Advertising Your Home Business on a Budget

© Rosamunde Bott 2008

Starting out with a new online home business can feel a little daunting, especially if the purse-strings are a little tight, and let’s face it, most of us started this business because we were short of money in the first place!

So we join a free program, and then find that the cost of advertising, promotion and upgrading is too much.  The danger here is that you begin to believe that the only way to make your business successful is to spend lots of money.  At this point many people either give up or overspend. 

So, how do you drum up new business without spending huge amounts of money?  Is there such a thing as free affiliate marketing?

Advertising, especially Pay-Per-Click and other forms, such as solo ads, can work out to be very expensive if you want big returns.  For many of us, spending money this way is just not an option.  We must come up with alternative solutions for advertising our home business while working within a budget.

So, before you start splashing out with money you have not got, let me share a few of the lessons I have learned during my time in this business.

Lesson 1 – Set a Budget

Only you know how much money you can afford on a month by month basis.  Have a good look at your finances and decide how much you are going to spend on your business every month.  Set yourself a budget and make a commitment not to go over this.  Once you have done this, you will look at every opportunity that is presented to you more carefully and you will choose more wisely.

Lesson 2 – Get a website

If you only have enough money to buy one thing then use it to set up your own website.  If you are serious about marketing on the internet, this is essential. 

If you are going to use a website, I would recommend that you use a program such as the PlugInProfitSite, which not only provides you with your own website, but also trains you in how to promote it.  Of course there is a monthly cost involved for the hosting, but the hosting program used excellent and has a referral program.  Once you have referred three people, the hosting pays for itself.  Find more, and you are making a profit.

Lesson 3 – Get trained

Most good affiliate marketing programs will give you free marketing training.  I recommend that you read through these and focus on two or three methods of marketing to start with.  You will come across many methods that cost money – but you do not have to use these.  Many people build successful businesses using free marketing techniques, such as article writing, directory submission and blogging.  Learn how to do these and do them daily.

Lesson 4 – Learn about Keywords and SEO

There are many free e-books (an example of one is Dotcomology, available on this site) which will teach you how to use keywords to optimize your website so that you can start getting it ranked on the search engines.  If you have a website, it is essential that you do this in order to get targeted traffic. 

Lesson 5 – Start a Blog and write articles

If you’ve never done this before, it can sound very daunting – but it is one of the best and most effective ways of getting traffic to your website.  For an example of a blog, go to the My Blog section of this website.  Wordpress is a great blog program and you can attach it to your website.  If you really find the idea of writing too difficult, find some advice.  I have an article entitled How To Write Articles if You’re Not a Writer which is available on this website.

Lesson 6 – Use Forums

One of the best things I have discovered about this business is the amount of really friendly and helpful people there are to be found in network marketing forums.  Many programs have their own – and I HIGHLY recommend that you use these.  If you have any questions or difficulties (and who doesn’t?) these are the best places to find the answers and get encouragement and support.  Furthermore, the more you post in forums (with a signature link to your site), the more backlinks you get to your website – which is vitally important!

Lesson 7 – Submit to Directories

There are many directories which will allow you to post your website address for free – but it does take some time to find these and submit them one by one.  If you can afford it, you can use a directory submitter which will take the work out of it.

All of the above, with the exception of getting a website, are free ways of marketing online.  There are also free traffic exchanges, such as Traffic Swarm, if you are prepared to spend some time clicking - and you don't need your own website for this.

Don’t get stopped by believing you have to spend lots of money.  Your one investment should be your own website – but after that, you can keep your purse strings tightly knotted if you want to!

____________________________________________________________________