Tag: small business

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How to Promote Your Business Website for Free

How to Promote Your Business Website for Free

How you Can Get Free Website For No Cost

Are you able to promote your website for free?  Is that even possible?

Yes, it is.  Your business website can gain huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

How do you go about promoting your website for free?

The following is a list of steps that you can take to get more traffic to your website:

1. Enlist your website on Internet Directories

Look for the best Internet directories and enlist your site there.  This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic.  Start with this step and the rest of the steps will follow on from here.

Before you try to list your website, make sure that it is looking professional and business-like for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you will attract instant visitors from the forums.

3. Write a press release.

Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site.  This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime.  Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet E-magazines, newspapers and other media and you will find that the traffic to your website will increase dramatically.

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other people who are on the web.  You wouldn’t be rude to people that you meet in real life, so why would you treat people on the internet any differently?   If you build up a list of colleagues and friends online, ask them to like your posts and share them.   Work on establishing links with other business owners and building up relationships with them.

5. Write an article.

There are lots of places that you can submit articles without it costing you any money.  Use Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and other online Social Media platforms to post your articles on.  If for example, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world.  In the concluding paragraph, make sure that you put a link to your website. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as free website promotion.

6. Let the whole world know about your site.

What is free website promotion without the word of mouth?  Make sure that you have conversations with people, rather than just spamming them with your sales pitches.  Once you have built trust, insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one person to another.

7. Make a banner ad.

Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap, so that you both have links to each other’s sites on your websites.

Two Basic Parts of a Low-Cost Web Site Promotion

Anybody could own a web site.  Anybody could up sell their products and services to their target audience.  Anyone could try to promote their website with a low-cost budget.  But there are not many web sites that have a truly successful web site with traffic all day.  What these individuals or companies lack is the most essential factor of success – a low-cost web site promotion that really works.

If you have been trying to promote your own web site and you have received traffic consistently, congratulations.  But for those people who need assistance, who do not have the patience to promote their own product and services, and who lacks the knowledge to properly advertise themselves, here are some guidelines to help you achieve success with a low-cost web site promotion.

SEO

Search Engine Submission and Ranking are the two basic parts to a low-cost web site promotion. Both of the parts have the same effect on the marketing of the website – for your products and services presented in your website to catch people’s attention.

The first inexpensive method of website promotion is search engine submission.  This first part is the act of filling in information and submitting your website to search engines. There are two types of Search engine submission – manual and automatic.  For a low cost and effective web site promotion, automatic submission is ideal because after filling up the information, a software program would forward this information to other search engines.

The second money-saving web site promotion is ranking.  This refers to the numerical position in which your web site appears on a search engine, based upon the web site’s criteria.  Some search engines rank the order in which your search results appear primarily by how many other websites link to each page.  The leading web sites on this order would eventually fulfil a low- cost web site promotion.

Other types of inexpensive web site promotion you could use to boost up traffic to your web site are Google Ads, banner advertising, classified ads, text links and section sponsorship.  Banner advertisements pop up above and below web pages, and sometimes in another window. Text links and section sponsorship may cost more, but these methods help in promoting to your specified target audience.  If you have the budget to do this type of advertising, it is worth experimenting and seeing what results you get.

Website v Traffic

Having a website and getting traffic to your website are two totally different things.  If you are losing sales because no one can find your website, then it may well be worth trying out some of the methods mentioned above or employing someone who has the necessary skills and experience.

The internet is open for business 24/7 and is global, so investing a small amount of money in some of these strategies could greatly increase your customers, clients, and revenue.

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Hiring a Consultant for Internet Marketing

Ali M Coaching - Internet Marketing

Are You Already Marketing On The Internet?

Take a moment to think about how you would really answer this question.  If given enough thought just about any business owner who utilizes the Internet for any purpose will likely find that whether or not they intentionally organized an Internet Marketing campaign, they may already be marketing their products and services on the Internet.  This article will examine some subtle ways business owners may already be marketing their business on the Internet.

Do you have a website for your business?  If you answered yes to this question then you are already marketing your products or services online just by virtue of the fact that you have a website online.  Having a live website means there is the potential for curious Internet users to access your website.  You may not be actively promoting your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavours; this is a form of passive marketing.

Do you participate in Social Media posts and include a link to your website in your signature? Again business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their website online.  Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related groups or posts to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts.  However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet Marketing which result from Social Media participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.

Keywords and Optimization

Do you include keywords which are relevant to your business in the content of your website? Business owners who answer yes to this question are also already marketing on the Internet by optimizing their website for these keywords.  These search engine optimization (SEO) affects the websites whether or not they were even aware of the concept of keyword density and how it can help to SEO a website.  Business owners will likely use certain words often depending on the type of products and services they offer just because it is natural and logical to do so.  This tendency, however, can result in search engines boosting your website rankings for these particular keywords.  The concept of SEO is much more involved and complex than simply using keywords frequently but business owners can gain some benefit just by naturally applying relevant keywords to their website.

Customer Feedback

Do you solicit feedback from your customers online? This is yet another example of how business owners may be accidentally marketing their business on the Internet. Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes and business owners who offer products online might solicit feedback in the form of online surveys. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for a business purpose the fact that it is done online makes it fall into the category of Internet marketing.

We have already discussed several ways in which business owners may already be marketing online but what about business owners who want to have an increased online presence? Business owners who may already be marketing online accidentally may wish to launch a full scale Internet marketing campaign. The best way to do this is to hire a consultant with experience in Internet marketing to assist you in creating a campaign which is effective for your target audience.

Hiring an Expert

If you are considering jumping into the world of Internet Marketing but do not have experience in this type of marketing, it is definitely worthwhile to consider hiring a consultant to assist you in your advertising endeavour.  This is important because they can do a great deal to assist you in ensuring that the marketing effort is a success.  You may pay more for their services than you would to handle the Internet Marketing on your own but the results you gain from the effort will likely be significantly higher.  Hiring a consultant to assist you in your Internet Marketing campaign is even a worthwhile endeavour if you have some experience in Internet Marketing but are competing in a competitive niche and need some additional assistance to help you rise above the competition.

Choosing the Right Consultant

The key to hiring a consultant to assist in an Internet Marketing campaign is to hire the right consultant.  You will find there are many different options available to you as Internet Marketing has become a huge industry.  However, not all consultants are created equal.  You may find that some consultants can create significantly better results than other consultants.  There are, however, a few characteristics to look for when seeking a qualified consultant in the Internet Marketing industry.  Surprisingly cost is not one of the most important considerations.  Experience and past performance are much more important.  You can compare costs among consultants who are similarly qualified but using cost as a primary source of evaluation is not recommended.

Choose Someone Who Has Experience

Experience is very important when it comes to selecting a consultant to assist you in an Internet Marketing campaign.  Experience is critical because consultants who have a great deal of experience also have a great deal of understanding of which techniques work best and which techniques are not as effective.  This can save you a great deal of time and money as there will likely not be as much experimentation necessary as there would be with a less experienced consultant.  More experienced consultants will also likely be better skilled at dealing with clients and will likely answer your questions more quickly and keep you better informed about the progress of your Internet marketing campaign.  All of this is important because you will likely be very interested in receiving progress reports and staying up to date on everything that is going on with your Internet Marketing campaign.

Ask For Recommendations

Seeking out a consultant in the Internet Marketing industry with an excellent past record of performance is also very important. This is so important because consultants who have had a great deal of success in the past will likely have a great deal of success while assisting you as well. Past performance is considered to be one of the best indications of future performance. This does not mean that new consultants are necessarily going to perform poorly but there is some risk involved in selecting a consultant who does not have a great deal of experience or who has not performed well in the past. You can feel much more confident putting your Internet Marketing campaign in the hands of a consultant who typically generates the type of results you are looking for in your own Internet Marketing campaign.

Value for Money

Once you have evaluated consultants on the basis of experience and past performance, it is time to start considering price.  Considering price early in the process of seeking a consultant may cause you to be influenced by price over performance.  Some consultants may be incredibly affordable but if they are not capable of producing the desired results, it may end up being a complete waste of money.  However, once you have narrowed your list of potential consultants down to a few qualified candidates, it is definitely time to start comparing prices.  Once you are confident each of the candidates on your list is well qualified, choosing the least expensive candidate is not always the best investment of your money.  However it is important to note all of the fees involved to ensure you are making an accurate cost comparison.

If you need some help with your business Internet Marketing, please feel free to email me on ali@alimcoaching.com and we can have an informal chat about how I can help you to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business.

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Internet Marketing for Beginners

Internet Marketing Success for Beginners

Internet Marketing for Beginners

Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron.  This is because while in theory the concepts behind Internet Marketing might be quite simple; executing effective strategies can be extremely difficult.  With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet Marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet Marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.

Where Do I Start?

One of the most basic steps for starting an Internet marketing campaign is to create a website.  If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products.  If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website.  However, sometimes this can be a false economy.  Hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he or she can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and offerings. He or she can also help you include more advanced features on your website, such as connecting it to your autoresponder, setting up payment options, automating tasks, SEO and ensuring that you have the correct Meta tags and keywords.

Learning about Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is not overly complicated but it is also not a process in which anyone can excel without making attempts to learn more about the subject.  Business owners who do not know a great deal about Internet marketing, but who wish to implement Internet Marketing into their overall marketing strategy should carefully study the basic principles of Internet Marketing before launching their online marketing campaign.  Fortunately for these business owners there are a variety of options for learning about Internet marketing.  These options may include online research, reading published books and studying successful Internet marketing campaigns.

Internet Marketing for Beginners

E-newsletters

Sending out e-newsletters can also be a part of an effective Internet Marketing strategy. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, special offers, product updates, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.

Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam.  The correct way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have opted in to your email mailing list.  Another way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements.  This can be done by offering relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.

Optimizing Your Website

Optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet Marketing campaign.  Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms.  Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject.  This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines.  Therefore if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users.  Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will always get more traffic to their website.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of any Internet marketing campaign.  SEO is so important because it dictates the ranking of your website on popular search engines.  Internet users value these results and are not likely to seek out websites which do not rank well with search engines.  Conversely, high ranking websites can enjoy a great deal of increased website traffic as a result of these rankings.

Internet Marketing for Beginners

Do Your Research

Researching Internet marketing online is one method which can be used for learning more about this topic. This type of research can be very informative and can provide the business owner with a great deal of advice and other information. However, it can also provide the business owner with a great deal of misinformation. When researching any subject online it is very important to note that not all of the information available online is accurate. This may be due to a variety of factors including content which is written by those who do not have a great deal of knowledge about the subject matter as well as content which was written years ago and is outdated. This can be frustrating but fortunately business owners can still learn from the Internet. This just means they should be more cautious about accepting information as being accurate and may wish to verify the information they obtain before implementing an Internet marketing strategy.

Published Books on Internet Marketing

Published books are another valuable resource for learning more about Internet marketing. There are a variety of books available which focus on this subject and provide a wealth of useful information.  When selecting a book for use as research material it is important to seek out a book which received independent reviews which were positive.  It is also important to seek out books which were published recently. This is important because the Internet marketing industry is evolving continuously and a book that was published only a few years ago may be outdated and may lack information on some of the new developments in the industry.  The appeal of using published books to learn about Internet Marketing is you can keep the books on hand for easy reference when you launch your Internet Marketing campaign.

Study Successful Internet Marketing Campaigns

Finally business owners can learn a great deal about Internet marketing simply by studying successful Internet Marketing campaigns.   If your business offers products and services in a particular niche consider entering relevant terms in popular search engines and studying the websites of some of the highest ranking businesses.  This can provide you with a great deal of insight into what these business owners are doing which may be contributing to their success.

Examining everything from their website design to their search engine optimization strategies and even the content on their website can help you to determine why they are more successful than you.  You should also consider how they are marketing their website which may include banner ads, affiliate marketing programs or other types of advertising. Armed with this information you can take the opportunity to implement changes to your own website and marketing strategy which may help you to gain a greater degree of success. Care should be taken to not copy anything directly from your competitors but to rather try to emulate their degree of success in your own way.

Market Research

Conducting market research can do a great deal to help you determine whether or not you should invest in an Internet Marketing campaign for your business.  This step is very important because it will give you a good indication of whether or not you should even begin marketing your business on the Internet.  Hiring a person or company who specialize in market research is recommended because they can conduct this research quickly and efficiently and will likely gain a great deal of valuable information as a result of their research efforts.   If they determine your business can benefit from an Internet Marketing campaign, it is time to start thinking about how you want to advertise your business online.

Internet Marketing Success

The potential for success with an Internet Marketing campaign is virtually limitless. The success you enjoy is only limited by your ability to promote your products and services and execute effective marketing strategies.  Some of the marketing strategies you may wish to employ may include optimizing your website for relevant search terms, placing links to your website judiciously on the Internet, writing and publishing e-newsletters and blogs and utilizing affiliates to promote your website.

Hire a Professional

Seeking the help of professionals can be an extremely worthwhile investment.  If you are not well versed in the industry of Internet Marketing, hiring a firm with a great deal of expertise in this industry can be very helpful.  They can assist you by consulting with you to determine which marketing strategies will be most effective, designing advertisements for your campaign, helping you to orchestrate your Internet Marketing campaign and evaluating the results of marketing efforts to determine which strategies are working and which are not. If you increase your customer base, sales and profits, any money that you have invested will be money well spent.

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Diversifying Your Business and Loving Dogs

The past couple of months have been both strange and challenging for many of us.  With many countries being on Lockdown because of the Coronavirus Pandemic we have had to learn how to cope with solitude, not being able to spend time with people that we love and our friends and family.  We have also had to learn new methods of coping with being at home all the time and self-care strategies for isolation and to stave off boredom.

I am extremely blessed in that I live in the countryside, surrounded by walks where I do not come into contact with hardly any people and also have a large garden which I have turned over several places where I now have an abundance of vegetables and fruit growing.  I can only imagine how difficult it has been for people who have no outside places to sit or exercise.

This time of being at home has given us time to reflect on where we are with our lives, identify what we really what we want to be doing and to put in place plans and strategies that will not only help us identify our WHY, but that will also start us on the road to achieving where we really want to be in our lives. 

Whether it is a new relationship, a new job or a new hobby, it is a matter of deciding that you want to make changes and putting in Action Plans and strategies that will enable you to reach them.

It has also been a time where many of us have had no earnings whatsoever and whose businesses will really struggle to survive over the next couple of months.  So you can either stand still, or you can diversify and find new ways of either changing the way that you work, or start a new business altogether like I have.

Apart from my love of gardening, I also love dogs and because of this, I have built a completely new business which is called Love Dogs.  It is a shop and marketplace where you can buy anything from Tshirts, Sweatshirts, Hoodies, Mugs, cushions, phone cases, laptop sleeves to numerous other products which are all branded with either pictures of dogs or slogans about dogs.  As it is a new venture, I will be adding new products all the time including dog coats, dog beds, table mats, tea towels and anything to do with dogs.  You can even send me a picture of your dogs and I can put them onto any product for you to buy as a bespoke product.

Take a look at the website and let me know what you think.   Here is the link – Love Dogs.  The site is https://love-dogs.co.uk/.

If you would like to contact me or send me any feedback, please feel free to do so on store@love-dogs.co.uk.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Ali

Love Dogs
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Getting The Most From Your WHY Statement

There is no doubt that any good personal WHY statement takes time and effort to create. So having made this investment in your WHY statement you will want to get the most that you can from it.

Quite rightly you took quite a long time to write and refine your WHY statement so that it was as clear, concise and powerful as it could be. So now it is time for you to reap the benefits of your new powerful WHY statement and in this article we will show you how to do that.

Motivate yourself with your WHY Statement

Inspiration alone is usually never enough to achieve your goals. There are going to be times when you are not in the right frame of mind and just cannot be bothered to take action. When you have a strong personal WHY statement you can use it to provide you with a significant motivational boost.

We strongly recommend that you have a copy of your personal WHY statement by your bedside. Every morning after you get out of bed you should read your WHY statement out loud so that it motivates you and gives you the energy that you need for the day ahead.

It is also a good idea to keep a copy of your WHY statement with you so that you can access it at any time. If you feel the need for a motivational boost at any time of day, and wherever you are, get out your WHY statement and read it again.

There is no limit to how many times you should read your WHY statement each day and be motivated by it. That is one of the main reasons that you spent all of the time and energy writing it so use it as often as you need.

Set your Goals using your WHY Statement

You are very unlikely to achieve goals that you are not truly committed to. Maybe you were persuaded by others to set certain goals in the past or you just thought that it was the right thing to do.

With a strong WHY statement you can forget about what others say and any other influencers. You know what your purpose in life is now and you have clearly defined this in your WHY statement. This clarity is essential for you to set goals that you are inspired by and truly committed to.

You are aware of the contribution that you want to make to the world and the impact that you want to have. So use this to set goals that will move you forward with both of these. Create your goals and plans around your personal WHY statement and you will be totally driven to achieve them.

Make Decisions using your WHY Statement

You should find it easier to make decisions going forward now that you have a strong and clear WHY statement. Instead of making some decisions without considering the consequences as a lot of people do, your WHY statement will guide you to make the right decisions.

Your WHY statement has provided you with direction and purpose for your life so always have it in the back of your mind when you are making decisions. Ask yourself if making a particular decision will move you closer to your life’s purpose or move you away from it.

If you need some help finding your WHY, please visit my website on https://alimcoaching.com/home/find-your-why/ or email me at ali@alimcoaching.com.

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Logos for your business

Marketing Logos

Let’s Make You Stand Out from the Crowd

If you have a business whether it is Internet based, in a face to face industry or you are working from home, it is really important to be easily recognisable and for your ideal clients or customers to be able to identify what your offer is and how you can help them.

The easiest way to do this is by having a logo.  Once your logo is designed and you are happy with it, it can be used in a considerable amount of ways.  On your website, on your Social Media branding, on your business cards, on your shopfront, on your shopping bags, pens, letterheads, invoices etc, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

There are so many businesses out there who are offering the same kind of services that you are, so you have to stand out from the crowd and be instantly recognisable.  People’s attention span nowadays is extremely short and they are totally visual.  You literally have seconds to put your message across, before they move onto someone else.

I offer logos for every type of business from Beauty and Fitness companies, to Agriculture, to Architecture, to Crafting to Internet Marketing and any kind of business that you can think of.  My logos will be designed specifically for your business or brand encompassing what your offer or service is and what your passion is.

If you would like to discuss your requirements, please email me at ali@alimcoaching.com or call me on +44 7968 134048 and let’s put your message out there.

Please find some examples of my logos below:-

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Ali M Coaching

Ali M Success Business Coach

Teaching small business owners how to be successful in both their business and their life

  • Are you a business owner who is exhausted, anxious and frustrated because you don’t sleep at night?
  • Is your head full of ideas, targets and To Do lists, which are overwhelming you because you are struggling and failing to achieve what you want in your life? 
  • Are you worried why your phone isn’t ringing no matter how much time and money you spend networking?
  • Are you a small business owner who is tired of working long hours on your expensive hobby rather than running the successful business that you dreamed of?

These business owners can appear to have it all from the outside looking in, but in fact they are actually exhausted and not sleeping at night because they worry that they are not spending enough time with their children, growing away from their partners and not having any time to have fun in their lives.