Welcome, Guest
Username: Password: Remember me
  • Page:
  • 1
  • 2

TOPIC: Ideas with very low budget marketing?

Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2340

  • Francois
  • Francois's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 2
  • Karma: 0
We recently started our small business but have not got the finances to do a great deal of marketing costing lots of money. Any ideas on marketing freely or as cost effectively as possible?
I also have no idea how to use a voucher for Google?
Are they still available?

Thanks for your great forum
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2349

Google is a very effective marketing tool, assuming that you have an informative website. You can use it to create precisely targeted advertisements and is not too hard to set up. If you do have a web site let me know and I'll try and make a walk-through for setting up Google ad-words. In fact they probably already have one themselves, I will have a look around.
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2351

  • Shelley Finch
  • Shelley Finch's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • Junior Boarder
  • Posts: 21
  • Thank you received: 2
  • Karma: 0
Hi Francois (and Rick),

I've had a look at your website Francois - not from a design aspect, but looking at the site's Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). I would suggest getting a few web designers to take a look at it to give you their opinion of it's techniques particularly the use of so many meta tags in the heading. This technique is called "keyword stuffing" and is frowned upon by search engines such as Google. They will penalize your site for using these techniques - your site will not get a very high Google ranking. Don't take my word for it - get at least 3 web designers to take a look and it and ask each one to quote on doing some fixing for you. I would say that making sure your website is the best it can be is THE BEST place you can spend your marketing budget.

I would also suggest that you look into www.groupon.co.za - a great advertising avenue for small businesses as they are targeted to your specific city.

Here's a Step-by-Step guide to Google Adwords - www.google.com/adwords/pdf/step_by_step.pdf

If you are thinking about starting marketing your business on social networks make sure that you offer things like cleaning tips and "how to's" - this way you'll build up a potential trust in your business without "in your face" advertising.

Here are a few articles you may find helpful :

30 Free Ways To Market Your Small Business Site - bit.ly/A5xCkA
Marketing Basics for the Small Business - bit.ly/xcqb7N
7 Ways To Promote Your Business Online For Free - read.bi/uzOqzQ
Top 10 Social Media Tips for Small Business Marketing - bit.ly/wOqPZi
Five No-Cost Marketing Tips - bit.ly/xiPe8m
27 Low to No Cost Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business - bit.ly/z0GIF8

Lastly, you're welcome to visit my Facebook page www.facebook.com/In.Design.Marketing or my blog (www.indesignmarketing.co.za/blog) for more advice, ideas and resources.

Good luck in your endeavors and please feel free to ask any additional questions you many have.

Shelley
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2355

  • Rob Maclean
  • Rob Maclean's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 15
  • Karma: 0
Hi Francois,

Good advice, especially from Shelley.

I did have a quick look at your website. Please take these comments in the right way (you did ask for feedback):

1. Shelley is absolutely right that, especially with a low marketing budget, the best way to get 'free' marketing is to make sure your website is optimised for Google. There are massive amounts of information out there on "SEO", but for me it boils down to doing certain 'hygiene' features right (e.g. keywords, submitting sitemap to Google webmaster, getting genuine links from other sites that like your business) but most of all, writing good content and having a good service / site that people will use, stay on and return to. If you do this, the rest should take care of itself.

2. To be honest, I find your website very cluttered, text-heavy and has old fashioned graphics etc. More white space, images, consistency of font, colours etc. would make it easier on the eye.

3. For both of the above, I would suggest either buying a website template online - need not cost much and will save a lot of time or having a go at Google's WOZA online initiative which, I think, allows business to build a simple website quickly, easily. Given it's been done by Google, I would assume that they will make sure it's well optimised for search engines etc.

I do hope this feedback is useful and taken in the right way.

Rob
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2359

Shelly,

Your answer was not addressed to me but it is for sure going to help me as well,in my new business.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH...........

Musa
The administrator has disabled public write access.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Shelley Finch

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 month ago #2365

  • Michelle
  • Michelle's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 19
  • Thank you received: 2
  • Karma: 1
Nice resource list, Shelley.:) It will be helpful to other users like me as well :)

Francois, one of the basic ways to market your business/website is through word of mouth, ask friends to recommend you to others. And maybe while you are studying the more comprehensive processes of online marketing, you can begin with social networking and social media sites.:) Good luck, cheers!
The administrator has disabled public write access.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Shelley Finch

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 week ago #2475

  • Phumulani
  • Phumulani's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 1
  • Karma: 0
Im a fan of Online Marketing but the use of adwords can land you with a very huge bill. The first step i would recommend to you is first start by building a base/influence circle. Network!!! Depending on what business you are in, i would strongly recommend you get a site for your business. This you can simply build for free at www.wozaonline.co.za or contact me (I charge R1). The website is just to simply build your online presence aka NETWORK. I would like to help you develop your marketing strategy, I charge another R1 for this. If you are intrested, please contact me.


GoodGuyProjects.co.za
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 4 days ago #2492

  • Tarka
  • Tarka's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 4
  • Thank you received: 1
  • Karma: 0
There are many low cost advertising pogrammes that you can implement. I feel you can add a blog to your website, probably offering tips and tricks about cleaning.

Alternatively social media marketing is the cheapest things like Tweeter, Facebook fan page and Youtube should give you backlinks to your website
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 12 years 1 day ago #2498

  • Johann
  • Johann's Avatar
  • OFFLINE
  • MSB Junior Member
  • Posts: 15
  • Karma: 0
I also had a look. Very old fashioned website. I would recommend something thats easy to learn and seo friendly like WordPress. Wordpress makes it easier for people with little or no knowledge to get their website up and running. A clean design is often more appreciated. What I mean is don't write a book. Get the relevant stuff in your site quick and easy so your visitor can see whats going on in the site and enjoy the beauty of it as well. This doesnt mean taking out loads of cash to get it right. There are cheap ways to do it. You may look at our website for an example of a clean design.

My other option would be going for Gumtree. It works for us like a charm - I would think it will work even better for you.
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re: Ideas with very low budget marketing? 11 years 11 months ago #2573

No idea about the google voucher either, but with a bit of creativity you can spend little money and yet do a lot of effective advertising. First, though, you have to ask yourself how big the scope of your advertising will be and how much money you are willing to spend. When you know what resources are in hand, that's when you start innovating.
Make Your Own Business Cards Online with PrintPlace Business Cards: Video
The administrator has disabled public write access.
  • Page:
  • 1
  • 2

 

Time to create page: 0.179 seconds