What are some cheap marketing tricks we can all use to get the word out about our sites? On a small budget... And i know 'small' is relative. Lets say $1000 budget. Ideas? Lets look outside of the box. We all know about SEO, directories, press releases, all the typical items spoken about on here.
I'd be interested in hearing a few ideas as well. I suck at SEO and I have done some paid ads but my site is still off to a slower start than I would like.
Depending on your niche, these will blow the roof off of your traffic levels: --------------------------------------------------------- 1. Viral videos Make them hilarious and INCONCLUSIVE. Right before it gets to the "climax", cut the scene and have it say "see the rest at whatever.com". (Think about how many people saw the "christmas lights set to rock and roll" movie this last Christmas...) 2. Viral ebooks/reports This works well if you're targeting a specfic niche. Optionally, you could have people sign up for your newsletter before redirecting to the ebook download. A viral ebook (usually a PDF) works GREAT for creating lifetime, residual traffic. The trick is to include some KILLER content, and if possible, make it re-brandable by affiliates that could benefit by giving it out to their subscribers, etc. 3. Publicity Stunts Sort of like a press release with some serious attitude. Do something totally absurd - and then write about it as though it is some earth-shattering news. For example, an "offline" author turned ebook publisher has a garage full of un-sellable hard copy books. So he decides to start selling them online - and to celebrate this, he rips a bunch of his old books apart, puts them in the bath tub, and jumps in naked for a photo (obviously the shredded books and bathwater will conceal the "unmentionable appendages"...) The headline could read "Author Takes a Bath in His Own Books". The body would explain the circumstances, and point people to his URL. 4. Joint Ventures You REALLY want to drive some traffic (or sales)? Then partner with someone in your niche that ALREADY has all the traffic, customer base and positioning. Be creative and most of all GENEROUS when you contact them, make the proposal, and offer commissions, etc. If you can, basically give them most (or all) of the comissions up front so that you can retain the incoming user base and then make money off the backend sales. This is by far the most effective way to market ANYTHING. 5. Integration Integrate your product, service or a portion of your site/content into someone elses already high-traffic internet location. This is very similar to step 4, but the emphasis is more towards providing value to their clients in exchange for coverage. Also, this includes having other publishers "upsell" your product or opt-in list after THEIR users buy their stuff/opt-in first. 6. Trade Ads for permanent links Trade a 3 month ad for a permanent link. This is the EASIEST and possibly best way to build up alot of ONE-WAY links. (Cool huh?) I did this with one of my directories, and dominated that particular niche in under 6 months. It works wonders... And the best one of all is.... 7. Underpromise, Overdeliver Seriously, the BEST way to drive hordes of traffic to your site is to have some killer content. I'm talking about life-changing content that other people charge money for. People will tell their friends, they'll post it on forums, and your site will create a very strong "buzz" in your niche. You'll win their hearts, and in return, you'll have a small army of unpaid marketers that will track and publicize your every move FOR you... What could be better than that? ---------------------------------------------------------- So there's a few ways... Cheers, Chris Rempel
I'm off to a slow start but I really don't know what to expect since this is my first go. I am getting a good amount of traffic after only a few months though. I have been signing up for forums here and there that are related to content and posting images / links to content and asking opinions. It might be considered spam but it's getting me feedback and traffic plus a link on another site. I also submitted the URL to a local radio station's site that had a "cool site of the day" feeature and got it mentioned on the radio. It also got me a permanent link in the cool site archive they have. I'm really waiting for that 1 viral email a friend sends that takes off.
Find everything you can dealing with the subject of your site and go for it... Flyers, Business cards, Word of Mouth and anything else in your home town wouldn't hurt either.. (Also Cheap)..
Create a really good tool and people will visit your site. DP has some great tools and look how many people use them. I just created a tool to view search results on a map and am getting loads of traffic (400 visitors since the site was launched 48 hours ago).
Great list, Chris. The ones that worked for me the best were #3 and (ofcourse) #7. The last one is also the most valuable, nothing beats the word of mouth. I would like to add Press Releases to your list. I recently released some results of a research that a Marketing company did for me. I tried to find a link between my business and a really hot topic. I came up with a subject to research within that link and made the results public. Some of the big authority sites picked it up and my traffic went up like crazy. Now I'm working on a second research.
I forgot I also researched a lot of other sites with similar subjects. Did a link exchange with a high ranked one and I get a handful of links from them a day.
these are all some great tips.... The best advice is DON't giveup!!! just think if you gave up right before the next try you would hit gold!!!