free:
Google (http://www.google.com/addurl.html) Potential for LOTS of
traffic with a good ranking. Alta Vista
(http://addurl.altavista.com/) AllTheWeb.com
(http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site)
You should also submit to the Open Directory Project, which is a
directory, not a search engine, but many search sites and
directories utilize ODP data. You can access their home page
here: (http://www.dmoz.org).
For more information on search engines, try these sites:
Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com)
WebmasterWorld (http://www.webmasterworld.com) SearchEngines.com
(http://www.searchengines.com)
PUBLISH YOUR OWN NEWSLETTER
Starting your own free newsletter is a great way to stay in
touch with visitors and (hopefully) convert them to customers at
A Dozen Things You Must Know Before You Tie The Knot
Marriage was conceived by God, planned by God and designed by God. Therefore we need to seek Gods guidance in marriage. Too often we do what we have seen done without question. .....
some point.Marriage was conceived by God, planned by God and designed by God. Therefore we need to seek Gods guidance in marriage. Too often we do what we have seen done without question. .....
There are several services that allow you to very easily set up
your own email newsletter for free. Be aware that "free" is
usually code for "in exchange for displaying our ads or our
clients' ads"; depending on the service, though, some of these
ads are barely noticeable.
Two sites that enable you to publish your own newsletter are:
Bravenet Newsletter/MailingList
(http://www.bravenet.com/webtools/elist/index.php) Topica
Exchange (http://www.topica.com/create/index2.html)
Once you set up your account, it's on to the next step...what to
include in your newsletter.
It's best if your content relates to the items or services you
sell. If you sell wedding/bridal items, you might publish tips
for planning a wedding. Run your own ads in the newsletter and
you're assured of reaching your target market - and you'll save
yourself a lot of money in advertising fees.
Bear in mind that running a newsletter full of ads probably
won't be conducive to garnering long-term subscribers. You'll
Etiquette On A Plane
Ive noticed lately a lot of people dont know the unspoken rules of flying in planes. They apparently havent taken the latest course on Plane Etiquette that I teach on a .....
need quality content to entice folks to subscribe and thenIve noticed lately a lot of people dont know the unspoken rules of flying in planes. They apparently havent taken the latest course on Plane Etiquette that I teach on a .....
persuade them to stick around.
You can write this content yourself, but if you don't relish the
idea, there are many writers eager to allow you to publish their
work for free, provided you append their "resource box" to the
article.
A resource box is a four to eight line blurb that tells a little
about the author, and often includes a link to his/her site.
This is usually required (in lieu of payment) for permission to
use the article.
A few places you can locate free content are:
World Wide Information Outlet (http://www.certificate.net/wwio/)
IdeaMarketers.com (http://www.ideamarketers.com/)
EzineArticles.com (http://www.ezinearticles.com/)
ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE ON MESSAGE BOARDS AND IN DISCUSSION LISTS
Many message boards and email discussion lists will allow you to
post either a full SIG (signature) file or, at a minimum, your
name and URL.
I'm using the term "SIG file" to refer to a short text block
added to the end of your posts. Similar to an author's resource
box, a SIG normally includes contact information (your name and
URL) and possibly additional information on yourself, your
business, and/or your products or services.
It goes without saying that in order to generate significant
traffic to your site via this method, the message board and/or
list has to have a good bit of traffic itself, otherwise few
eyes will fall on your "ad" and still fewer clicks will be
collected.
Notice I used "ad" (in quotes)? There's a reason for that, and
please be crystal clear on this point from the get-go: NEVER
blatantly advertise on a message board or email discussion list.
Ever heard of getting flamed? Well, let's just say your hind
parts may very well be ablaze if you break this rule.
If you're unsure what's acceptable, many boards/lists post usage
guidelines, or you can "lurk" for a while before posting to get
a feel for the board etiquette.
To get the most return on your time and effort, search out
boards and lists that are either directly or indirectly related
to what you sell. Run a search for "message board" plus your
target subject (or "newsletter" plus your target subject) and
A Wedding Shower Checklist
that should generate a sizeable list.Bridal showers are one of many pre-wedding parties and are great fun. They are known as parties with a purpose. The purpose of a shower is to assist the couple in equipping .....
ADD YOUR URL TO EXISTING MARKETING MATERIALS
If your website isn't already listed on your business cards,
letterhead, and other marketing materials, add it.
In addition to the items discussed above, other places to use
your URL include: bumper stickers, receipts, promotional items,
yellow pages ads, television and radio ads, your answering
machine message, and I'm sure you can come up with several more
at the drop of a hat.
You're already spending the money for these things anyway, so
why not get the most bang for your buck?
START A LINK BUILDING CAMPAIGN
Good links to your site can benefit you in more ways than one.
It's obvious that the link itself can direct traffic to your
website, but quality links to your site may improve your ranking
in some search engines as well.
So, not only do you get visitors who click on the link itself,
if you successfully establish a quality link program, you may
have tons more visitors as a result of increased rankings to
boot.
There are several ways to get linked:
- get listed in search engines and directories - request a link
from sites complementary to yours - use a SIG file on message
boards/mailing lists (if appropriate) - write articles that
include your URL in the resource box - start an affiliate
program - provide a testimonial (these often include the URL of
the person quoted in the testimonial) - start an award program -
buy online advertising - sign online guestbooks where appropriate
One of the things you DON'T want to do is participate in a "link
farm" (sites that exist solely for webmasters to obtain links).
You may be penalized rather than rewarded if you go that route.
In Part Two, we discuss five more ways to generate no charge
traffic to your site.
About the author:
Jennifer Johnson is the owner of onMessage Graphic Design
. She specializes in affordable
logo, business card, and letterhead design for small business
owners. For more tips on building and growing your site,
subscribe to Jennifer's free newsletter: