Make Google know about your web site for Free

Most search engines, at least the ones that matters like Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK crawl day and night looking for new content to grab!

So, it might come as a surprise that there are companies out there that charge $5 to $100 to get your web site to these search engine.

- Isn't this automatic, is it worth to pay for these services!

Three levels you can jump through...

1) Get a reasonably popular site to link to your site

This is the minimum you SHOULD do. Find trade association web site and get your web site link into their directory. For Spa businesses, they could consider Spas, Day Spas and Spa Travel Day Spa Association.com.

You can try to link from web site directories like DMOZ/Open Directory, Business.com, Best of the Web.

2) Use a free Search Engine Submit service, from someone like http://www.submitexpress.com/submit.html

They provide some level of advice to make sure your web site has the minimum details for the search engine to effectively know about your site.

3) Ask your web hosting or web designer to submit your site. Often, there are some valid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tips that need to be followed to ensure that most of your content is indexed by the search engines. If you depend on your web site for lead generation, you should strongly consider using external help.

Your coupons, where most people can see

If your business is not here!!!! think hard - WHY NOT!!!!

There are many places where you could have your coupon, some for free some as part of other services.

But, in GOOGLE for FREE - isn't this the best place to get started

 

How to

Start with entering your business information into Google Maps.
http://www.google.com/local/add

Enter or Upload your coupon information.
http://code.google.com/apis/coupons/Coupon_TSV_Feed_Documentation.html#Posting_Your_Feed

 

 

If you are LOST, you are not alone

Coupons are still buried deep inside Google. Getting your address on the Map is easy, but printable coupons are good to go with some additional help.

Check this blog for more details on Google Co-Op
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2007/11/26/subscribe-to-google-coupons-on-your-main-search-page-results-via-google-co-op/

Free Web Site from Microsoft - the best I have seen for an SMB

This is the cool place you want to hang out this Saturday night... On Monday, instead of a hang-over,  you could have a brand new web site that you can be proud of creating all by yourself.

Office Live for Small Business

'Just design your Web site, get a Web address, set up a custom e-mail account, and your online doors are open for business.'

http://www.officelive.com/free-website

They have pretty decent templates.

If you use Microsoft Word, their web site editor will be a very familiar. Themes by industry type is a useful place to start which provides stock photos and colors to take you in the right direction.

Useful features include Maps & Direction, link to your blog and subscribe to your email. Every site should have these three which indirectly dictates that you keep your content fresh through your blog.

Don't miss out a productive Saturday Night Out :-)

Google Maps - your business can be there for free

If you have retail store front, even before you put your business in local yellow pages, make sure to add it to Google Maps - $0.

http://www.google.com/local/add

Your business can be found on Google map, just like this, for free!

Two steps

1. Start http://www.google.com/local/add
2. Add your business - Enter your business information. Your listing appear on the map which you can manually reposition if need be. You can also upload photos and videos, specify categories, payment options and business hours and much more.

Find it now

Now, search for your business type on the map, somewhere within 25mile radius 'Day spa near Centennial, CO'

Wah!.. your business appears with the push-pin which then brings this popup with your phone, address and web site link.

If you street has been 'Street Viewed' by Google vans recently, then people can even checkout your office retail front!

Wish we know when the satellite or Google vans passes by our business - we could put our best front that day :-)

Advertising dollars well spent

ValPak is a common house-hold mailbox brand!

About 3/4 of us hate receiving this.

THESE ARE TESTING TIMES

Almost everyone today is looking for deals and ValPak is posed to get more response rate now!

For SMBs, ValPak is also a cost effective way to reach large targeted audience.

 

Also make sure to spend that little extra with ValPak and participate in their digital coupon program.

http://www.valpak.com/advertise/pricing.jsp

One Click Blog+Email Marketing+Twitter+Facebook

Couldn't have been any easier than this...

In this blog

1. SMS is already space age for me
2. Twitter, what it there for $150million
3. How can I reach my customers through latest communication channels
4. 3 Steps to reach customers through blog + email marketing + twitter + facebook

What you can do at the end of this reading:

Live Writer
Blog
Email Marketing
Twitter
Facebook

 

------------

I am overwhelmed by the new micro communication generation.

1) SMS is space age for me

I was born way before telephone was available in my neighborhood, probably the country!

So, getting to email and mobile phone was a life time achievement for me.

I use Yahoo email not Gmail - apparently a sign of age :-)

I occasionally use SMS just to remind myself that I am still relevant in the new age of short-span communication.

 

2) Twitters, what it there for $150 Million?

The new age kids and tech geeks seems to be all over Twitter, MySpace and countless other social communication trenches.

Oops!, did I say MySpace instead of Facebook - I am still slow catching up with the speed of social communication.

 

3) How can I use these micro communication technologies for my business

All my buddies and relatives are happy with my phone calls and not desperate to know where I am right now and what I ate 3seconds ago :-)

However, this is information age. Reaching customers with your latest promotion, appreciation, advice to help them etc etc... has to be a constant task for any small business owner, who is also the PR person for the company.

Professional advice for marketing is that,
 keep it short but frequent!
 viral and referral, remember in every marketing word you think of

 

4) 3 Steps to reach your customers in almost all the cool communication ways out there

No promise that these are easy, but just 3 hard steps to success :-)

Step 1 - Download Microsoft Live Writer

You would have created a Live (Microsoft Passport) account to do the above and hence automatically have a space.live.com account. Something like http://mohandhandapani.spaces.live.com/

You also automatically have a blog in this account.. Something like http://mohandhandapani.spaces.live.com/blog/

 

Step 2 - Write away and publish to blog

Use your Live Writer on the desktop to write short messages every day. Simple title (like 'Saturday will be warm, special outdoor massage package') and quick 150 character paragraph to catch the attention and few more extra paragraphs preferably with photos. Connect Live to your live space blog and post the message.

Note that 'Writer' is a desktop application, much like MS Word, no need to know what blog means and how to use a web tool for this. Just pay attention to the title and first para - which is all the time micro-communicates have time for.

 

Step 3 - MailChimp - the magic behind complete automation of today's communication

Create a Free account with MailChimp.

Create free accounts with Twitter and Facebook - don't have to learn anything more than registeration page and remember the username/password.

Follow the tutorial to establish a RSS-Email campaign and add the customers email to the list.

- You have just automated the process of getting your 'Writer' text to your customers emails every day!

Follow the tutorial to 'SocialShare' your email to Twitter and Facebook.

- You have just automatically pushed your powerful words from 'Writer' all the way to the Twitter and Facebook world.

 

Done

Now, every day, when you spend 5 minutes to write something about your business that your customers care about, you are automatically sending it to Blog + Email Marketing + Twitter + Facebook!

Just because your content is our there doesn't mean people will find it.

But, you have taken the first big step! Now, try to get your customers to find the most convenient way for them to receive your promotions messages.

Free email marketing

 

MailChimp has a Free Starter Plan. Check it out.

This is great for so many small businesses who have heard about email marketing but haven't taken that first step.

In testing times like now, it is in our interest to reach out to every customer we already have and make sure to explain our survival plan and be open about asking for their continued support.

Good luck...

 

-- From Mail Chimp web site --

Perfect for bands, little league teams and groups with tiny lists.

Free full-featured MailChimp account. Use it for as long as you want, but with limited sending volume.

You can use MailChimp free, with two catches:

1. You're basically limited to a list of 100 subscribers, and can send a maximum 6 times per month.
2. We'll shamelessly insert a MailChimp badge in the footer of all your emails (on the plus side, you can earn affiliate rewards when your badge refers new customers).

We created this plan for our friends who run soccer teams, and want to keep parents updated. For bands who want a signup box on their MySpace page. For small non-profits who are totally new to email marketing. For school clubs. For brides-to-be, who want to coordinate wedding plans with family and guests.

--

Free Brochure Design

If you like this design for your company brochure, check out www.StockLayouts.com

They provide some free designs for testing out. This ones also comes with a complete marketing collateral kit (is this what you guys call the complete design kit?)

Using MS Word

In addition to professional files like Quark or InDesign, they also provide these designs in Word and Publisher format. Handy for folks who don't know / own professional design tools.

Printing

Remember to test print with a printer before you order large quantities. Printing from Publisher and Word especially causes headaches with the Printer.

Kinkos can take a PDF output from Word or Publisher and do an OK job. Create a PDF, upload to Kinkos through their web site (or print driver) and ask for 10 or so copies first.

Bleed

Note that these designs also have bleed - the color extending all the way to the edge of the paper. You may have to explicitly let Kinkos know and they might ask you to do some extra work in Word/Publisher to accomodate this. Trust me, without bleeds, these designs will look rather ordinary and broken!

Good luck and drop a note on this blog with your experience and issues.

VistaPrint Free Offers, expires Feb 15

VISTAPrint sales offer...

You will have to pay for the shipping, at a little more than you are used to. Still a good deal for the postcards.

PRODUCT	REG.PRICE	DISCOUNT
Premium Business Card	250 Reg. $19.99	Now FREE
Standard Postcards	100 Reg. $24.99	Now FREE
Oversized Postcards	50 Reg. $19.99	Now FREE
Invitations	10 Reg. start at $7.99	Now FREE
Note Cards (like greeting cards)	10 Reg. start at $7.99	Now FREE

Act now!  
These offers expire on  
February 15, 2009

$10 Email marketing for SMB

 

If you are emailing 500 or more emails from your own ISP email account (comcast.net), check this out...

http://www.icontact.com/home/index3

Many SOHOs and small end of the SMB business use their own ISPs (comcast.net account) to email to their loyal and repeat customers.

I have friends in Music Bands, piano classes, and even some of my social organizations that send email from their company email account.

While it is a bit difficult to send a couple of 1000 emails like this and it is often not written and designed well, it is still time and cost effective overall.

The email marketing vendors make it look very complex and throw me off, even if the price looks affordable.

They even scare me when I want to use the emails I have by asking me if I have authorization to email these folks - WHAT NOW!!

I guess, I often take SPAM very lightly when it is between people I know in one way or other.

However, I urge SMBs to look into some simple email solution and give it a try. It makes your business look professional and in the course of this, you often end up learning bit more about reaching to your customer.

Vista Print - 100 dollar bill postcard, 250 cards for $45

VISTA PRINT 100 dollar bill postcard



Simple to customize and useful to catch attention in today's economic condition.
Go for the color version which has a better chance of grabbing attention.
250 cards is going for $45/-