When you are just starting out with your online business, marketing can be a tough sell for your pocketbook. You may not have the kind of budget you need to get the word out about your product or service. However, you can market your new site and your expertise with no cost to you except some time and effort. Here are ten effective ways to market your site for free:

1.  Search engine submission – This should be your first step when you create a website. Avoid any services that charge you to submit to a number of sites. Most of these sites are too small to bother with and you can find the larger ones on your own. Also submit to niche sites, such as search engines for your area or industry.

2.  Linking – Establish a links page on your site as soon as possible. This will allow you to swap promotion with other relevant and quality sites.

3.  Blogging – This form of updating your site is a wonderful way to stay in touch with clients and potential clients. You can post as often as you like and the more posts you have, the more hits you will get on search engines when people search for the topic of your post.

4.  Newsletter – This is one of the best ways to build a loyal customer base. You can start an informative newsletter that will go out to a targeted audience. Start a sign up box on every page of your website to let people submit their email addresses. They will pass the newsletter to others if it is of good quality.

5.  Viral marketing – Viral marketing is the use of products sold online to spread the word about your site. You can sell ebooks, samples, and mini courses that will include links and references to your website.

6.  Forums and bulletin boards – Post regularly on forums and bulletin boards that target your potential customer base. You are not allowed to promote your site in these posts, but you can use a signature that includes your web address or perhaps some link to a viral marketing product. Check with the forum guidelines before you post.

7.  Article distribution – Write some articles with your customer base in mind. They will consider you an expert and refer to you for future needs. You will get a signature section where you can tout your expertise or promote your product and link to your site. You can find article distribution sites by searching on the web.

8.  Article swapping – You should always allow for rewrites of your articles with the inclusion of your bio at the bottom. This will spread the word and allow for multiple publications. Also reprint the articles of related experts on your blog or in your newsletter to encourage reciprocation.

9.  Cross promoting – You can also start partnerships with other websites that allow you to cross promote your services, newsletters, and other products.

10.  Networking – There are online business networking opportunities available today that allow you to join and reap the benefits of swapping articles and job leads.

As entrepreneurs we spend a long time in the planning stages of business building. We develop big dreams for our business but sometimes the profits don’t come in nearly as quickly. While you may be building and massaging your current product line, you can also create wealth with these 4 secrets to additional profit.

If you are a seasoned entrepreneur, these might be smart ideas for you to consider. If you are a new business owner, these might not be right for you right now, but keep them in mind for the near future and intentionally plan to implement them over time.

1. Sell ancillary products and up-sell every time. You may have a main product but you should have other products to sell, too. Offer them in conjunction with your primary product as a way to help increase your customer’s enjoyment.

2. Become a Consultant. Consulting is nice because there is not a cost involved; just your time. Consulting puts you on the map as the expert in your business. Your core customers will turn to you for consulting work and for your products and the value they perceive from both will be much higher.

3. Become a trainer. There are a number of ways you can do this: You can offer online seminars or webinars, offer classes at http://www.universalclass.com or teach in your area of expertise at a local community college or adult education class. Again, the perception of value will increase among your prospects when they learn that you teach others.

4. Sell information. Selling information – especially digital information – is huge. There are all kinds of valuable e-books and software you can sell, available here http://www.NetProfitSecrets.com. If you don’t already sell it, the cost per unit decreases with every sale, making it a low-cost/high-profit way to earn great money.

5. Sell a System. Check out a site like http://www.carpet-cleaning-equipment.net. It just looks like any other vacuum cleaner company. But when you click on the “start your own business” link, you’ll notice that they bundle their vacuum cleaners with some ideas to make money with the vacuum cleaner. That way, they’re no longer selling a vacuum cleaner but a way to make money. It’s not a franchise or MLM… they’re just selling their vacuum cleaners and some information. But it seems like a business opportunity. Can you do that in your business?

6. Ask for referrals. I don’t know how I can put this any more clearly: always, always, always, always ask for referrals. Always. Create referral coupons that give people some kind of reward or “kickback” when the person they refer buys from you. It’s the easiest and cheapest way to get more business.

The use of the right colors on your web site can actually increase your sales. When people see certain colors they can change their emotions or they can symbolize things related to the colors. Here are a list of colors with some emotions and symbolizations they can cause:

Red – love, excitement, warmth
Pink – romantic, affection, sensuality
White – purity, peace, perfection
Blue – sky, water, travel, freedom, truth
Purple – royalty, dignity
Black – space, night, authority
Green – money, calm, envy, greed
Yellow – light, purity, understanding
Orange – autumn, youthfulness, fire
Brown – wood, comfort, strength

It’s very important to know which emotions or symbolizations will trigger your target audience to buy your product or service. If your selling a money-making product you should use green colors to represent money or bring out the emotion of greed. People also associate comfort and travel with money so you maybe want ad in some brown and blue colors on your web site.

The same principle can be applied to graphics or pictures of your product on your web site. Package your products with colors that will trigger your audience to buy. If your selling a book about how to be more romantic, use red and pink colors on the cover. I hope these simple web site color techniques will increase your business’s sales.

You can increase sales and profits by offering freebies to people who buy your main product or service. They increase the over all value of your main offer and in return people feel they’re getting more for less.

It’s important that you have a high enough profit margin so you can afford to give them away. Some freebies can be created without a lot of expense; like electronic information products. With these type of freebies there’s no shipping or physical material costs.

Below are some popular types of freebies. In the examples are some other benefits and a tips for offering freebies to your buyers.

FREE COUPON/GIFT CERTIFICATE

Offer potential customers a free coupon or gift certificate for a back end product or service you’re selling. This will increase your chances for repeat purchases.

FREE BOOKLET/E-BOOK

Offer a free booklet or e-book related to your main product or service. Inform potential customers that it is a limited time offer and it will only be available before a specific date.

FREE MEMBERS ONLY WEB SITE

Offer a free membership into your members only web site. Tell them what it normally costs for people who don’t purchase.

FREE AUDIO CASSETTE/VIDEO

Offer a free audio cassette or video to people who buy. Let them know this audio cassette or video can’t be found anywhere else, only through this special offer.

FREE E-MAIL COURSE

Offer a free e-mail course on a topic related to your product or service. Add your back end product ads to each e-mail course lesson.

FREE CHAT ROOM SEMINAR/CONSULTING

Offer a free chat room seminar or consulting to give away as a freebie. You will become know as an expert on the topic by electing to do the seminar or consulting yourself.

FREE GIFT

Offer a free gift if they buy your product or service. Giving the value of the free give will attract them to purchase your main product or service.

The main thing I hear from most people just starting out online is that they are overwhelmed. Yes — you will see TONS of ezines, membership sites, product packages, product launches, forums, blogs, and anything to do with internet marketing. It’s a fact — there’s a lot out there!

So how do you stay focused and organized?

1. KEEP EZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO A MINIMUM

Don’t signup for every ezine and mailing list you come across…. and if you have already, sift through them and decide which ones are most important to your success.

Trust me — I used to think I’d miss something if I didn’t subscribe to everyone’s list. Eventually I realized that I was overloaded with emails all telling me the same thing! Most internet marketers go to the same people when they’re ready to launch a product and if you stay subscribed to a quality ezine, you’ll always be in the loop.

2. DON’T JOIN EVERY FORUM YOU COME ACROSS

Forums are VERY valuable and in my opinion, can mean all the difference in how fast you succeed. Name branding and business relationships are built everyday in quality marketing forums. However, you CAN spend TOO MUCH time reading and posting. Joining a few select forums and slotting time out “just for forums” is your best bet.

A few of my favorites…
http://www.conqueryourniche.com/forum/probiztips
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/
http://www.im4newbies.com/forum/portal.php

3. REMEMBER THAT “ADS” ARE GOOD FOR YOU!

When venturing into the internet marketing world, you are going to see lots of ads, marketing, and launches. It always tickles me when someone is trying to “break” into the internet marketing niche yet they get irritated because there are so many ads and launches. You’re in the wrong business, buddy!

Change your attitude about ads. Use them as free education materials! Even if you’re not interested in what the ad is advertising, learn from their ad copy and website. In my opinion, this is an uptapped secret and can directly affect your “marketing attitude” and success.

4. ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE

I have separate folders on my PC for Resale Rights, Private Label Rights, eBooks, etc. I admit, I’m an internet marketing junkie so I HAVE to organize everything. If you come across a good deal, DON’T PASS IT UP! Buy it and organize it for safe-keeping.

5. FINALLY — RELAX AND TAKE IT SLOW

Success is not going to come overnight… no matter what you might hear. It takes patience, diligence, faith, education (free marketing ezines & forums), and even a little money every now and then. Don’t expect huge returns or results without huge efforts!