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Tools for Marketing your Business Online – WKU SBDC

Summary – These are only a very small percentage of the companies that are out there.  Many of these are well known or we have worked with personally.   Do not take this as a comprehensive list and feel free to do your own research to find the absolute best company for you.

Directories – Can legitimize your business and make you more searchable online.  It is a method of free/low-cost advertising, and an opportunity to tell someone about your business and link to your web page. There may be individual directories to get listed in based on your business (restaurants for example).

·       Dmoz.org – Claims to be the biggest directory.  May take years to get in.  Free.

·       Yahoo! Directory – (dir.yahoo.com), you can pay extra to have your entry “fast-tracked,” or you may pay nothing and wait awhile for approval.

·       Yellowpages.com and OnlineYellowpages.com – free to add your business.

·       Google – (google.com/local/add), Free, results appear in Google searches quickly, can add pictures, phone number, etc.  Place for customers to review your place of business.

Blogging – enhances your online brand.  A great way to “double your links” by having your blog link to your website and vise-versa.  If your main page will highlight products and features, a blog may go more in depth (uses for products, updates from supplier, etc.)  There are two main companies, I suggest you try them both (for free).

·       Blogger.com – Run by Google.  Offers many options and pretty much everything is free now.  Your web address (unless you tie it to an address you purchasd) would be for example wkusbdc.blogspot.com.  Blogspot.com is a well-known, established name.

·       Wordpress.com – The other big blogging service out there.  Your address would be wkusbdc.wordpress.com.  Again, another well-established company.  Again, most if not all of the services are free now.

·       Tumblr.com – Another blogging service that is more focused on pictures and other media, although it can still be used for traditional blogging as well.

Purchasing Prospects (Names) – A variety of sources, you typically pay $20-50 per 1,000 names.  Minimum order values are typically $300.

·       Mgilists.com

·       TLCLists.com

·       WalterKarl.com

·       ConsumerBase.com

·       infoUSA.com

Email Marketing – good resource to use if you want to send a newsletter., product update, etc.  Typically priced per use or per month.  Budget around $20-50 per month on average.

·       ConstantContact.com – We have used this service here.  You are able to create and maintain multiple lists of customers.  Upload via excel file, .txt file, etc.  Able to store your emails on the web in the ‘Archive’ mode.

·       Mailchimp.com – Free to store under 500 names and send 3,000 emails a month.  Once you go over the mark of names or emails you can sign up for a plan or pay as you go.  Used by companies like Firefox, Intel, Staples, Canon, etc as the list manager of choice.  HTML email campaigns, build as many lists as you want.

Online Survey Tools – If you are using an email provider for marketing, check with them first.  If you need something only for surveys or are not impressed with what is offered by your providers, check out what we have listed.  As with all of these – there are many other options out there too.  Most do have some kind of cost structure.

·       Constant Contact – Has some basic survey options filled in.

·       Mailchimp – Will integrate with other online survey tools like Surveymonkey.com, Surveygizmo.com, etc.

·       Surveymonkey.com

·       Surveygizmo.com

Social Networking – Quickly becoming one of the most popular methods of marketing.  In addition, people are beginning to shift the way they get their information.   It is a way to further your brand as well to make your business more recognizable and easier to reach.  For example (facebook.com/wkusbdc, twitter.com/wkusbdc, wkusbdc.com, etc.)  Also a valuable method for getting customer feedback/participation.

·       Facebook – No cost to sign up, a further way (by creating a Facebook page) to get your customers connected.  Can post picture albums, external links, have a basic message board, events, etc.

·       Twitter – Another rising technology.  Updates must be 140 characters or less.  A good way to “tweet” about a sale, promotion, contest, or coupon that may be used for your store.  As with Facebook, you can have your own page and there’s a section to link to your website.

·       Other networking/review sites – Check out what is available for your business industry.  For example, many local establishments across the US are reviewed on UrbanSpoon.com and Yelp.com.  Encouraging your customers to leave feedback there can increase your presence. 

 

If you’re doing a sewing business, scour the Internet for online forums/groups dedicated to that topic.  From there you can become more locked in to customer needs.

Other Sites of Interest

·       Google.com/analytics – Gather information/statistics about your website traffic.

·       Adwords.google.com – Pay per click advertising.  Google will place your ads on the Internet depending on the information you give them.

·       SEOMoz.com – SEO (Search Engine Optimization) resources.  Getting ranked higher on Google searches, increasing your online presence, etc.