| Attention small business owners, entrepreneurs, | | | | services on the web now. The services |
| home-based businesses, and start-ups! Whether | | | | themselves are free, however expect to pay |
| you're web-based or brick and mortar with a | | | | regular long distance rates on your phone service |
| web-presence, we all need to know what online | | | | unless you use calling minutes on your cell phone. |
| services are available to benefit our businesses. | | | | Businesses can take advantage of conference |
| What if you could take advantage of FREE | | | | calling sites to offer topical and informational |
| services? Yes, that's right... F, R, E, E. As I like to | | | | teleseminars, customer calls, internal project |
| say, "Free is good"! Free is at least good for the | | | | discussions with company staff, etc. |
| start-up time period anyway. Once you have cash | | | | Publish Articles, Presentations or eBooks: If you're |
| flow, upgrading from FREE is definitely something | | | | a writer or topic expert, get your info on the |
| to think about if necessary. But until then... FREE is | | | | web ASAP. My favorite writer's site is |
| still good. | | | | EzineArticles, where you can publish your first 10 |
| Sifting through the web to find free services is | | | | articles free! Their SEO is excellent, so you're sure |
| not always effective time management, nor is it | | | | to get noticed via search engines. EBooks are a |
| easy. For myself and my business' start-ups, | | | | slightly different story, since they are |
| thankfully I had quite a list of services I already | | | | downloadable files. Some sites will allow you to |
| knew about. Either that or I picked them up as I | | | | publish your eBooks with them if they are free |
| went along, wishing I had discovered some | | | | books. Others will let you post 'for fee' eBooks if |
| options sooner. How about I save you some time | | | | they can keep a percentage of the sale. Either |
| and let you know what I've learned so far! | | | | way, those give your books more exposure! |
| Ready? | | | | Sell EBooks or Other Downloadable Goods: Got |
| Free Stock Photography: Got any presentations | | | | some e-information to sell? Check out the service |
| you need to create? EBooks that need some | | | | from payloadz. They have some excellent |
| color? Marketing materials? Photos for Blog posts? | | | | features, and you can have a basic account for |
| Then you need stock photography. There are | | | | free! |
| several stock photography sites that will allow | | | | Blogs: Search engines like Blogs, because the |
| free downloads, either in their "free section" or | | | | content is ever-changing and niche-relevant. You |
| allow a small number of initial downloads free as a | | | | can find a myriad of sites offering the option to |
| teaser. | | | | set up your own Blog for free, hosted on their |
| Affiliate Programs: Monetize your websites and | | | | servers. Also, if you have your own website, you |
| Blogs with content-appropriate affiliate ads. If you | | | | can easily create a Blog section within your own |
| don't want to attempt an online store yourself, | | | | site. |
| but are interested in having product options and | | | | Social Networking: There are a massive amount |
| brands (that you select) for your site visitors to | | | | of social networking sites on the web now, in |
| browse, you have options now! How does it | | | | almost every niche. Of course you've probably |
| work, you ask? Companies with products to sell | | | | already heard of the biggies, such as My Space, |
| want you to sell their stuff for them. That's | | | | Linkedin and FaceBook, where anyone can upload |
| where their affiliate program comes in. You place | | | | a profile to for free. However, you must consider |
| their logo or a specific product of theirs on your | | | | your target market when jumping into network |
| site, and you receive payment if a customer | | | | marketing sites. No one has time to tackle them |
| purchases. Here's the flow: Link on your site to | | | | all, so get data on where your customers are at, |
| their product - customer clicks it - new window | | | | and then spend your time connecting and creating |
| opens and customer is brought to the other site - | | | | your profiles on those sites. You may discover |
| customer purchases something - you receive a | | | | some smaller niche online communities where the |
| percentage of the sale as a referral fee. Nice! | | | | topics and members are more specific to who |
| I have one caution about affiliate programs for | | | | you want to reach. Nearly all of the online social |
| you though. Try not to go wild with the | | | | networking sites that I've visited are free to use, |
| thousands of product and vendor options that will | | | | and some offer upgraded options. |
| be available, although you'll probably be tempted | | | | Website Evaluation Tool: Ever wondered how |
| to. Be very specific about which products and or | | | | your website is doing in comparison to other sites, |
| companies you want to promote. Ads need to | | | | SEO and with general website best practices? |
| very closely match your site's content. Some | | | | Check out websitegrader's site. Their service is |
| affiliate programs will allow specific products that | | | | fun. Test your site with this tool every-so-often |
| you choose to be listed individually. Other affiliate | | | | to see how you're doing in various categories of |
| programs will show banner ads for companies, | | | | evaluation and in comparison to competitor sites. |
| also of your choosing. The newest option is to | | | | Creating Surveys: If you own a business, from |
| turn pages of your site into a mini-storefront! If | | | | time to time you may need to survey your |
| you are a company selling a product, you can sign | | | | customers and vendors. If you own a website, |
| up to sell products via online affiliate program sites | | | | you may also want to create fun surveys for |
| too. | | | | site visitors! Free surveying services can be both |
| Shopping Cart Systems: Free shopping cart | | | | fun and functional for collecting data from your |
| system downloads generally have steep learning | | | | business' stakeholders. Several free survey |
| curves, but they're free! Although not free, using | | | | services are available, depending on your survey |
| PayPal as your checkout option is the most | | | | purpose. For an example of survey services, visit |
| economical. There are no fees associated with the | | | | surveymonkey. |
| merchant account except an approx. 3% credit | | | | Keyword searches: Unless you've been hiding |
| card processing fee when a customer purchases | | | | under a rock for the past two years, you've |
| something. | | | | most likely heard a lot about keyword |
| Mailing List Management: Do you have an | | | | optimization and keyword searching. It's important |
| e-newsletter or e-zine available for customers and | | | | for a web business to be found amongst the |
| potential customers to receive? If not, you should! | | | | billions of sites on the web, and one of the big |
| It establishes you as an expert, and keeps a | | | | ways to be found is via the keywords in your |
| steady stream of contact going between you and | | | | site's text or "content". For example, if you have |
| your target market. There are mailing list scripts | | | | a website for your plumbing business in Olympia, |
| and services available on the web that will help | | | | Washington, chances are your potential customers |
| you organize customer e-mails, opt-ins, opt-outs, | | | | will search for you by typing in something like this: |
| and your outgoing mailings. DaDa Mail is what I | | | | "plumbers olympia", "Olympia plumbing company", |
| use, and it's free! | | | | or something similar. If you want your site to |
| Photo Galleries: The inclusion of good photos with | | | | come up in their search results, be sure you have |
| descriptions - and especially photo galleries - can | | | | appropriate keywords on your site near the top |
| generate massive traffic for your site. There are | | | | of your site's pages! |
| some really fun photo gallery services out there. | | | | Free keyword search sites will give you helpful |
| Whether you want static pages full of pictures, or | | | | keyword information. Some sites offer real |
| narrated slide shows, free options abound! Note - | | | | monthly numbers of actual searches for your |
| these services organize YOUR photos. | | | | chosen keywords and related phrases. Others will |
| Conference Calls: Business conference calls are | | | | simply recommend phrases to use if you type in |
| often a necessity for many businesses - small and | | | | a word (e.g., "plumbing"). |
| large. There are lots of free conference calling | | | | |