Online advertising is now the second largest marketing enterprise, just behind television. This is mainly due to its flexibility and ability to target those who are most likely to purchase products and services that you offer. Internet users now spend more time per day on-line than watching TV or listening to radio, giving online advertising a vast reach.
MapQuest/Yext
You might remember MapQuest. Well, MapQuest has partnered with Yext in order to facilitate locating your business, business address and phone number. It is also worth noting that MapQuest’s mobile app still shows up with Google Maps, so it is still a great way to help people find you.
Here’s how: Add your business and unleash the power of MapQuest w/Yext to build recognition of your brand.
Social Media Scheduling: Buffer
Perhaps our best time-saving tip for social media marketing is scheduling posts ahead of time for your social profiles. You can batch the social media marketing process: Do all your curating and composing all in one go, then spread those updates out across the next day or week.
How we use Buffer: The forever free plan at Buffer lets you connect a profile from each network (one from Facebook, one from Twitter, etc.) and to schedule ahead 10 posts for each network. If you share three posts per day, that means you can stay three days ahead all the time.
We’ve found a lot of value in the hand-picked content suggestions (thanks to Courtney who finds all that great content!), which are easy to read then add.
Manta
Dedicated to the interests of small business, you can hardly find a better directory that manta for getting your name out there. This site gets millions of unique visitors every month and this listing platform has one of the most comprehensive databases with geographic-specific, individual businesses, and industry segments listings.
Here’s how: Registration with Manta is quick and easy and you have plenty of optimizing packages to choose from as well.
Google My Business
Google My Business offers free local advertising. Google My Business is an actual listing that appears in Google search results and in Google Maps. Your location, phone number, website, hours and directions are listed. Savvy businesses add additional content. Google says: “Businesses that add photos to their Business Profiles receive 42% more requests for directions on Google Maps, and 35% more clicks through to their websites
Yellowbook
Easily searchable business listings that include your business information, a website link, product descriptions, map features, as well as options for display and video ads are all a possibility with Yellowbook . Besides being including in their business listing, you are linked with Google, Bing and Yahoo partner sites and there is an affiliate program to take advantage of as well.
Here’s how: Put Yellowbook to work for you by subscribing your business.
Real-time Analytics: Google Analytics
Google Analytics does pretty much everything in terms of tracking the traffic to your website. It’s a huge, monstrous amount of info, generously given away for free.
How we use Google Analytics: As a social media marketing team, we appreciate the ease with which we can see traffic from the different networks (Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals). We can check the engaged reading time by looking at Time on Page. And for the real-time stats of who’s on our site right now, we can simply click on Real-Time > Overview.
Yellow Pages
The same old Yellow Pages your parents and grandparents used to flip through to find what they needed is still around and has a very well-organized online version. Besides your typical free listing, there are also a wide variety of premium options available when you are ready to expand. This listing draws 70 million+ visitors across its associated listings annually.
Here’s how: Get your Yellow Pages ad started online with a simple registration process.
Other Search Engines
Other search engines give businesses visibility in local search results. For example, you can list your business in Apple Maps. DuckDuckGo does not have a directory; however, it uses Apple Maps data for local businesses. Yandex offers a business directory.
MerchantCircle
Another free network targeted toward small businesses which are seeking to connect with local customers and other local small businesses is MerchantCircle. Boost your listings, post business blogs, and utilize a broad number of free marketing tools designed to help build your business.
Here’s how: Sign-up with MerchantCircle and become actively involved in what’s going on there to begin seeing the best results.
Reports: Simply Measured
Simply Measured offers enterprise-level analytics and management for big brands and their social efforts. It has a wide array of free tools for the rest of us, too.
Among Simply Measured’s reports are these:
- Twitter Follower Report
- Twitter Customer Service Analysis
- Facebook Fan Page Report
- Facebook Content Analysis
- Facebook Competitive Analysis
- Facebook Insights Report
- Instagram User Report
- Social Traffic Report
- Traffic Source Report
- Google+ Page Report
- Vine Analysis
Phew! That’s a lot of reports!
How to use Simply Measured: Each of these reports costs no money, although Simply Measured will ask for a Twitter follow or a Facebook mention in exchange for the free report. You can save loads of time in pulling reports from this one location as you seek to gain insight on where your social media efforts have been going lately. They’ve got all six major social networks covered: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Yahoo Local
Still hanging in there toward the top of the business listing ranks is Yahoo Local. Running third behind Google and Bing, you can still get a free basic listing and are allowed some very affordable premium listing options when you are ready to expand your reach or have the budget to handle it. Though not a search engine giant like it used to be, Yahoo Local is still a sold listing directory.
Here’s how: Establish your online business presence by signing up with Yahoo Local.
Facebook offers a way to promote your organization with a Facebook page. Make frequent updates to your Page. Also, use your Facebook cover image to promote something special. Experiment with Facebook Call to Action buttons, and participate in Facebook Groups related to your industry.
Kudzu
Kudzu is a free database which claims to help over 20 million homeowners with renovation options every year. Profiles can include marketing descriptions, photograph or videos of in progress or completed work, coupons, professional affiliations and accreditations, as well as user-generated reviews and ratings to help give your business a leg up.
Here’s how: Get your Kudzu listing started and start taking advantage of what this site can offer your business.
CRM: Charlie
A lot of the best CRM tools (Customer Relationship Management) help you stay abreast of your current and future customers. Think of a futuristic address book. The best ones are loaded with features and information. Charlie is a bit of a quick-and-easy hack to get to know a person really well.
How to use Charlie: Intended as a tool to help you prep for meeting new people, Charlie gives you a full run-down of a person—social media profiles, biography, interests, big news, etc.—by looking at your upcoming calendar or running an email address. If you’re wanting info on a single person ad-hoc, simply enter their email address into Charlie, and they’ll tell you everything.
Angie’s List
Nearly everyone is acquainted with Angie’s list. It is is one of the most respected review sites with completely objective reviews on the web. It boasts more than 3 million members who research, hire, rate and review local service providers. This is a major listing that you can ill afford to overlook if you are serious about growing your business.
Here’s how: Join Angie’s List and get your business listed for review.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media channels for brand awareness. You can share photos and video with followers. Instagram is ideal for a “visual” company: food, fashion, furniture. Instagram is not great for driving traffic to a website. Typically you can only include one link in the profile field. But we have seen businesses link to an index page on their website established just for the products they highlight on Instagram.
DexKnows
Another online listing that monitors your ratings and reviews as well as provide data concerning how customers engage with your profile is DexKnows. This site also helps to provide you with additional insight into potential online and offline advertising opportunities, as well as giving you a boost when it comes to getting your brand out there. DexKnows is a mobile app which allows for single-tap searches and is available for Apple and Android peripherals. Your customers can mark favorites, write reviews and find your location based on GPS coordinates no matter where you are located.
Here’s how: You can take advantage of the free services of DexKnows by signing up and getting started growing your brand on line.
Landing Pages: WordPress
For those who are running their website or blog via WordPress, perhaps the fastest and easiest way to set up a landing page is simply to create a new page. If you blog with WordPress, the blog content you create falls into Posts. The static content for landing pages—“Download our ebook,” “Sign up for our webinar,” etc.—can be made quite easily via Pages.
How to use WordPress: Build a new landing page in WordPress, and use this as the focal point of your social media ad campaign or your social media updates. Certain plugins like WooDojo even let you hide the content in your sidebar for particular pages, which could be a great option for minimizing the look of your page.
Local.com
Searchers are provided with detailed info about events, deals, and relevant local businesses for each city searched on Local.com. This database includes over 16 million business listing by zip code all across the U.S. to a given city. Premium options for later expansion are also available to give your business a greater boost.
Here’s how: Sign up with Local.com and take advantage of getting a listing in your local area.
YouTube
Around half of all searches on YouTube start with “how to”. Build a sales funnel by setting up a YouTube channel. Then create how-to videos on topics related to your products and services. Add your website or email address in each show description so interested parties can contact you.
Best of the Web
Millions of websites are included in a collection of web directories on Best of the Web (BOTW). BOTW is focused on making listings both relevant and unique so that they attract discerning users. More than twenty-five million people utilize local search opportunities with BOTW on an annual basis.
Here’s how: Sign up to Best of the Web for free and then expand into premium options as soon as your budget will allow for it.
Blogging: Medium
It feels a bit funny to list Medium as a tool (it’s really more of a network or social media site), but when it comes to starting a new blog as cheaply and quickly as possible, Medium can’t be beat.
How to use Medium: Many young startups kick off their blog at Medium, where they enjoy a built-in audience from the start and have networking tools to help their content spread. Plus, one of Medium’s newest features is an email newsletter where you can automatically get in touch with people who follow you by sharing your latest articles.
Answering Quora Questions
Being an expert / thought leader on Quora can draw attention to you and your business as well. Quora is a forum style platform with continuously generated user questions that are begging to be answered by experts just like you. Tap into this very broad and versatile audience to build your name and brand recognition. Becoming a thought leader in your field is a sure fire way of attracting new clients and customers.
Quora also gives you an opportunity to create quality content related to your niche, outside of your own website. This is great because it allows a bigger audience to read what you have to say.
Here’s how: Register as an expert on Quora and start promoting yourself through your expertise.
Reddit has discussions on just about any topic. Entrepreneurs can post content but overt self-promotion could get you banned. Reddit is a good source of website traffic if you are part of the Reddit culture.
Conclusion:
Online advertising can help any businesses market their product or service to a broad audience for free. In the past, advertisers had to pay for email advertising, banner advertising, or search engine placement. Thanks to social media and blogging sites, advertisers can now reach people from all over the world without paying a dime. The following article takes a look at some of the top free online advertising methods.