8 Low-Cost Online Marketing Ideas

Before you shell out big bucks for your next promotional push check out these low-cost ways to get more traffic and attention to your website.

1. Blog About It
Setup a free blog on wordpress.com or blogger.com and begin writing interesting commentary that relates to your business. To drive traffic comment on other topic-related blogs and include links back to your blog. You can also contact bloggers in your field who might welcome guest bloggers. You get the benefits of reaching an interested audience without time and commitment of building your own blog.




2. Cultivate Loyalty
Loyalty programs encourage customers to return to your website frequently. When a consumer registers for your product or services they should immediatly be engage with a amazing exclusive offer. Continue to maintain loyalty through communications about members only benefits, shopping previews, sales, inside scoops on industry information and services/products exclusive to the best customers. Reward repeat purchases and return visits with discounts, gifts or other incentives. By creating an emotional attachement between your customers and business you will officially become a brand to them.

3. Distribute Content
Free and low-cost news release and content distribution sources like PRWeb.com can help you spread the word about your business online. Press releases can also help with your (SEO) search engine optimization efforts. Some other free news services include Mininova.org, TheFreeLibrary.com, and iNewswire.com.

4. Email Your Customers

Once you've gathered emails from your customer base, put it to good use. You can create targeted email campaigns that keep your brand and offerings infront of your customers. It is important to tailor your email campaigns to your audience. In order to do this you will need to collect historical data about your customers and segment them into consumer groups. Services like VerticalResponse.com and ConstantContact.com have easy to use email management systems.

6. Start Surveying

Create news hooks for publicity by conducting your own surveys. SureveyMonkey.com and Zoomerang.com are great tools for conducting online surveys. Poll your audience on issues important to them and release the results as a timely story that relates to what your company does.

7. The Power of Video
A simple digital recorder or webcam is all you need to create information-packed videos, which can be uploaded for free on sites like Youtube.com, Google Video, Metacafe.com and other video sites. Is your video funny, does it have the WOW factor, is it unbelievable, is your video worth talking about, these factors are important. Don't create videos that clearly show they are for marketing purposes. Below is a very popular viral video that a company did to promote their 'Blender'. Their videos have received millions of views online.

8. Exploit the Web
Get your company on free sites like del.icio.us.com, Digg.com, Squidoo.com and Yelp.com. More important, have the fans of your products or services touting you around the web. In addition local newspaper and websites like Craigslist.org and Metromix.com often have free online calendars where you can list upcoming seminars, events and so on. Allow your audience to become your brand emissaries, that is what Web 2.0 is all about. The internet is changing and it's no longer about companies controlling content but rather consumers becoming prosumers and taking content with them.

Aside from the amount of time it takes to coordinate these tactics, it costs from a few pennies to a couple hundred dollars. However those small investments can pay off in a big way through increased awareness and outreach to prospective customers.

Remember, have fun and iterate fast!