I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about marketing — especially online — is that, if you do it right, you can do it all for free. As a marketing consultant, this is one of the biggest obstacles I face in bringing in new clients, especially those just making the transition into the online world — it all looks so easy to them, the uninitiated.

“Why should I pay you to do it when I can do most of this stuff for free?”
— i.e., web design, SEO, SEM, advertising, marketing, social, whatever. If “free” to you is just about money, and you have the time, energy, creativity, passion, and patience to spare, be my guest.

So rather than try and hard-sell devout stubbornness, I now have a workshop I sell them on instead, where we discuss 50 ways you can use the Internet to market your business and make more sales — for free.

While the marketing may be “free,” and you do get a free lunch out of it, the workshop itself costs $495. So out of those 50 ways, here are “TEN ways you can increase your website traffic for free,” — for free! (Wow, that’s a $99 value!)

Keeping in mind not everyone reading this is an Internet marketing genius — yet — I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how well these simple strategies can work for you. Maybe they’re too simple, maybe it all goes without saying, maybe you’re beyond all of this, so if you don’t find value in the strategies themselves, you’re sure to find it in the advice that follows each, novice and pro alike.

1. Run ads on Craigslist — not just one ad, but several, across various cities and categories. If your market is local, simply target your city and some of the surrounding area. If it’s national, target the Top Cities — New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, etc. You can post multiple ads so long as each ad is different and for a different thing. Post one “general” ad about your business in the Business Services section, but then post more “specific” ads in the various product categories. The real challenge is crafting your ads so they’re all different and actually “fit” the categories you’re posting to.

For instance, a car dealer has it easy, he can post individual car listings in Cars + Trucks For Sale, and in multiple cities, too, so long as they’re all different. He can also post under Services, in the Automotive sub-category and maybe even under the Financial sub-category if he offers special financing.

Someone selling restaurant supplies can post multiple ads in Business For Sale — one general ad for restaurant supplies, then individual ads for various items they have for sale. He may also run an ad under Business Services in the Small Biz section, as well as individual product ads under Appliances. If he does trade, the Barter category is a great opportunity as well.

A graphic designer can post ads under Services, in the Creative or Computer subcategories, and even the Small Biz category. She can also post under Resumes (“Graphic Designer For Hire”) and in the Business For Sale and possibly the Computer For Sale categories.

In most every case, where applicable, you want to select the “By Dealer” option when posting your ads — since you are indeed a business — to avoid ghosting and minimize flagging of your ads.

All of your ads should include an image that represents what you do. That image should ALWAYS have your business name, and a contact — email, phone number or website super-imposed on it, too. This maximizes your ads exposure to those using image- and grid-view.

Write your ads out before you post them and save them to a text file, that way you can copy-and-paste them again in the next step.

Craigslist doesn’t allow active email links within your ad copy — so break them up like this: info@ yourbusiness.com

2. Post the same ads on Backpage, but here, you can use active links! Include your website URL and email link in every post. Put the URL at the top of the ad and bottom to maximize it’s exposure and potential click-through’s.

Backpage is a bit more lax when it comes to multiple postings and I know I said these tips were all free, but I HAVE to tell you that if you market nationally, this is especially great for you — go to Fiverr.com and search Backpage posting. You’ll find several people who will post 100-150 Backpage ads for you, for just $5.

3. Post the same ads to eBay Classifieds. Like Craigslist they don’t welcome email links in their ads and they can be tough when it comes to multiple ads. So again, stick to one general ad, and then specific ads for individual products you have for sale.

4. Find relevant forums and post to them. Every industry has a forum, but you don’t necessarily want to target the forums IN your industry — those forums are great for industry advice, news, and trends — but you don’t want to market to people who do the same thing you do. Instead, you need to find the forums where your prospects and customers hang out, and focus on them.

For instance, if you sell aftermarket auto accessories, you don’t want to target the aftermarket industry forum, but rather specific forums for car buffs — i.e., the Honda Civic forum, or a Drifting forum, or the Street Racing forum, or the Off-Roading forum, etc.

A real estate salesperson doesn’t want to target other Realtors in the Realtor forum, but instead target potential buyers in a relocation forum, or a retirement forum, or a home-buying forum.

5. Find relevant Groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, and get in on the conversation. Join as many as you can, but don’t just SPAM these groups, actively participate in asking and answering questions. There are groups for EVERYTHING and chances are your prospects and customers have a group of their own, or several.

One great strategy for groups is to ask questions, but keep a positive tone — For instance, “Are you happy with your current mortgage company, and why?” That’s not as Spammy as “Are you unhappy with your current mortgage company?” which sounds like a pitch. Even though it’s quite literally the same question and is sure to evoke the same “negative” answers (no one is happy with their mortgage company), the former will get answered far more than the latter.

6. Ride the hashtags. You don’t need followers to market on Twitter —I repeat, you don’t need followers to market on Twitter.

Simply find relevant hashtags and “ride” them. That is, Tweet about them. Retweet them. Search them out and comment/reply to them. Search.twitter.com is your best friend when it comes to Twitter. And don’t forget Facebook uses hashtags now, too — and it works the same way, add them to your posts and search them out to comment on them and join the conversation.

Don’t try to “create” your own hashtags out of thin air, instead focus on the ones that are already active and trending.

A great strategy for Twitter (and now Facebook) is to search keywords and then Follow or Friend the people using them. Most likely they’ll follow or friend you back, since you have that in common.

Don’t just post blatant advertisements to Twitter or Facebook with hashtags in them, people quickly see right through that and just ignore you. Instead, participate in the conversation. I can’t stress that enough.

“Joining the conversation,” means adding relevant input to the overall conversation about a particular subject. For instance, if your prospects and customers talk about #PCrepair, don’t just tweet ads for your low-cost PC repair services. Instead, tweet tips for how to keep your PC running optimally, or share links to relevant sites with tips or advice on PC repair, or to relevant products or software. You can even tweet links to your own articles on PC repair. Reply to tweets about specific problems offering expert advice on solutions. By doing this you establish yourself as an expert, and then you can pepper in a few ads or special offers here and there, but bottom line people will already KNOW who they need to contact when they have a PC issue, because YOU are now their go-to guy or gal for PC repair.

This doesn’t take long to do — you can join the conversation right now and be well on your way.

7. Write and submit articles to sites like Urguru.com, ArticleCity.com, or EzineArticles.com — other websites and media distribution outlets will pick up your article for distribution. It happens fairly quickly, too. Lots of webmasters need are always on the lookout for quality content for their websites, and these free services create a win-win for everyone.

Of course, you can also write for Medium.com and include a nice blurb about you and your business at the bottom of every post. Your posts should always tell stories, share advice and ideas, and open up dialogue. Medium is not a place for shameless self promotion.

8. Submit a press release to all of the FREE press release distribution services. Simply Google, “free press release” to find them. In a recent experiment, a client posted a press release to all of the free services we could find and generated a similar response to the paid press release service that cost $300+. For the free services, the only cost is your time, if you have it.

You can also submit press releases directly on most major media websites — CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, etc. — and most newspaper and magazine websites have a place to submit press releases and story ideas as well.

Check out BizJournals.com to find your local business journal(s). Over the years, I’ve submitted hundreds of press releases to them, they’re ALWAYS on the lookout for business news, announcements, and unique story ideas, especially with a local slant for each city they’re in. You can submit your press releases to multiple cities all from one form.

9. Direct posts to your Facebook timeline are always an option. Like Twitter, you don’t want to just blatantly post advertisements, you need to join the conversation, participate. Post stuff, but comment on stuff and share stuff, too. This is another great place to establish yourself as an expert. Post tips and advice, post links to relevant sites, product announcements, stories, etc.

A great Facebook strategy is to post “linkbait” — creative images or photos, or photos with sayings, etc. — all with super-imposed links on them. These can get shared by your friends, and if they catch on, they can spread like wildfire, quickly, and when they do, your link is right there on every share!

The image below is sized perfectly for Facebook, It works well in both the timeline and newsfeed, so it guarantees your post gets maximum exposure. Feel free to copy and save it to use as a template.

10. Direct email everyone on your contact list , and everyone who’s emailed you, to check out your website — and don’t be afraid to ask them to share your link. Tell them you’re trying to build traffic to your site — you’d be surprised, if they like you, they may share your link to their own social media networks.

Additionally, you should go through all your “sent” mail and re-send emails to everyone who’s contacted you — going as far back as you comfortably can — asking them if they’re still interested, or if they’ve seen your “new” website, or announcing a special offer or your current deal, etc.

You’d be surprised how many people may have forgotten all about you. Maybe they were interested in doing business with you at one point, but then one thing led to another and they forgot all about it, and you just need to remind them.

This happens to me all the time. I go through my saved emails and continue to email people who originally contacted me two and three years ago, and by staying in touch, ultimately I convert some of them.

Now there’s probably a few other things you could do to build traffic to your site right now, but I’m sure these ten will keep you busy.

Let me know how any of them work out for you, and feel free to email me if you need further explanation or help with any of them.

— P.