Free online Promotion

If you're used to brick and mortar stores, and thinking about ways on how to promote your online business, you may have found yourself a bit stumped. Thankfully, there are a few easy methods to promote business online without having to suffer from an ecommerce migraine. Social media, contests, emails, blogs, and search engines are just a few easy and cheap ways to promote business online and get people shopping at your store. As you've probably already surmised, the goal is to get your businesses' name out into as many corners of the internet as possible. Read on to learn how to promote your online business.

Social media and viral marketing

In today's technological landscape, you would be remiss not to use social media as a means for online business promotion. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter connect large groups of people together and are perfect to promote business online. Viral marketing depends on the activity of users. If you create content, products or services that are interesting and valuable, people will want to share them with others. The trick is to make sure that you always have advertisements, and items or services for sale that fulfill the needs of prospects, but are somehow unique enough to make people want to pass along.

Contests and sweepstakes

One of the best ways to promote your business is to create a contest or sweepstakes in which prospects and current customers can participate. The type of contest and its content is up to you, but it should mirror your business and its products or services somehow. Contests that are interactive or actively engaging, such as video contests, tend to fare better with prospects than others. As for prizes, offer your own product or services rather than big-ticket items, as your own wares can often serve as your best advertisements. At the end of the contest, you should have a large collection of data to use in your future marketing efforts.

Emails and newsletters

Emails and newsletters are good ways to promote your business online. You can use the information that you've gathered on your website about prospects and customers to target your emails, so your emails will go to the people who are most likely to buy the product you are featuring. Newsletters can keep your prospects advised of your business' happenings, while also featuring discounts, coupons, information about sales and special offers. Making your emails and newsletters visually interesting is a must, as you will have to find ways to set yourself apart from your competition and spammers.

Blogs

In the world of online business, there will be many competitors out there who are vying for the same customer base as you. One of the ways that you can differentiate yourself from the rest is to create and maintain a blog. Your blog posts should be informative, fun and interesting enough to keep your readers coming back, and hopefully spend money in your store. The range of topics can include news about products to information about the industry that you're in. If you're offering a service, your goal should be to position yourself as an authoritative voice on the service. If you sell products, you should concentrate on the quality of your products and why your prospects should buy from you. These tactics can build trust with readers, and if the blog is done right, you can become a leader in your chosen field, as people begin to reference your posts.

Search engines

Your search engine submission process can have an effect on your business' search engine ranking and how you promote your business online. To ensure that your business is being promoted properly by search engines, you'll have to invest some time and research into the process. If you don't trust yourself, and want better returns than what you would get if you were doing it on your own, consider looking into a professional who can do it for you