Free Internet Advertising

Cordner

Hi,

I am a freelance bookeeper desperatley trying to 'market' my services with a very limited budget. I am advertising on Gumtree, but are there any other free websites out there that I could be using as well??

I have aparticluar market that I am trying to tap into, and I have sent flyers etc out, but also trying to appeal to the general marketplace. Any suggestions at all appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Mosey101

Hi,

A couple of places you should submit company to are:

DMOZ
Google Directory
Yahoo Directory

If you can get a load of email addresses together, you can send do some email marketing through MailChimp.com . You can send out 600 emails free per month (through 6 x 100) batches of them. It takes time but it provided you can get the email addresses from the interent (assuming youre targetting businesses) then it shouldn't cost you too much.

Best get a small website online as well if you don't already have one.

egan007

Mosey101 wrote: »

you can get the email addresses from the interent

Why would you encourage spamming.
I'm not talking about sending bulk emails, i'm talking about the scraping of email addresses from websites. Unwanted email - Spam.

Mosey101

egan007 wrote: »

Why would you encourage spamming.
I'm not talking about sending bulk emails, i'm talking about the scraping of email addresses from websites. Unwanted email - Spam.

You could always call the company and get an email address that way.

Once you're contacting the relevant company's who would be interested in your products then it's not spam and not sending out a blanket email advertising Dong-Make-Long cream

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Mosey101 wrote: »

You could always call the company and get an email address that way.

Once you're contacting the relevant company's who would be interested in your products then it's not spam and not sending out a blanket email advertising Dong-Make-Long cream

It's still spam in my books. Any unsolicited emails for services that a user hasn't implied interest in is Spam. Anyway who's going to accept a unsolicited email from a book keeper and decide that they should be let into their inner most very private and secretive finances.

@Cordner Join several networking groups in your area for small businesses. Get business cards printed that say the following on the back:

Is your time worth 20Euro or more per hour (or whatever you charge)? If so why not let me take care of your book keeping requirements and you can get back to making money and growing your business. Call to find out how i can save you money!

Donagh_mc

I'd also agree that it's spam. Email in general is a pretty ineffective method of marketing these days. Cordner if you've got a limited budget you should look into social networking. They are all free to join and there's already millions of people in them. Look for a specific group relevant to you and get involved with the community. ROI will soon follow.

LadyUmbrella

For some free/cheap online advertising I've come across a site called projectwonderful.com who can give you free advertising on pages..the only thing is some of these pages may not be relevant or in Ireland for your business..you can however say in what region/websites your add gets placed and thus target your market a bit better...but that may cost a bit more depending on the popularity of the site..

TheWaterboy

Hi Cordner,

Id be totally against the sending out emails if the person hasnt signed up from your website for it. If I received an email from somer person offering a service I wouldnt even read it.

My advice is to get onto some of the business bulletin boards like Boards.ie, iGoPeople, AskaboutMoney, Irish Business Women. Start contributing to the boards by answering peoples questions on taxes, bookkeeping etc. In your signature you can always advertise your services and once people begin trusting your opinion they will possibly come to you with work.

People hate spam so make sure not to go down that route.

Word of mouth is the best adverstisement.

StuartC

+1 with the waterboy, look to tap into social networking, its definitely worthwhile.

Cordner

Thanks for all the replies. Wish me luck!!

Tav

re. newsletter/mailing list problems

On our website we have an option to submit an email address if someone wants to receive our newsletter.

Do you have any idea how to avoid problems with email addresses being submitted to our list by 3rd party?

What is your experience?

TheWaterboy

Tav wrote: »

re. newsletter/mailing list problems

On our website we have an option to submit an email address if someone wants to receive our newsletter.

Do you have any idea how to avoid problems with email addresses being submitted to our list by 3rd party?

What is your experience?

Id say the only way to be 100% sure that a person submitted their own email address is to send a confirmation email to the email address with link on it. Clicking this link will confirm the persons email address. Only problem with this is that it might turn potential signups off.

LadyUmbrella

Our one thing you could do is include a line at the bottom of all mails that you send out "if you are receiving this in error, we apologise, please let us know and we'll remove you from our mailing list" or something to that affect..if people don't want to receive mails from you they'll probably tell you then..

Tav

LadyUmbrella,

I have the unsubscribe option in but probably something 'more human' might also help

Tim M-U

try setting up a twitter account!

johnlawlor

Email submission forms must have a human code entered before you press the submit button, you see them on most forms now. this stops automated submissions from 3 partys...

keith_donaghy

Post up a listing on google maps, its free of charge!

LadyUmbrella

..google maps..done and done, nice idea..

keith_donaghy

LadyUmbrella wrote: »

..google maps..done and done, nice idea..

Have you tried google adwords?

You have to pay per click, but if its going to make you a sale its worth it!

LadyUmbrella

Hey Keith, no, haven't gone down the adwords route yet..we're still just in the process of ramping up to launch day with competitions and promotions and the likes..when the time comes and if needs be we'll get some adwords up and running and give them a trial to see if we get a return from them..

keith_donaghy

Adwords worked for me at the start, then everybody caugh on to them and the price per click whent through the roof!

Its a good start thlough...

Wishing you all the best with your campaign !

clientwell

Like other posters have recommended, setting up a Twitter account would be a good start. Then start posting with little tips and tricks that are relevant to the Irish market (and/or whatever market you wish to serve).

Also look at optimising the site for Google and other search engines. You should try to optimise the site for "cheap bookkeeping services ireland" and suchlike.

Finally, post on boards.ie and askaboutmoney.com with advice to people posting specific questions. Use your signature to briefly get across your marketing message.

I think that a combo of SEO and social networking is a good way of developing business for a professional B2B service. Good luck with it!

MOH

(Assuming you have a website)
Do a google search for whatever area you're targeting. Take the top few listings, and yahoo, search for each prefixed by site: e.g. site:www.boards.ie

Click on the 'Inlinks' tab to see incoming links to each site. If there's any free directories listings, submit your own site to those directories.

Also, put a link to your site in your signature on boards and any other forums.

Definitely submit your business to google - you'll need to register (free), then search for google local business centre

aphex™

I've added two companies to google maps and neither show up when you do a search. If you google the name of other companies, the map thingy pops right up at the top of the search results.

Anybody know why it might not show up?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

@aphex

Are you talking about Google search or Google Map search? That's not really how SERPS work, just because you added your map doesn't mean they'll put you on the first page of Google. Lots of things need to be considered for Google to decide if its relevant to the search term - I know its probably your business name, but its a program that has to work it out.

Mostly it takes some time but also what you titled the listing helps and if there are incoming links to the listing etc. Google will always try to give the most relevant answers first, so if you type in your business name and "location", its more likely to show than just the business name.

money24seven

Would suggest joining Facebook, Twitter & other social sites

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

money24seven wrote: »

Would suggest joining Facebook, Twitter & other social sites

Sorry to be negative twice in a row money 24 but your SEO advice is miles off the mark.

Simply put:

http://www.HowToUseTwitterForMarketingAndPr.com/