2. Add your URLs to your signature on your emails and forums, but make sure you follow the rules.

3. If you’re just getting into Internet promotion, start slow so you can get comfortable with it. Pick a discussion forum, and get acquainted with it by read what others say. Start commenting when you have something germane to add.  Once you’re comfortable there, find another blog, community, or social network and expand your efforts. Don’t go overboard. You still need time to write.

4. Practice talking about your book. Do it in front of the mirror. Set up a mock TV set in the den and have your kids interview you Oprah or Regis and Kelly style. Get comfortable talking about your book and yourself. This will pay off the next time you’re asked, “What do you do?”

5. Write articles and post them for free to some of the credible article sites online. You’ll have created an account there beforehand so you can write your bio and link to your website or blog, both if it’s allowed. When an article is used, your byline and linkage goes with the article.

6. Ask your friends to let you guest blog and set up your own blog tour. Take the readers from one blog to the next as you move through the day or the week.

Takeaway Truth

Get all the bang for your buck that you can. When you’re promotion budget is low or zilch, online promotion can make a difference.

Always remember: numbers, as in number of visitors, play a big part in Internet success.

Publicity

Publicity means free advertising. Publicity is gaining free exposure by using the services of others. For example, those who write articles for article content sites do so because they get a byline and have the opportunity to include their own URL in the article. They may be writing for free, but they hope to gain exposure for their own website and their name (their brand) in the byline. They also get a chance to post a bio which will increase the name recognition factor.

Public Relations

Public relations is promoting a product, i.e. your Internet business, your name, or your brand in order to create favorable reactions or positive impressions on the minds of the public. You do this with an effective website, and an effective website is one that pulls in visitors. You can ask any online marketing pro, and they’ll all tell you that the answer to pulling in visitors is content. You must have something interesting on your website that visitors need or want to read.

Help For Non Writers

If you’re not a professional writer, you can have decent content anyway by purchasing articles written by good writers. Article packages are affordable, and they come in every category from Arts and Entertainment to Writing and Speaking. Chances are they have articles in categories relevant to your website. If they don’t, you can contract for specific articles to be written. You can populate the content of your website easily and within your Public Relations budget.

Good writing is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. The more visitors; the more visibility, and visibility means more public awareness. That will increase the positive effects of your other advertising and marketing efforts.

Takeaway Truth

Always think momentum. Anything you can do to increase your momentum is time, energy, and money well spent.

Learn From The Pros

If you’re scratching your head and wondering how to simplify something so complex, then you need to check out Orange Soda’s Small Business Advice Blog. They offer an article entitled “How SMBs (Small Businesses) Can Get Started With Online Marketing.” They don’t stop there. They’ve got articles that give you information about bookkeeping, creating a Google profile for your business, and more.

Subscribe

Be sure and subscribe to their feed so you’ll be notified when new articles are posted. As a small business, you need lots of skills, not just to survive, but to flourish, in tough economic times. Last year was one of the most difficult years for businesses of all sizes. Take advantage of this free advice offered by online marketing professionals. They’re there to help with that and with more when you feel the need to step up your marketing efforts. Chances are, they can create a package that will fit your budget.

The renowned marketing expert Peter Patsula, currently the Director of Education Technology at The Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi, once said: “Mass marketing is a little like firing a shotgun into a flock of geese and hoping to hit a few.” When you’re a small business owner, you don’t have the luxury of shotgunning the Internet in a haphazard marketing effort, hoping to hit a few customers.

Takeaway Truth

Sometimes, you just need a pro to help you formulate a better strategy.