Offline Sources:

Offline sources of marketing are available, though they are usually costly if you use the traditional outlets. Many people use (with varied success) news paper ads (classifieds) radio ads (yea, really) and even TV commercials. Personally, I think that those types of offline promo services, while effective, are probably not going to have a good R.O.I. (return on investment). These methods reach a lot of people, but cost a lot of money and honestly, unless you have something that is just amazing to sell, it’s probably not going to be worth it. Here are a couple suggestions for offline marketing:

Rear window lettering - This actually works pretty good if you are someone that is out and about every day. I spent around $80 to get my website name put on the back window of my vehicle. Everyday I drive to my regular job, in rush hour traffic. At night, I go home through the same rush hour traffic. I have a relatively high vehicle (truck) and the letters are easy to see. Every day, twice a day, it’s like a ‘commercial’ that runs in my area for atleast 45 minutes

Business Cards - Suprisingly, business cards are a pretty good advertising medium. Small, portable, and there are many different places that you can drop a business card that will make it worth your while such as: Grocery Stores (bulletin boards), Laundry mats (bulletin boards), bars (many bars will put them on the wall or ‘under’ the bar’), and just handing them out works pretty well too. But usually, business cards either cost you to make in the way of card stock and ink, or cost you to have designed/made. However…this too can be free. VistaPrint has an offer going for 250 free business cards. I have personally tried this offer and you do get what is advertised. There are 6 different backgrounds to choose from, and they also have other freebies for marketing like postcards and stationary.

Postcards -Like business cards, postcards can be pretty handy, and are a tad bit larger to hold a little more information/sales pitch. VistaPrint also has an offer for 100 Full Color postcards. You do have to pay for shipping.

Flyers - Like business cards, flyers can be very useful for marketing. In my opinion the ROI you will get on a reem of paper and the ink involved is very much worth it.

There are a few others, but this list should get you going.

We started out with $84, the s/h on the 250 business cards and the 100 Post cards will be approx 3.00, taking $6.00 from our $84.

So at this point in this process we have:
Purchased a domain name
Purchased a host
Aquired $400 worth of online marketing
Aquired 350 pcs of offline marketing (postcards and business cards)
And still have $78.

This is part III in a series of how to start your own web business with $0 money. This article is about marketing.

Now we have a website up, basic monetizing and affiliates in place and some free marketing under our belts. But let’s be honest, $400 worth of marketing is probably not going to catapult you into the ‘Damn I’m making money on the net club’. I personally believe that there is no such thing as too much advertising, and promotion for your website doesnt have to stop at the Internet. You can also take it offline. So I want to present you with some more ways to market your site and your content, both online and offline. Let’s start with online first.

Online Sources:
Here is a short list of free classified sites. These site will let you put ads out for your site to draw in traffic, for free.
www.craigslist.org
www.backpage.com
www.kijiji.ca
www.gumtree.com
www.adlandpro.com
www.usfreeads.com
www.oodle.com
www.adpost.com
www.freeadvertisingforum.com
www.sell.com
www.InetGiant.com
www.adquest3d.com
www.recycler.com
www.chooseyouritem.com
www.domesticsale.com
www.epage.com
www.classifiedsforfree.com
www.TheFlyer.com
www.salespider.com
www.ozfreeonline.com
www.classfiedads.com
www.myspace.com
www.yuwie.com
www.stumbleupon.com
www.technorati.com
www.blogexplosion.com (blog oriented)
www.blogcarnival.com (blog oriented)

Each one of these sites will give you excellent exposure for free. A good article will draw in traffic. When you post your article, you will probably want to post a ‘teaser’ article with a link back to your site for the rest of your article. In your teaser, use just the first paragraph, or maybe a short description of your article and a link to your site to draw more traffic to you. It will also benefit you to sprinkle the keywords of your article through the teaser and the full article.
Blog Rush- Blogrush is a relative newbie on the traffic scene but it seems to be a pretty good traffic source as well as a ‘gee whiz’ type of addition to keep people on the site.
Links in your email signature - How many emails do you send out a day? If you put a link to your site in there, that could all be free advertising, just don’t go overboard with it.
Online forums - There are many forums that will give you great exposure and also maybe teach you a think or two. One of my favorites is The Warrior Forum. If you arent there, you just arent in IM. Put your web address in your sig, and wade into the posting melee.

This is part II in a series of how to start your own web business with $0 money.     

So, now we have a domain name, host and a blog (there are other options available, we’ll go with blog) AND an extra 80 bucks for marketing. I’m going to go with the idea that you already have a general idea for your articles. Before you even start thinking about promotion, you want to maximize your site for that future incoming traffic.

     There are a few additions to any website that are practically mandatory when it comes to using the site to create income. Here are my top 7 places for monetizing your site to create even more income from your efforts.

1. Google Adsense - Yep..this is almost a requirement on any new site for extra revenue. Even with this site being brand new, I still make around $70 bucks a week off adsense
2. Kontera - Keyword specific marketing. This link keywords on your site to ads. - I honestly cant say I’ve had a lot of success with it. I believe its because this works better with high traffic
3. Clickbank - If you are selling or promoting..you need affiliates and affiliate money - This is a great moneymaker.
4. Auction Ads - Affiliate money from selling ebay articles.
5. Commision Junction - Many affiliate programs to choose from
6. Copeac - My favorite. A huge amount of affiliate programs. Many different offers, most of them with great conversion!
7. Affilateer.com - A great site for a couple of reasons. They have awesome programs, good offers, but more importantly, when you sign up, you get free advertising, over $400 WORTH!!!!:
Yahoo Search Marketing - $75
Google Adwords $50
Findology - $50
LookSmart - $50
Enhance Interactive  - $25
Search123 - $20
Miva - $25
adknowledge - $25
Microsoft AdCenter - $200     

     So now we have a website, domain, blog and $400 worth of advertising, and still have $80 in our pocket. Also, you need to make sure you submit your site to the various search engines too…but this is a good start and we still haven’t invested a thing.

Next, what to do with this.