How To Brand (Market) Your Online Business on a "Shoestring Budget"...Or Even FREE (Updated)

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Category (key words): Internet, online marketing, internet marketing, writing, writing articles
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Other Articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles.htmln(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, spiritual, 'spiritual writings' (how 'airey-fairey'), words of inspiration and money management, how boring now, craig!)

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"We share what we know, so that we all may grow."

"If you have knowledge, let others light a candle to it."n - Margaret Fuller nn(That's a metaphor, btw).n *
HOW TO BRAND/MARKET YOURSELF AND YOUR BUSINESS ON A "SHOESTRING
BUDGET"... OR EVEN FOR FREE (UP-DATED) nn(Please excuse my long title!)**

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to use nthe Internet and he won't bother you for months...or perhaps even nyears! (Sorry men... however, I presume this principle also napplies to our women-folk!).

Here are some tips in writing some articles to "spread the word" nabout your business, as an internet marketing strategy... and nespecially on the smell of an oily rag"...

Me write an article! Yes, you can, because you know more about
YOUR business than anyone else on this planet. And most nimportantly, I don't believe that you have to be a "pro" writer nto write good articles.

HOW TO GET STARTED?

To "kick off"... Firstly pick a subject that YOU KNOW - a topic nthat pertains (nice word that!) to your area of business. You are nthe "expert" in it. Then write to HELP others by sharing your unique knowledge nor experiences. I believe, it's the BEST MARKETING TOOL available.

And (can I begin a sentence with "an and" - yes)... You DON'T nhave to be a good writer to write articles.

My advice is just find your "natural style" by writing as you nspeak; as practicing writing in your "natural style" breeds nconfidence. Then submit your articles to ezines and announcement nlists, like Shelley Lowery's Article Announce (the "original flagship of article announcement lists), Free Content, Publisher Network,
Article Xpress, FreeEzineContent, Free-Reprint-Articles,
The Write Articles, Netwrite-Publish-Announce, Read My Articles, Article Submission, Free Writes and Article Publish.
Those above are the ones we mostly use. Here is a list of seven n("lucky") of the more prominent Yahoo.com Article Announcement Groups: nnhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArticlePublisher nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free_eContent nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/netwrite-publish-announcenhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWriteArticlesnand finally, nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/publisher_network/

First you have to subscribe to these lists (check out the others, nas well some others, like the Topica lists under GOOGLE search nengine).

We find this marketing method by far the most effective means of getting traffic to our various sites (and one thing then leads to nanother)... and best of all the form of BRANDING your business in ncyberspace costs nothing, but a little time and effort!

Lately, all our marketing has been done through writing articles nbased on my experiences* in the fields of internet marketing, nwriting, money and self help) and submitting them to the nabove-mentioned article announcement lists. nn* As someone said: "Experience is something you get just after you need it."

Often from there they get picked up by ezines with large nreaderships - from 10000 ...to even ones with millions of nsubscribers, like the Webpronews group of ezines and also Ms Abbie
Drew's excellent DEMC newsletter. True! You could also try http://www.selfgrowth.com - the most popular self help web site.
David Riklan publishes an excellent ezine with over 900000 subscribers! These big ezine publishers are continually looking for new and quality content, particularly ORIGINAL and valuable material that can inform and help others.

My advice is... Write about what you KNOW - your areas of nknowledge and expertise, based on your unique life experiences.
We find this strategy of SHARING relevant and practical ninformation most effective of all in drawing traffic to our nvarious web sites... and best of all, it helps others "out there nin the vast void/realm of cyberspace". That is one of the main nreasons why I write my various articles.

Here are some other points in writing articles for the www:

Firstly,nn* Identify your target audience.nn* Keep your title reasonably short* *.nn* Keep your paragraphs short.nn* Get to the point quickly (enough waffle with maple syrup,
Craig!). nn* Target your article to your audience with "valuable and nfocussed information". nn* Use the occasional exclamation mark (!) to get your readers nattention (not too many, mind you!). nn* Make sure your article flows properly. Re-read and re-read to nsee how it "speaks" to the readers mind. nn* Try to be concise in your wording. Brevity is the hall-mark of ngood writing...or so say many of the teachers of writing! (Though I don't necessarily agree with that last statement - nalways breaking the rules, Craig!).nn* Be credible (big word, eh?) at all times. I try to write my narticles in a "conversational style with dashes of my funny/weird humour". nn * Put some thought and effort into your heading - again to get your reader's immediate attention. nn * Use bullets in your articles - its makes the points easy to nfollow (as I've used in this section). nn * Conclude with a strong message. The final paragraph should ncontain a message that summarises your article, or gets your nreader to take further action. nn * Offer a free report with your article - this is an easy way to ncollect a list of adresses for marketing your product(s). An ninstant target market! nn * Finally, make sure your layout is good (not one of my strong npoints!), as this greatly enhances your prospects of getting npublished.

Some prominent article writers say one should write differently nto one's natural style, when writing for the web. I say , DON'T.
Just write what comes naturally...and BE YOURSELF. Though you may nhave to be somewhat briefer than usual, if you are a "waffler", nlike me. People want immediate information online and nhave limited time usually (and attention span online, like this nwriter).

It's the "instant coffee, er sorry, generation.

The internet is such an amazing medium for communication. I've njust submitted this article and it's been published almost ninstaneously (big word!) in a few places (some article nannouncement lists). So YOU TOO can write articles on your chosen nsubject in your internet marketing efforts... nas the more articles you write and submit, the more you will find web sites LINKING to yours (as many of the major search engines use the number of links as a factor in placing your web site). Also the search engines have 'crawlers' which 'trawl' the web and will pick up your articles, together with your web site at the end of your submission (no soliciting, please!).

MORE TRAFFIC = INCREASED SALES

Your writing will improve with confidence (as a "total non-techno", I was rather apprehensive, when I first started writing in this strange unchartered world of cyberspace'). So just take that FIRST STEP, that leap of faith and watch what happens.

Writers and internet marketers - Grab this moment in history nwell.

"Carpe diem" (seize the day!).

Happy writing 'dem' articles ...and as the Nike ad urges

Just GO FOR IT "writing rite"

Craig Lock

P.S: As the ancient Chinese philosopher said so well, "A jou
ey nof a thousand miles starts with a ... broken fan belt and a flat ntyre"... er sorry... a single step.

"Be bold and unseen forces come to your aid."n- one of my favourity quotations from Brian Tracey n(and story of my life!)

About the Author:
Craig Lock has been marketing products onlinenfor the past ten years. Craig is a writer, who believes innsharing information with a 'dash' of humour, as well as encouraging and helping others to find their talents and gifts, to strive for and accomplish thei
dreams in life - whatever they may be.nhttp://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.htmlnhttp://www.myspace.com/craigloknhttp://www.craiglockbooks.com

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has ngenius, power and magic in it."n - Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe (German philosopher)

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