10 Ways To Market Your Website on a Budget - Part Two

In part one of "10 Ways to Market Your Website on a Budget," I explored some great and proven ways to get people clicking onto your website! 


Your website is one of the most important brand and marketing tools that you have in your business. Are you using it to it's fullest potential and getting people to visit and want more from what you have to offer? 


Here are 5 more ways you can market your website on a budget. If you have other ways, please feel free to post a comment!

Ways to market your website on a budget (Part Two):

1. Create a profile and share your photos on Flickr and/or Photobucket. These types of websites are great to share photos of your events and other things related to your business because it is one of the best ways to get picked up by search engines.
2. Create a presentation or slideshow of your services, knowledge, or products and then upload it to presentation and video websites such as YouTube or Vimeo.
3. Write more on your website. Don’t just write anything; think about the number one obstacles your clients face and their number one desires and then address how you are the solution. Search engines read words, not images, so the more keyword rich text that you have, the more the search engines will link people to your site.
4. Contribute book reviews to sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Write reviews for books that you have read and that are relevant to how you want to be known. Be sure to have your signature and/or profile complete with a link to your website for people to find out more about you and your business.
5. Create tip sheets, helpful hints, and fact sheets and post them to your website. Websites that offer up to date and valuable materials are the websites that people come back to over and over AND the more people come back, the more your website it likely to float to the top of Google.

What are some other great ways that you've found to market your website on a budget? Drop a comment below!

About the Author: Lisa Hromada is Personal Branding and Online Brand Strategist who works with highly motivated women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs who want to maximize what makes them exceptional and accelerate their business to gain more exposure, credibility, and visibility AND enjoy more free time. She uses both online and offline strategies to help you to take your resources, contacts and expertise farther. 

Start Blazing the Trail of Success TODAY by Marketing Your Brand Excellence! 

Get your *Free Entrepreneur’s Success Collection* online at: 

http://www.lisahromada.com/gifts.html

10 Ways To Market Your Website on a Budget - Part One

Your website is one of the most important brand and marketing tools that you have in your business. It helps to tell the world about you and your business; it’s a way to capture leads and build your list; and it’s a way to communicate the type of clients who you love to work with and who can benefit most from what you do.

Ways to market your website on a budget (Part One):

1. Write a press release on a new offering or product that you’re launching or plan to launch and then send your press release out to some free press release distribution sites online. There are more than a few to choose from and they are very useful for getting your content picked up by search engines. Be sure that you check out which press release websites that you plan to distribute to because all of them have guidelines that you must follow. To get you started, here are a few sites that you can check out: Prlog, 24-7PressRelease, 1888PressRelease
2. Find a social media website that relates to your niche. Start with ONE, sign up, create your profile, and then make a plan for the next few months to contribute consistently to answering questions, asking questions, making suggestions, posting articles, and connecting with others on the network to start building relationships. DO NOT try to sell people when you get there, simply share your expertise and you can even invite those who show interest to visit your website.
3. Join a forum or Yahoo group. Forums and groups serve as a similar function as a social media website. What you want to do is start making connections and building relationships by responding to people’s questions and posts. When they start seeing you consistently on the forum giving valuable information, they will naturally want to check out your website to see what other goodies you might have on there.
4. Comment on blogs. First, do a search for blogs related to your area of expertise as well as blogs that attract your ideal audience. Bookmark no more than three blogs at first that you want to contribute to and then make a time once a week to comment on each of the blogs. Don’t forget to include your website address in your signature!
5. Write a set of articles that you will contribute to free article submission websites. Be sure that you also create a profile on the websites that you contribute to that includes your website URL and information about what visitors can find on your website. Also be sure that you create a clear and concise signature to put at the bottom of each one of your articles.

If you're interested in learning more ways–specific for YOUR business–and want guided support in building your brand and marketing your business, join me for the 

Unearth Your Brand Excellence Business Transformation Program >> Group Support & 1-on-1 help available to help you grow your business. The first program starts Oct. 25th. Details at: http://tiny.cc/unearthmybrand

About the Author: Lisa Hromada is Personal Branding and Online Brand Strategist who works with highly motivated women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs who want to maximize what makes them exceptional and accelerate their business to gain more exposure, credibility, and visibility AND enjoy more free time. She uses both online and offline strategies to help you to take your resources, contacts and expertise farther. 

Start Blazing the Trail of Success TODAY by Marketing Your Brand Excellence!

Get your *Free Entrepreneur’s Success Collection* online at:

http://www.lisahromada.com/gifts.html

5 Key Website Tips for Coaches, Healers, Consultants, and All Solopreneurs

In preparation for my upcoming free tele-class tomorrow, October 19, 2010, "3 Simple Steps to Create High-Results Marketing Messages," (by the way, there is still time to register: http://tiny.cc/trailblazerteleclass), I took a look at some of the websites of those attending to see how they communicate their excellence in business.


One of the key elements of communication that I'll talk about during this tele-class and that I talk about in my brand programs is the importance of clearly communicating your personal brand in ways that express the personality of your business and that directly address who your ideal clients are and how you provide great service for them.


One of the things that I love about working with the women entrepreneurs who I work with is hearing their passion for their work. They all have such wonderful visions for their life and business and they want to share them with as many people as possible, while also growing a more meaningful and profitable business.


However, many times their passion and personality don't clearly shine through in their marketing communications, such as the way that they communicate on their website.


Many times, entrepreneurs only need to do a few little tweaks here and there on their website to more clearly express what they do in their business and what makes them unique.


The following are 5 key tips to a more effective website:
1. You'll want to avoid having a website page that is just one image. I have come across some websites throughout the years that only have a graphic image on the page. Although the graphic has some information about the company, the obstacle that you face is that your website will likely not be picked up by search engines. Search engines pick up text, not images.

2. Make sure that the most important points you want your visitor to look at are "above the fold." What this means is when someone has their browser window open, they are able to see important information without having to scroll down the page.

3. Imagery, colors, and fonts are important to branding your website and help to build your credibility as a brand. It may take some research, but it's important to figure out how you want the visitor to FEEL when they come upon your website. Color theory tells us that we have certain emotional responses to colors. So, in choosing the colors that you use to brand your business, be sure that you're choosing colors that reflect how you want the visitor to feel exploring your website.

4. Have a professionally done photo. This does not mean that you need to go to a Sears studio and take a photo in front of a marble background. You can take a photo anywhere as long as you have a professional photographer who can provide the right lighting. Be creative! If you are a raw food coach, why not take a photo in your kitchen and capture the spirit of your business in your natural setting where you do your best work! 

5. Perhaps, the most important tip to a more effective website is to really think about what action you want your visitor to take. Websites are good for providing information about you and your business, but you'll want to make sure that you're clear on what you want your visitor to do when they get to your website. Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter, contact you, read your articles,...?

These are just a few tips to a more effective website that reflects your brand, who you work with, and the personality of your business.


There are tons more that you can tweak and implement to build your credibility, get more people to your website or blog, and build your list of contacts.


If you know your brand needs an overhaul or a fresh beginning and you want personalized help and support, you'll want to check out the Trailblazer Entrepreneur Series: Unearth Your Brand Excellence Business Transformation Program.

It starts October 25th. In this high-results group brand building/marketing program, you'll have access to me and a group of like-minded entrepreneurs where we will concentrate on:

• transforming your unique traits into irresistible marketing messages
• attracting more of the clients you love to work with
• creating powerful offers to get people clicking the 'buy' button
• getting the guidance and support you need to take the right steps to get results

Be sure to enroll soon; I'm offering the first few people who enroll a FREE 1-on-1 coaching call with me, Lisa, where we'll concentrate 100% on you and your business.






You'll find program details at: http://tiny.cc/unearthmybrand


*Excellence,
Lisa

Are YOU a Trailblazer Entrepreneur?

There is an exciting development emerging in business – a new class of women, whose thought-leadership and creativity are guiding others to work with a fresh perspective – one that comes from a deeper part of who they are. These dynamic women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs desire not only to understand what will enlighten and energize what they do, but will guide them to how to do it and bring their vision for their business to life.

Are YOU a Trailblazer Entrepreneur?

A Trailblazer Entrepreneur™ is one who blazes a trail for others by transforming their thinking and their business in ways that guide and inspire others to do the same.

Being a Trailblazer Entrepreneur™ is more than knowing business, having the right talents and skills, and being able to define what makes you exceptional; being a Trailblazer Entrepreneur™ is about unearthing the truest part of yourselfand bringing it into your business with the creative inspiration that shines through. It is about unearthing the deeper connection with the purpose of your work in ways that are more fulfilling and meaningful.

With the new mind shift that happens in the process of unearthing the Trailblazer Entrepreneur™ within, you begin to feel and experience a new kind of work—the work of excellence.

Excellence to me is working in authenticity, with a deeper understanding of yourself, others, and the purpose of the work that you do in your business. Heart-centered entrepreneurs often feel a pull when it comes to being successful and making the money that they want, while satisfying their true selves as spiritual beings.

The purpose for the work in the Trailblazer Entrepreneur™ Series is to consider a perspective on branding and creating an ideal business, however that business looks to you, and start seeing and feeling better results.

If you're ready to step it up a notch in your business, create an authentic brand that brings the ideal clients who you love working with, and learn how to write irresistible marketing messages, join me, Lisa Hromada, for the

Unearth Your Brand Excellence 

Business Transformation Program Starting Oct. 25

This program completes just a few weeks before the New Year; that means you can be prepared to make 2011 your best year yet.

Details and enrollment at:
http://tiny.cc/unearthmybrand

About Lisa: Lisa Hromada is Personal Branding and Online Brand Strategist who works with highly motivated women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs who want to maximize what makes them exceptional and accelerate their business to gain more exposure, credibility, and visibility AND enjoy more free time. She uses both online and offline strategies to help you to take your resources, contacts and expertise farther. 

Start Blazing the Trail of Success TODAY by Marketing Your Brand Excellence!

P.S. Want to get some KEY tips ahead of time? Join me for my FREE Tele-class, 
"3 Simple Steps to Create High-Results Marketing Messages!"


Register at:

http://tiny.cc/trailblazerteleclass

4 Elements to Make the Most of Your Personal Brand

When I begin to work with organizations on developing or re-defining their corporate brand, I go through many of the same exercises as I do when I am working with entrepreneurs or solo-preneurs. The reason is because the process of branding, whether with organizations of individuals or just one individual, contains many of the same goals. What we want to achieve is essentially to define your unique story and share it with others. The similarities also come from the goals of understanding, defining, and expressing qualities, values, and distinctions that set them apart from others.

As an entrepreneur or solo-preneur, you need to have a strong core for your brand. Why? There are many reasons why a strong core is important, but most importantly, you need a clear way to define who you are and what the purpose is for your business in order to have others understand the benefits of working with or buying from you. If you are not clear on who you are as a business and the specific audience that you are trying to reach, it is nearly impossible for others—especially your ideal clients and professional network—to be clear about it.

Instead of a corporation consisting of a large group of people representing one or multiple product/service brands, your personal brand is about you as the prominent element of your business. You are the selling point of your business. You become the focal point of your professional brand and through that people begin to associate you, not a company logo or product, with quality. When you begin to create your personal brand, you must first define the unique characteristics and principal strengths that make you who you are.

Your personal brand comprises partly of:

1. Your previous experiences. This is all part of your story that sets you apart from others in your expertise. 
2. Brand description – how people describe you and how you describe yourself – personality and characteristics.
3. Main attributes that frame your personal and professional work. Consider making a list of attributes—characteristics, talents, qualities, or services—that you incorporate into your work. 
4. The way that you package yourself – dress, accessories, and environment. Your environment tells a lot about your brand. Think about the way that you dress, the business tools that you use, and how your office is decorated and ask yourself what these elements are expressing about you.

Taking the time to list out and analyze how you are expressing yourself, as a business owner—as a brand—is one of the best ways to see the inconsistencies that may exist in your brand. Once you realize these inconsistencies, you are able to make tweaks to your brand expression that will help you express your brand more clearly to potential clients as well as to your professional network (those who support you in your business success).

What do you think are the best ways to express your brand? Post your comments below.

About the Author: Lisa Hromada is Personal Branding and Online Brand Strategist who works with highly motivated women entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs who want to maximize what makes them exceptional and accelerate their business to gain more exposure, credibility, and visibility AND enjoy more free time. She uses both online and offline strategies to help you to take your resources, contacts and expertise farther. 

Start Blazing the Trail of Success TODAY by Marketing Your Brand Excellence!

Join me for my *FREE Teleclass, October 19th 


"3 Simple Steps to Create High-Results Marketing Messages" 


Register at: http://tiny.cc/trailblazerteleclass