Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have a social networking/support website.  When it comes to marketing I have very little experience, only what I have read and no programming skills.   I was wondering if someone could let me know if I`m on the right track or not, heres my plan in a nutshell:

Write online articles, post in blogs, get articles in magazines/newspaper, word of mouth, postcards in different places where my users would hang out, ppc, and I would rather not do SEO because I don`t have a lot of money to do it and what I `ve read its better to get it organically, but let me know if I am wrong.

Thanks!

Mike

Mike,
I would suggest you hire someone to help you with your Marketing Project.
Although, there are some things you can do on your own. You eventually have to hire a professional to help you with marketing.
SEO is the first thing to consider if you want to make it into the organic searches. I wouldn`t advise PPC (Pay Per Click) if you say you don`t have alot of money to market your web site.

I would suggest Email Marketing to all your friends, I would distribute flyers and business cards everywhere



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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

One of the best ways to market social sites is to be social.  Get involved in other blogs and communities that share your target audience.  The main investment here is time.

Thanks, I think your right.  But doesn`t it seem kind of wrong to actually go to other communities and tell people to come to mine.  Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks

Isn`t that how things work in the real world? You open a restaurant(for example) and you invite others to come and try your food? See, we are in a time where the customers confidence gap is very high. The confidence gap is when a customer is mis-lead by advertisement [mostly overwhelmed] and makes the wrong decision into joining something or buying something just because someone wrote more about there services. It is perfectly normal to compete competion is out there and by you inviting others to your site you are not taking the customers away, it is solely up to the customer to fill out your form and join your network.


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Edgar makes a valid point that inviting people to check out your community isn`t a bad thing.  But here`s what you need to keep in mind.  Online communities, whether a forum, blog, etc., are just like any kind of community.  You can`t just show up with only self-interest in mind.  You have to become part of the community.  Give to receive.

If someone joined a creative writing group and only talked about their own recently published book, what do you think other members would think of this person?

You will be looked down upon if all you do is talk about your own site.  But if you get involved, "meet" others and create a presence for what you do, you will get positive recognition.  It can take time and effort to be part of other communities but that`s how it works. 

Website can be a portal for your sucess. If your traffic on website is good then your customers are facing getting required data from your website. This could make them seek your competitors (word of mouth would change too) which can be dangerous for your business. To fix that, try Live Chat Support for Website, its effective in such cases.

If your traffic is reducing then you should work on publicity of the website. For that you can consult Google as it is the best serch engine. Search effective ways to promote website.

Hope your problem gets fixed soon.

With little to no budget, I suggest leaving business cards around instead of post cards. Business cards you can get for free from Vista.

If you know SEO, you can start it yourself with very targeted, long tail keywords. They will be easier for you to rank for in less time. Offer something on your site for free, such as an e-book related to the site. They have to put their email in to get the download link. Getting their email is very, very valuable for marketing.

Use Facebook and Pinterest!

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