Businesses for sale - Start Your Own Online Business » Site Promotion http://megamagoo.com/blog Start and Run Your Own Internet Business Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:51:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 Benefits Of And Tips On Designing A Sitemap http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=76 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=76#comments Fri, 11 May 2007 14:36:40 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=76 Have you ever wondered how a search engine works? It must be fascinating figuring out how this search tool could direct you to several websites that are relevant to your keywords. Or, have you experienced instances where the link that supposedly contains your keywords is not exactly what you have in mind? You would probably think that there must be something wrong with the search engine that it generated irrelevant results.

How does a search engine work? Two things figure greatly in making search engines work effectively and efficiently: the electronic search spider and the sitemap.

What is a sitemap? A sitemap is basically a page or pages that serve/s as a directory by listing all the links to all documents and files found in a website. It is not merely a random listing of links, but organized in such a way that it gives the web user an idea of how all the information that can be found in the site fits into an outline or framework. It is like viewing the table of contents of a book, or viewing the “concept map” of the site’s content.

What is a spider? In SEO language, spider is not an animal found in your closet. This electronic search spider is actually a bot which collects data and copies content to be stored in the search engine’s database when keywords are fed into the search dialogue box. The spider reads the content of the site and sends another bot to follow the links and copy the content contained in them.

What purpose does a sitemap serve? A sitemap like any other map gives directions to a navigator. It primarily targets search engine spiders so that they are properly directed to your site and to the links where keywords entered in the search dialogue appears. As such, it is actually a useful tool in search engine optimization. A well organized site map would guide the spider to find the information it needs when keywords are entered during a search operation.

As an additional beneficial consequence, sitemaps have proven to be useful even to web users. Since a sitemap displays all the links to information found in a website, it helps the user to search for a particular topic in mind. Many users also use the sitemap to navigate between pages in a site.

What are the benefits of having a sitemap for my website?

1. No page would be left unturned Going back to the purpose of sitemaps, having one would mean faster and easier tracking and crawling of spiders all over your site. As a result, search engines would surely get to the view all the pages of your site and not just the pages containing random keywords.

2. Easier navigation for site visitors Once a web user has accessed your sitemap, they need not go back to the search engine page to look for what they need. If what they are looking for is in your site, then they would have an easier and faster way of locating it.

3. Potential advertising value If it so happens that a relevant product or service company reaches your site, then it would be easier for them to see how best they can position themselves in the different pages of your site as a paid page advertisement.

4. Encourage greater traffic to your site If your company website has a sitemap then potential buyers would have an easier time in accessing your latest products and services. Moreover, they would not miss out on any product that might be off future interest to them since the sitemap would display all information found the site.

How are sitemaps formatted? There are at least three major types of sitemaps: indexed, full categorical, and restricted categorical. An indexed site map appears as an alphabetical listing or directory. A full categorical map displays all links classified into categories; while a restricted categorical sitemap displays all links listed in a chosen category at a time. The full and restricted sitemaps are very similar except that the former displays all links in all categories all at once in a page, while the latter focuses only the links under the selected category for easier and less eye-straining viewing.

The most widely used format is the full categorical. Based on the results of a 1999 SURL study on sitemap designs, the full categorical format is most preferred by users since it is easier to search for topics within the site and it allows easier comparison between and among categories.

Some tips in setting up your sitemap

1. Link the sitemap only to your homepage. This is to ensure that the spider starts searching from your homepage down to all the pages listed in your sitemap. In this way, no page would be left unvisited by the spider.

2. Do not go beyond 30 pages for a sitemap. Large websites having 50 or more pages should not go beyond 30 since this adds more pages to the site, and might make search engines think that the sitemap is a link farm. Also, this prevents overcrowding of links which could be tiring to view.

3. Check all the links listed in your sitemap. It can be discouraging when you click on a link only to find out that nothing is displayed. Test your sitemap; click all links in every page to make sure that all links are indeed linked to the right page.

4. Give keyword-rich titles to sitemap links. Keyword-rich titles give your site more advantage in being searched properly under the right category. But be sure to have this sitemap link linked back to the sitemap (e.g. back to sitemap).

5. Provide a short description for the links in the sitemap. Doing so would give readers a better idea of what to find in the link and save them time on surfing.

6. Be consistent in designing your sitemap with the other pages of the site. Employ a recurring design and the same HTML template for all pages to establish identity and build character to your website.

Now that you have learned basic things about sitemaps, maybe it is time for you to build one for your site.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=76 101 ways to get more traffic http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=73 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=73#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:56:05 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=73 101 ways to get more traffic

1.Write and submit articles :). It is a classic, but it works. This will be indefinite traffic stuck in the search engines for you. Write quality unique articles, not articles that are rehashed or provide no insight to readers, which is a huge problem these days.
2.Write and submit press releases, think prweb after you do one.
3.Write and ping blog entries. Always make sure to link back to your website with your blog posts. Try making multiple blogs and have them all link back to one main site.
4.Make sure your website is listed in DMOZ: http://dmoz.org/.
5.Advertise your website in the appropriate categories at Craigslist. Try posting your ads in the most populated cities in the world.
6.If a niche related forum that you frequently visit allows signatures, then make sure to add your website url in there.
7.Make sure to view related products on Amazon.com. You can try and take some customers from your competitors here by providing your own url if the product is similar.
8.Review websites in your niche on Alexa to try to take some of their traffic by including a reference back to your site.
9.Review some related products on epinion.
10.If you purchase a product that you actually like, then feel free to give an individual respect when respect is due and leave a testimonial. You should be able to get some traffic from that website if your testimonial is left with a url.
11.Whenever you send an email to someone, always add your website url as a signature.
12.Keep updating content on your websites/blogs� try at least once per week.
13.Tag blog posts at social bookmarking sites, especially at http://del.icio.us/.
14.Add photos to your blog with appropriate keywords.
15.Tag blog photos at Flickr.
16.Politely ask your readers to subscribe to your rss feeds.
17.Try coining your own term. Might want to trademark it if you smell that it will become popular.
18.Encourage readers to comment on your blogs.
19.Include translation for your websites/blogs, especially in Chinese.
20.Do not be boring, write about something that a wide select of people would want to know about.
21.Make sure to edit your writing (unlike what im doing :D).
22.Comment on other related blogs.
23.Make a custom 404-error page for your website. You can provide a link back to your main website or even try to monetize it by offering a related affiliate program within your niche.
24.Sponsor a charity, most charities will link back to your website, and you are also doing a good deed :).
25.Sell an item on eBay as a charity auction. Most charities will link back to both your auction and your main website.
26.Start a publicity campaign, do something that individuals in your niche will take note of.
27.Brand your website with a logo and a slogan/catch phrase. Think IBM.
28.Hold a crazy contest that people in your niche will talk about. This will equal more links and traffic to your website.
29.Build a tool that individuals in your niche will love and enjoy. Then give it away for free. If the tool is helpful, then you will get quality one-way links to your website.
30.Contact small newsletters sources offline and submit articles to them.
31.Become friends with editors of an offline publication.
32.Give speeches offline. Start small and local. Also, do not forget to participate in toastmasters meetings in your area.
33.Have a GREAT product. All of the marketing/advertising in the world will do you NO good if your product is sub par.
34.Make something innovative. If you are selling information, what makes your content something you cannot get from the local bookstore, Barnes and noble or even eBay for that matter?
35.Is your product groundbreaking? Will you leave individuals with no choice but to talk about your product or service?
36.Are you selling something that wide groups of people want to know about but there is limited/scarce knowledge?
37.Write good content, if your writing is good then people will share it with their friends. In addition, webmasters will use it as content on their website with a reference back to your article, or at least they should.
38.Spark emotions. If you get people emotional about something then they will most likely talk about it.
39.Get a custom t-shirt made with your website url on it, and wear it often.
40.Build a list of subscribers. Your list is like a golden asset to you if utilized correctly.
41.Write tip articles, such as �Ten easy tips to blank-blank-blank.�
42.Buy traffic from the search engines by utilizing one of their PPC campaigns.
43.Open up a myspace account and find targeted friends so that you can promote your services to them. Do not spam people, myspace is cracking down on spammers and are starting to sue people.
44.Solicit a link from your local chamber of commerce.
45.Have an easy to remember domain name. If your domain name is too long or not memorable then people may forget your site.
46.Add a bookmark option to your website/blogs.
47.Purchase the misspelled versions of your domain name and have it redirect to your main one.
48.Use keywords in your image alt tags. For example, <img src=”image.gif” alt=”keywords go head” />
49.Make sure to include appropriate keywords in your title tag, search engines show more prominence or importance to keywords here.
50.Place appropriate keywords in your anchor text when linking.
51.If you have a profile anywhere online, always include appropriate keywords and link back to your website.
52.Try to get links from websites within your niche with a high pr (pagerank). Some The more one-way links (inbound links/backlinks) you have to your website, the higher your pr will become. Pagerank is important because websites with higher prs tend to have a higher search results in Google. It is a no brainier that if you can get number one for a competitive keyword then you will have enough traffic that you can handle� oh by the way its all free targeted traffic to remind you.
53.Outsource grunt work. Time is in essence money�. you can hire individuals at freelance services to send emails, request JV proposals, or to answer questions from prospective or current customers.
54.Offer something for FREE. Abracadabra is not the magic word, FREE is. It is like a worm on a pole for a fish in the water�. its bait! Offer a free mini course or free ebook to help collect more subscribers. You can always offer a backend to monetize on this opportunity, such as an affiliate product for example.
55.After someone orders from you offer a one-time offer that compliments your product. For example, if I offered a traffic ebook, then after the individual purchase it would make sense for me to offer a traffic conversion bonus for a limited time only.
56.Become the virus within your niche. Make yourself the bug and have people talking about your product. When people talk about your product then you can induce the viral effect. However, you must give people a reason to talk about you, and being like everyone else is not one.
57.Do your research and find expensive niches to tap into. A good way to do this is to find how expensive someone is paying for a keyword on a PPC search engine. If you can sell items that are more expensive more often then it is a quicker way to get rich :D.
58.Become an active respected member of niche related forums. You can do this by offering quality posts. Hint Hint, it is not the number of posts you make, it is the quality. Remember, quality or quantity. Many useless or negative posts will have people looking at you funny.
59.Test, test, test. Your flushing money down the toilet if your not testing to see what campaigns are bringing you in the most money compared to which ones are costing you money. When you test, you can eliminate the campaigns that are costing you dollars so that you can properly maximize your marketing efforts. Without proper testing, you are pretty much lost and can�t improve. You can only guess to what has or what is working. With proper testing, you do not guess, you know.
60.Stay up to date on what is going on in the world, you can monetize off hot topic trends.
61.Network, when you know more people you can find people that can help you get what you need.
62.Offer an affiliate program for your product or service. Make sure to let your satisfied customers know that you have one, if they like your product then they will be even more delighted to know that they will get money for referring you.
63.Write and give away a free ebook or report. It does not have to be long as long as its quality information neatly formatted and put together. You can also make a brandable ebook or report and allow affiliates the opportunity to brand their affiliate links in there to pass on to the next individual. You can then send this ebook to your subscribers or submit it to ebook directories.
64.Add viral components to your blog such as social bookmarking options, and a refer a friend option.
65.Be funny, people like something that will make them laugh and they will spread it for you if it is a genius idea.
66.Syndicate your content by using an RSS feeds on your website.
67.Answer people�s questions on Yahoo! answers with a link to your website in the sources area.
68.Put a link in the �about me� section of your eBay profile.
69.Make and upload a viral video to you tube. Use appropriate keywords in the video description for your target audience.
70.Record an informative podcast and submit them to poplar podcast directories.
71.Provide helpful answers for Google adsense on their help forum with a link back to your website. Go here to check it out: http://groups.google.com/group/adsense-help
72.Get people to comment and add content to your site. When they do this, they will provide you unique content, no need to pay for ghostwritten articles.
73.If you cannot get JVs, then try to bribe webmasters for sponsored advertising space on their newsletters.
74.Include a media section on your website so that you will give the media an easy way to stay up to date on what your company is doing.
75.Try to teach a class at your local community college or university. The more exposure you get in the public, the more credibility you will receive.
76.Make a screensaver and make it easy for individuals in your niche to download it. Have eye candy graphics combined with your company logo to brand yourself.
77.Write something controversial and spread it freely to your target market. It can be something as idiotic as the Da Vinci code, but as long people talk about it, its a successful campaign. A few hints, something controversial is something that goes against established beliefs in your market.
78.Write and publish a book. Having your own book is a quick way to gain credibility.
79.Take a guru in your niche out to lunch, and pay for it.
80.Start an organization or club about something. This can be done online through Yahoo! or Google groups.
81.Volunteer. Donate your time to a good clause�you can always network with people and form connections at the same time.
82.Get involved in your community and try to run some type of outreach program.
83.Offer good customer service, you may be surprised on how many referrals you get just be having a reliable one.
84.Consider adding a direct mail marketing campaign to your marketing arsenal.
85.Put an ad in your local yellow pages to get some local customers. Yellow pages tend to be more successful then newspaper ads because individuals are looking for a particular service when they are browsing through the yellow pages as opposed to newspapers.
86.Post bulletins in your local supermarket. However, since not everyone may carry a pen or pencil, place your contact information and url on strips on the bottom so that individuals can rip it off and take it with them.
87.Host your own commercial so you can put �as seen on TV� on your products.
88.Conduct surveys and publish them. These make you appear as an expert in your field of study.
89.Break a record or shoot to be in the Guinness world records for something.
90.Make a sitemap for your website.
91.Use a favicon for your site.
92.Make your visitors more involved in your website. You can help accomplish this by adding CGI scripts to your site.
93.Make sure you have no broken links on your site, and make sure that your website shows clearly in all browsers.
94.Find domain names that get traffic, purchase them, and have them redirect to your website.
95.Spell correctly whenever using keywords in writing.
96.Look at sites related to your niche to try to figure out how they get their traffic.
97.Properly optimize your website for the right keywords.
98.Try to avoid java scripts on your website as much as possible.
99.Do not use frames on your website.
100. If your website becomes popular and starts getting lots of traffic, try switching to a dedicated server. The longer you site is down equals the more lost visitors you will have.
101. Write a quality 101 article about a steamy topic that people want to know more about in your niche ;).

Written By Doug - www.imutopia.com

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=73 Cheap Advertising For Your Site or Product http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=68 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=68#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:52:04 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=68 Want to get in on some really cheap advertising? Take a look at our Pixel advertising site.

You can get pixels for only .25 cents and have a permanent link to your site or product. This is a demo site but it is also a fully developed working site that gets a lot of visitors everyday.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=68 Free Directory Resource http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=58 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=58#comments Sat, 02 Sep 2006 17:27:59 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=58 A great way to promote your site or blog is to submit it to directories.

We put together a list of free directories to submit to. We will be adding new ones all the time so bookmark it and check back.

Here is the list   You can also click the link on the left of our blog.

Do your self a big favor download and install a form filler. The one we use is free and works great. Get robo form filler here. This will save you hours of work. After you install it go to identities and fill in the custom fields. Example - site title in the field name then name of your site in field value, do the same for description and other form fields…save.
Now when you go to a directory to submit your site right click anywhere in there form and hit fill forms or ] key. It will fill in everything for you! What a time saver.

Submitting to directories will help build your traffic, get you better page rank and provide valuble one way links to your site. More search engines will pick up your site and you will soon have a steady stream of traffic. :)

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=58 Our Own Million Dollar Homepage http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=56 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=56#comments Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:47:55 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=56 Our very own million dollar homepage is up. You can now advertise with us for a very low cost!

We are selling pixels for only .25 cents. Just go to the site - Click Here

Click buy pixels then drag your mouse over the area you want to advertise in. Upload your logo or image or use one of ours. It is as easy as that. You now have a cheap lifetime link to your site.

These sites attract a lot of visitors and they keep building as time goes on.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=56 Cheap Banners For Your Site http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=54 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=54#comments Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:18:17 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=54 We found a great source for low cost banners for your site. They are great for doing banner exchanges or advertising your site.

We had a couple made. They were made the same day and she made any changes that we wanted before delivery. Here is the Link.  Tell Her Magoo sent you.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=54 Add Your Site to Our Directory http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=52 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=52#comments Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:00:20 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=52 Our link directory is now open. So go ahead and add your link Here. Anyone that has purchased there site from us can add there link with no reciprocal link back to us. But it would be nice :)

Our site gets spider-ed by all the major search engines daily so if you add your link to our directory it will get picked up by the search engines right away!

Link exchanges are a good way to build traffic to your site.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=52 Promote Your Business Offline http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=43 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=43#comments Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:56:52 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=43 Here is a great list for promoting your business offline. There are some really great ideas here. Someone emailed me this list so I can not take the credit for it. point is you should never miss an opportunity to promote your business.
#1. Take a small zip close baggie (snack sizes work well) and include the following in it:

Your Business Card, Business Oppty Mini Flyer, a Piece of Candy such as hard candy or a lollipop, mini flyer of current host specials, discount coupon (optional) etc.

Hand these out to the bank tellers, retail cashiers, at your kids sport events, every where you go!

#2. When I stay at hotels & motels I leave a mini catalog, my business card & discount coupon and the mini coin canister for the maid! I put her tip inside the mini coin canister! I have gotten 3 orders by doing this!

Be creative when you leave tips for Hotel Maids, Waitresses, Waiters, Hair Dressers, etc. Don’t just hand them your business card, make it memorable!

You can also buy cute little beaded change purses at your local dollar discount store!

#3. Print out flyers with your contact info (not your personal address), your website address & email address along with any current specials you are offering.

Then contact local area mobile home park offices, apartment complex rental offices, housing developments etc and ask them if you can leave fliers in their office or hang on their tenants doors. Give the office employees a free gift or discount on their personal orders.

#4. Contact local area bridal supply stores, bridal gown stores, caterers, tux rental centers, wedding dj’s etc. Ask them if you can leave your business cards & fliers about the great (Company Name) Bridal Gift Registry for them to give to their customers.

Offer store owners a free gift or a personal discount for helping you spread the word about your business.

#5. Daycare Centers! They are excellent to contact and leave business cards and/or fliers at!

I print out a flyer of just a few items from our Tupperware Children’s line and I attach my business card & a discount coupon. I get a lot of orders by doing this!

So whatever company you represent, find some items that cater to children or to moms and make up a flier!

#6. A lot of churches hold a Spring and Fall Fest! Contact them about getting a table or a booth. A lot of times this will cost you under $15.00 for a space!

Make sure you take products with you along with business oppty fliers, plenty of catalogs, business cards etc.

Do a contest drawing at these types of events. Make up entry blanks that gather the customers’ info so that you can initiate contact with them again!

#7. Join your local area chamber of commerce! They are always holding local business events that you can participate in.

#8. College Campuses! Dorms & Housing Students are always looking to spend money! A lot of college students are also looking for an extra income so target them with the Business Oppty too!

Drop off fliers and business cards to the College Student Center! They usually have bulletin boards, tables and other things where you can leave your information at for FREE!

#9. Contact your local area Welcome Wagon or Welcome to the Neighborhood Group! Ask them about you leaving mini catalogs, fliers, business cards, discount coupons, freebie mini gifts, etc with them.

They are always looking for additional items to place in their Welcome Bags!

#10. Contact your local area hospitals and ask for Human Resources Dept. The Majority of hospitals hand out New Mommy Diaper Bags filled with products, samples and other stuff for New Moms who just had a baby!

It’s FREE for you to add in your information! I have gotten party hosts, new customers and new recruits by participating in these types of programs.

#11. Contact your local medical offices, particularly Gynecology and OB Offices and Pediatric Offices and inquire about you leaving information with them.

This is a way for you to target Parents of Children with the home party oppty, the business oppty and new customer sales.

#12. Donate a Product to your local area Radio Station, they have numerous contests and they are always looking for sponsors!

Your donation can be written off as a tax deduction plus you will get FREE Advertising & Business Exposure for your donation!

#13. Donate a Product to your local area Bingo Halls! They are always looking for sponsors of their Bingo Prizes! Bingo is BIG in a lot of areas!

#14. Call your Chamber of Commerce and find out about Local Area Job Fairs. Get a booth and set up info about the fabulous business oppty!

#15. Call your Local Area Colleges and find out when their next job/employment fair is. A lot of times you can get a booth or table for less than $35 and you will get a lot of GREAT new recruit leads by participating in events like these.

#16. Contact local area car dealerships. I have 2 in my local area that hand out a small packet that I made up for FREE to their customers who come in to take a free test drive!

#17. Target your local area gyms! You can get a table space for $20 or less in most cases! Make sure you have 3-5 products on display, plenty of catalogs, business cards and fliers.

#18. Network with others in your community who are also in home business. Find out what events and activities that they participate in. They are usually “in the know” and can help you get started in networking in your community.

#19. Contact Companies in your area to see if you can come in and set up a table in the employee lounge or cafeteria for a employee shopping break! These days a lot of companies will allow you to do this if you ask them!

#20. Does your local area TV cable company have a local information channel? Inquire about advertising! These ads will reach thousands of potential buyers for you! I recommend you only use your website address for these types of advertising and not your personal at home address.

#21. Contact local small companies and shops to see if you can offer an exclusive discounts or freebie gift to their employees. Companies are always looking for a way to “treat” their employees to specials from the local surrounding community.

#22. Small Home Town Newspapers! I don’t get too good of a response when I do big newspaper city ads, however… when I target small town newspapers I usually get a great response. I even had them let me place an ad on their wedding and engagement announcements page which I advertised the Bridal Gift Registry.

So if you are going to do any type of newspaper advertising, inquire about getting your ads on specific pages in the newspaper that targets the group of people most likely to buy from you.

#23. Get a low cost outdoor banner printed up with your business information on it. You can usually get them done for $55 or less depending on who makes it.

You can have these outdoor banners displayed at outdoor music/concert events, outdoor children’s sporting events, outdoor adult sport events, outdoor neighborhood block parties, outdoor community events, carnivals, fairs, etc.

#24. Take your business on the road during nice weather. Contact local area parks & community centers to see what their schedule of events are and inquire about setting up a booth or table.

This is a great way to network & market your business to those in your community.

#25. Community Clipper Coupon Packs & Sales Flyer Mailings. These days a lot of communities have mailings such as these, contact them and see how you can participate and advertise your business.

#26. Contact small local area businesses such as hair salons, massage parlors, boutiques, banks etc.

See if you can set up a table for 1 week with 3 of your best selling products on it along with some catalogs, fliers, coupons and your business card. Keep a basket on the table for any customer orders which you can follow up on after you return back to pick up your display. Offer the store owner or manager a free gift for allowing you to do this.

You can also offer to donate a prize for a contest if they let you display the prize donated & get a copy of the contestants entry blanks after the promotion closes.

#27. Contact local area pizza shops, diners, deli’s and coffee bagel shops to ask them about advertising on their paper place-mats! Customers do read those ads!

#28. Contact local area restaurants, bars and clubs and see about advertising on their paper beverage coasters!

#29. Local Television Stations are always holding on-air contests & website contests for their viewers, contact them about you donating a prize or gift certificate to sponsor one of their contests! Great business exposure for you!

#30. Attend Local Area holiday shopping events. Customers who are ready to spend holiday shopping money turn out for these events by the thousands! You can usually get a booth for less than $50.00 so they are economical to participate in!

#31. Hold a local area community Block Party at your home or local community center! Families are always looking for something to do during the nice weather seasons!

Optional: Attend your neighborhood block party and set up a table with your product offerings or samples. Get out there in your community and get your business seen!

#32. Get your business listed in your cities telephone book yellow pages! A lot of them also have a coupon section too!

#33. You can take this phone book advertising one step further by finding out what company makes the plastic vinyl phone book covers which have local business ads on them and get your business added to it!

#34. Get your business information printed up on pencils and hand them out to local colleges and technical schools for them to hand out to their adult students! This keeps your business information in front of them! (make sure you only donate them to schools with adult students).

#35. Get a vehicle banner made for your automobile. I recommend the vinyl window clings or vinyl cling ones that stick to your automobile but don’t scratch or remove the paint. You can easily remove them when washing your vehicle!

#36. If your city has a travel guide that tourists request, contact that business and find out how you can advertise in it too!

#37. Local City Maps! These days even city maps have advertising on them! You can usually get a small business ad printed on them for an economical price. Don’t advertise your personal location. If you don’t have a business location, then advertise your website address or email address.

#38. Contact local area hotels, motels and bed & breakfast inns and ask them if you can do up a Lobby Basket and leave it in their Lobby.

What is a Lobby Basket? You make up little packs of info about your business & products and put them into the Lobby Basket for their patrons to take.

They usually have a pamphlet wall or area too with pamphlets from local area attractions etc. If they don’t have a lobby basket area, inquire about leaving your business info in their pamphlet area.

#39. Get your business info printed up on balloons! This is very economical to do! You then distribute them to local community centers, sporting events and other types of places where parents book their children’s birthday parties!

These balloons can be displayed at the birthday party giving you business exposure. You can usually get them done for .3-.8 cents each. Your business name & website address is all you need on them!

#40. Find a few other self employed business owners in your community and team up! You can all sponsor a local parade float, parade clowns etc. Make up signs with your business info imprinted on them so that you can receive some great business exposure during the parade!

#41. Get some T-shirts printed up with your business information on it (both front & back sides) and hand them out to some friends, family and co-workers and ask them to wear them out and about in the community. This is their FREE gift for helping you to spread the word about your business!

Optional: Get ball caps printed up with your business info!

#42. Get some canvas tote bags printed up with your business information printed on it. Find a few ladies who are very active in your community and ask them to use your tote bag and give it to them for FREE under the agreement that they will use it every time they go out in the community for errands & events!

#43. Get a license plate made up for your vehicle! If you have your normal license plate on the back of your car, put your business named one on the front of the car!

You can get one with just your business name on it for about $20-$30 per plate!

#44. Wear a business name tag every time you go out into your community! Get a Catchy Slogan printed on it such as:

A. Ask me about (your company name) Products!
B. I work from home, you can too!
C. Earn some FREE when you party with me!

#45. Local Area Magazines! Does your city publish a City Magazine? If so, contact them about advertising or if they hold contests for their readers offer to donate a product or service for their contest!

#46. Check out your local area State Fairs & Community Carnivals, there are always a lot of them going on during seasonal weather.

Ask about getting a booth or table & set it up with your business information! People love to shop at Fairs & Carnivals and they are looking to spend money!

#47. Get some Business Card Magnets printed up and hand them out every where you go! Have your friends & family pass them out too!

People are more apt to keep a magnetic business card compared to a regular one which gets shoved into a drawer or wallet. By having a magnetized card, your business is kept in front of the potential customer/client.

#48. When you give gifts to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers etc. make sure you give them gifts from your own company! These allow other people to see & touch your gift meaning FREE business exposure for you! (Plus, you bought the gift from yourself so you are saving money!)

#49. Invite your spouse’s co-workers over to your home for a little mingling party! Serve some refreshments or do a cookout BBQ and make sure you have a table set up with some product displays!

If you sell kitchen or food products, make sure you use them!

#50. Do a neighborhood children’s shopping party!

I do this before Christmas and again before Mother’s Day. I invite the neighborhood kids to come by and shop for gifts for their parents and loved ones. They enjoy shopping on their own and parents enjoy a small break from the children!

To make this successful make sure the products you are offering are economical, I try to keep them under $25.00 each with most being around $10.00 each. Have a table set up with some inexpensive crafting supplies and let the children make their own greeting cards to go with the gifts they have purchased or have a gift wrapping table set up so they can personally wrap their gifts!

#51. Do a joint party with another consultant in a non-competing business. Partying with a friend is always fun! You can hold it at one hosts home, your home or at a local community center. Invite every one you know and have others help you spread the word. Hang up fliers at local centers & businesses too!

#52. Put an AD in the back of local high school yearbooks! You can usually get these ads for around $20.00 which makes it affordable advertising for you!

#53. Put an AD for your business in local Athletic Sport Programs! You can find these at the High School Level, Minor League Level and at Professional Sporting Events!

#54. Contact Local Churches & Religious Groups and see if you can place an AD in their weekly church bulletins & program guides!

#55. Do you have a local Community Play House? If so, get your business ad placed in their play programs! You can usually get ads in them for less than $25.00

#56. Co-Sponsor a Local Youth Athletic Group! Baseball teams, softball teams, cheerleading squads, gymnastic squads and swim teams, etc. are always looking for sponsors!

Co-Sponsoring a team will help get your business noticed in your local area!

#57. Get a Yard Sign! If you have a home business, consider getting a Yard Sign printed up and proudly display it in your front yard!

#58. Does your neighborhood hold local Meet & Greets? If so, make sure you go out and attend them! Get to know your fellow community members!

#59. Donate a Raffle Drawing Prize to a Non-Profit Group or Charity in your local community! They are always looking for prize donations for their charitable raffles.

Note: Make sure you get a receipt for tax purposes!

#60. Do you have a Online Business & Website? Consider getting some computer mouse pads printed up with your website address & business name on them! This will keep your website & business in front of them every time they sign online! This encourages them to check out your website often for new products, updates & features!

#61. Ask about getting your info printed onto golf tee’s and golf balls & then donate them to a local golf course or mini golf course!

#62. FOAM DRINK COZIES, the foam thingie you wrap around a cold beverage can! See if you can get some of those with your business info on them & hand them out at local sporting events!

#63. Indoor Concert Arena’s. Have you attended a concert lately? Tons of advertising by local and national merchants at concerts! Check into doing some advertising!

#64. Children LOVE Stickers! Buy a slew of stickers with your business name on them….hand them out! Chances are that the kid’s parents will see the stickers too!

#65. Temporary Employment Agencies…again drop off packets of info about Your Business Oppty to them. The Economy is sluggish in a lot of the areas in the USA…ask Temp. Employment Agencies to refer some clients to you who may be interested in a (Your Company Name) Home Business!!! You could offer the staff a discount or free gift for referrals.

#66. Print up some flyers and get permission from local shopping centers to see if you can leave them on car windshields! Always ASK permission first!

#67. Does your community print up FREE Renters Guides, House Buying Guides Etc? (you can usually find them for FREE at your local supermarket). If so, contact them about placing your business ad inside one!

#68. Got a local ice cream man who drives around in his ice cream truck throughout your community? Talk to him about passing out flyers or letting you add a logo onto his truck via a vinyl cling logo banner!

#69. Do a web search for you local county, local township and surrounding areas. I found tons of websites for my area with FREE online business directories which I was able to get my website listed in. They also have offline ADS that you can advertise in too! A great way to also find out about upcoming local community events to participate in!

#70. Are there any professional moving companies in your area? If so, contact them! They usually give out new business packet info to their customers/clients to welcome them to their new home. See about adding your business information to their “New Move” Packs!

#71. Local small town radio stations that are usually found on the AM frequency usually offer very low-cost local area advertising on their small radio station. A great way to get your business info out to those in your local community.

#72. Get your business information printed out onto paper text book covers! You can make them yourself! Donate them to local area adult technical schools and colleges!

#73. Is there a local business in your area holding a upcoming Grand Opening? If so, contact them! A lot of times they are giving away freebies to the first few hundred customers plus they do heavy advertising announcing their Grand Opening. This is a GREAT way for you to capitalize on that!

#74. Get your business info printed up on inexpensive bookmarks! Then give them to local area colleges, adult technical schools, book reading groups, libraries etc. You can usually print up your own bookmarks with your business info on them for less than .8 cents each! This will keep your business info in front of those avid book readers! They are also great to give away for FREE with customer orders!

#75. Put your Business Knowledge to Work! Offer to teach classes to adults!

Examples: If you are with a kitchen/cooking company offer to teach adults to cook! They are always looking for fast & easy ways to prepare healthy meals!

If you are a scrap booking consultant, offer to teach a class to new moms on how to scrapbook new baby pages!

If you are a Bath/Body/Spa consultant offer to teach pampering classes to women & moms!

You can find adult programs by contacting: Local Community Centers, Local Civic Groups and a lot of High Schools & Community Colleges offer evening classes to adults. (continuing education).

This generates leads & sales and only takes a short amount of time!

#76. Put the word out to your friends, family & co-workers that you offer freebies to party go’ers. What do I mean?

Well, people who are holding baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, anniversary parties etc. contact me about my freebies. They make up party goodie bags and are always looking for things to stuff them with. Depending on what type of party it is depends on what I donate!

I print out pretty bookmarks, recipe cards, candy wrappers, gift bag tags, shopping lists, chore lists etc. with pretty designs on them along with my business info. I also attach a coupon. I keep my cost down to .15 cents per person. An inexpensive way to reach new potential customers.

#77. Print out your own Re-ordering labels! If you sell consumable goods (foods, spices, soaps, bath products, cosmetics etc) make sure you stick on a small re-ordering info sticker with your business info on it so that your customer can easily locate your information for placing reorders! This is also important to do considering some customers purchase items from you to give as a gift, this way the person who received the gift will also know how to contact you and will become a potential new customer for you!

#78. Establish a Referral program for your business and print out referral coupons! Offer established customers a free little gift or personal discount if they refer a new customer to you! I like to give out 3 Referral Coupons to every new customer I get so that they know they will be rewarded for referring new customers to me.

#79. Print out Coloring Pages with a small section on them advertising your business and donate them to local area restaurants, day cares etc. I was able to find 4pc. crayon sets for ONLY .05 cents a box which I also donated along with the printed out coloring pages! Parents hang them on the front of their refrigerators after the children are done coloring them which keeps your business in front of the parent daily! Cost: About .03 cents for printed out coloring page with your business info located some where on it and .05 cents for the mini box of crayons.

#80. Contact your local area Girl Scouts, 4-H Club and other youth groups. Talk to them about you coming in to do a project with the youth’s in the group. You can also talk to them about your business fundraiser program if you offer one. During the summer time there are a lot of youth camps throughout the community. You can also find youth camps through local churches. Some are seasonal and some are year long programs. The YMCA is also a great resource!

For Example: If you are a Kitchen Consultant, come in and teach the youth how to cook or about kitchen safety. If you sell pet products, go in and talk about grooming a pet. If you sell candles, go in and make some mini candles or teach them how to decorate them for gifts. Be creative!

#81. If you are crafty with your computer you can print out tea bag wrappers with a pretty design on them along with your business information. I purchased a few boxes of individually wrapped tea bags and then put my printed business tea bag wrapper over it. You can hand them out throughout your community.

I like donating them to: Assisted Living Centers, Senior Community Centers, Daycare Centers (to be given to the parents & teachers), School Teacher Lounges, Employee Break Rooms etc.

Example of Cost: .03 cents for a printed color wrapper and about .03-.05 cents per tea bag.

#82. Make sure you leave info about Your Business on your answering machine or voice mail message! Not everyone who phones you knows that you sell or represent a particular company! (Especially those pesky bill collectors & telemarketers).

#83. Take your outdated catalogs and randomly mail or distribute them thru-out your neighborhood! Make sure you stamp it OUTDATED and provide contact info for yourself so they can contact you if interested to get a current catalog!

#84. Get Business Themed Banking Checks! Your bank checks pass thru tons of hands that could become potential customers or party hosts! If possible get your email address or website URL preprinted onto them! I also suggest using preprinted postal address labels too! (try to get checks that have pictures of some of the products you sell on them or at the very least make sure some where on the check it says: Tupperware Consultant, Avon Rep, and so forth.)

#85. Get your business info printed onto matchbooks! Donate the matchbooks to candle shops, smoke shops, clubs etc. to help get your business name out in your community!

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=43 Get Massive Traffic To Your Site http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=41 http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=41#comments Sun, 09 Jul 2006 13:24:08 +0000 Magoo http://megamagoo.com/blog/?p=41 The most common question we get asked is how can I get more visitors to my site.

Ok so you have your site up and now you have to get visitors to it. After all Traffic = Money. You may have the nicest site in the world but if no one can find it it will do you no good.

There are a lot of different ways to get traffic to your site.. Here are some of the most common methods.

1. Search engines - this is probably the most important way that you want to get traffic and probably the hardest too. Search engine traffic is highly targeted traffic of people who are searching the web for a specific item. If they get to your site after searching for it, you’re almost guaranteed a sale or at least a “bookmark for later”. You have 2 choices here, either hand submit to all the major search engines or trade links with other sites that have decent page rank, this way the search engines find you. The second method is a lot faster.

2. Trade links with other sites - It’s important to get your site name out there. So trade links with several other sites, even your competitors! People really do look at those links pages and they will find their way to your site from another site.

3. Post on message boards - When you post on highly trafficked message boards, Be sure to put your site link in your signature! This is a highly effective form of marketing, especially if the message board you are posting at is relative to your site content.

4. Use email signatures - Make it easy for your customers to contact you! When they write to you and ask for more information, be sure that you are using a signature with your site URL and name inside of it. That way if they want to retrieve it later, it’s easier for them than having to memorize your URL and open a web browser.

5. Join Yahoo Groups - This is pretty much the same as message boards. Join groups that pertain to your site’s content and advertise (but don’t spam!!) your site there.

6. Post on free classifieds sites - Sites like Craig’s List or other free advertising classifieds sites will accept your site for free! Just do a Google search for “free classifieds” and you’ll see a ton of sites come up where you can promote your site!

7. Buy ad space - If your monthly budget allows, you can buy some ad space for your site. Find another site that pertains to your site’s content and ask them what their advertising prices are.

8. Hold auctions - Ebay gets TONS of traffic a day, while you’re not allowed to post your site URL within your auction listings, you are allowed to put it in your “about me” page. So think about listing some of your products as auctions and advertise your URL.

9. Offline advertising - Get custom t-shirts, bumper stickers, car decals, etc made for your site URL. Then whenever you are out in public, you are passively advertising yourself!

10. Submit your site to directories - If your site is a site about “fishing” for instance, do a Google search for “fishing directories” and see how many directories are out there that pertain to your subject matter. Most of these directories will allow free submissions.

11. Write articles - Writing articles that pertain to your site is another excellent way to get your site out there. Just write a short, informative article of 5-6 paragraphs and submit it to any site that accepts article submissions and make sure that your article includes a link back to your site in your “author biography”.

12. Submit press releases - Even if your site is a small work from home site (i.e. “Susie’s Candles”) it IS newsworthy! Let’s say your candle site released a new candle called “Vanilla Cream”. Submit a press release about it, I’m serious!! A good place to start is called http://www.prweb.com Or you can do a Google search for “submit press release” and a zillion other sites will come up.

13. Have great interactive content - People will bookmark your site if you have interactive and dynamic content. Have polls, message boards, interactive games, news items, guest books, item of the day….whatever! Just make the site relevant and have good SUBSTANCE in your site content. Don’t overload it with silly animated graphics, sounds, etc. That just makes it look like you had nothing else to fill your site up with but this annoying stuff. And Flash intros are only good if you are two years old and need to see flashing lights and colors. Most of all they are slow loading, and people generally click away if they see Flash.

Follow these suggestions and you will see a nice flow of traffic to your site. Use your imagination when promoting your site. Always keep your eyes open for an opportunity to do some promotion. If you always keep this in mind you will be surprised at all the different ways toy will come up with to promote your site.

]]> http://megamagoo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=41