11 Best Ways to Advertise a Home Business

The two most important aspects for any business are generating new customers and getting repeat customers to come back and do business with you again and again. Home-based businesses are at a disadvantage when trying to get the word out to the public about their goods and services. Fortune 500 companies have the advantage of big dollar budgets to smear television and the internet with their ads. You have to use your limited resources. There are ways that you can make a huge impact, generate new business and make your presence felt on the internet. Article Submission

Article submission sites are all over the internet. Ezine publishers use them to find content to publish in their newsletters. Content based websites also scrape content from article submission sites to beef up their inventory of content. This avenue has the potential of reaching thousands of potential customers per day. You can start by writing two or three articles per week to either give tips or information about the industry your home business operates in. For example, if you are a party event consultant, write a short article about new trends in wedding parties. Beware. Article submission sites will reject articles that are too self-promotional.

Viral e-books

E-books can be used in two ways. They can be sold for profit, or they can be given away. Giving them away works best, because it has a better chance of being downloaded. The visitor to your site doesn't feel obligated and likes the idea of getting something for free. Best of all, if they like the content, they will pass it on to their family and friends. The more your e-books are passed around the more viral it becomes. Everyone who receives it will know your name and your website address. In deciding on an e-book, you want to write something related to your field. For example, if you are a financial consultant, then you want to create a book that offers a few tips and financial advice. It paints you as an expert. People are more likely to see you as credible, which will in turn generate business for you.

Blogs

Blogs are a great way to get customers to come back again and again. It's also a good way to build up a lot of content on your site that will excite new site visitors. New site visitors will be thrilled at the amount of information that you have available related to your service. This translates into credibility. Credibility translates into more likely to do business with you.

Social Networking

Social networking sites are exploding all over the internet. People of all ages are using social networking sites to communicate with one another. Because of their popularity more and more business-to-business social networking sites are springing up. These sites are great for just what they are created for ' networking. Use social networking sites to connect with others in your industry or introduce yourself to others in different industries. The business you can get through social networking sites may be even more reliable than other sites. Some of these are pre-qualified leads (people who were already looking for your services). Alliances that you make through social networking sites can refer business to you and you can refer business to them.

Email Ads

Everybody has email these days. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who does not have an email address. That means millions of people can be reached through email ads. Email ads can work to advertise to new business or remind previous customers that you appreciate your business and welcome the opportunity to do business with them in the future. You can either buy an email list or build up a list by capturing the emails of every visitor to your website.

Newsletters

Newsletters are another great way to either generate new business or keep previous customers interested in your goods and services. There are several ways you can publish newsletters online. Create downloadable versions with PDF software, html versions distributed through email, or use a sub domain on your website just for your newsletter. Most newsletters that are successful are generated to the email list the business has either purchased or built up from previous site visitors and customers.

Fliers

Fliers are old school, but they still work. Everybody has the ability to create fliers with desktop publishing software available on every computer. These days you can also create virtual fliers that can be passed around through emails. Fliers are simple to create and have one focus. Advertise your business. Paper fliers can be posted at libraries, events you attend, networking parties, at church, at school, or anywhere you visit on a regular basis.

Business Cards

No, business cards are not antiquated. Many a new relationships have begun with the exchanging of business cards. Ten years ago, you would have told someone about your home business and they would have asked, "Oh, do you have a business card?" Today, they ask, "Oh, what's your website?" You give them your website address and they then ask, "Well, give me one of your business cards. Is your website address on that?" If you tell them you don't have a business card, then your home business loses credibility. And you suffer the negative perception people often have of home businesses. Be professional. Get some business cards.

Pay-per-click Ads

Pay-per-click ads are the internet's version of interactive television commercials. Your services are advertised on other people's websites. If someone is interested in getting more information, they click your ad and they are directed to your website. Pay-per-click ads can be expensive if your website doesn't close the sale. Luckily, search engines like Google and Yahoo! allow you to cap the amount of money you want to spend on advertising each month. Budgeting features put your home business on the same level as Fortune 500 companies using the same tactics.

Classified Ads

Everybody uses classified ads. No longer as classified ads just read in the Sunday paper, they are also searched online. People looking for new pets, furniture, new cards, tax accountants, event planners and all sorts of other services, use classified ads. Most classified ad sites are FREE. Some have paid placement to get your ad to the top of the list. These fees are usually minimal. Even your local newspaper offers their classified ads section online now. Many of them don't charge to place your ad online. They will even cut the costs to print your online ad in the next issue of their newspaper.

Shared Advertisement

A great way to advertise is by sharing the expense or the work with a partner. Major corporations do it all the time. Car companies share the expenses for a television commercial with a Beer company. Or a snack-chip company shares the expense of a television commercial with a grocery store chain. You can do the same with someone in a non-competing industry. For example, if you make wedding baskets, you can partner with an even planner to give discounts to any of the even planners customers. Or the even planner can give discounts to any of your customers.

All of these are great low cost advertising tools for small businesses. Before you undertake any of these strategies, plan your marketing strategy, set a goal for yourself and put tools in place to monitor the progress of your advertising campaign.