When it comes to marketing an online business using free methods, the main key is determining how best to use your time. Fortunately for you, there are a variety of no-cost strategies that have been proven to increase the amount of traffic you’re trying to generate. Many marketers are having lots of success by using articles, forums, and blogs to promote their online businesses. And because their financial investments are virtually zero, every dollar they make is basically pure profit.

3 Free Ways Of Marketing An Online Business:

1. Articles. Writing and submitting keyword rich articles to one or more of the many article directories, with the goal of having readers click on the link in your resource box, is a very hot marketing strategy. And for good reason. Articles give you the opportunity to create traffic two different ways: by showing up in the search engine results, and by having an article picked up by a mailing list owner or content site webmaster. The more articles you have published, the more traffic you’ll get. Another benefit of articles is that their marketing lives are long. Articles can bring traffic years after being published.

2. Forum signatures. Find a forum or discussion board related to the niche that your online business belongs to. Register to be a member and then include a link back your website in your signature file. Start threads that are relevant to the forum. Post responses that add value to the current discussion. Do not spam the forums. The more posts that you leave, the greater the chance of being seen as an “expert” in the field (which will also increase the amount of people clicking on your forum signature link).

3. Blog comments. There are blogs on just about every topic. And the cool thing for marketers is that most of them allow you to post comments (and include links back to your online business). Do a search for a high traffic blog in the niche that you are targeting. As with forum marketing, avoid spamming techniques at all costs. Just post a serious question or respond in a professional and helpful manner, and you will make the blog owner happy, and generate traffic from others reading the blog. You’re basically piggy-backing on that established blog’s readers.

The beauty of the internet is that it gives you many ways of marketing an online business without ever having to spend a dime on it (although you will have to invest some time and effort). Publishing articles, actively participating in forums, and becoming involved in blog discussions are time-tested techniques used to generate traffic for today’s marketer. Besides the website visitors that you will get from these strategies, you will also be creating backlinks for your online business. This will result in a higher search engine ranking, and more organic traffic to your site.

Many are those who approach me expressing their will to make extra money from home but have no clue from where to start. They will be lost as to what they can do. Internet business is an ideal solution for such individuals but they also complain that they do not know anything how this business works and hence they block themselves from moving any further and close their door to any online business opportunity.

I would like to make it clear that every business, being it online or offline, requires time and dedication. There is no easy fast way to make money. I am not saying this to discourage anyone but this is reality. I also have good news for those who are new to online business. There are opportunities out there on the web that while you learn all about Internet marketing, you are also taught how to start an online business and you’ll be guided to start making extra income online while you learn. The learning process is not a long one, however it all depends on the time you are ready to invest. There are no deadlines. You learn and grow your business at your own pace.

Many are those who knew nothing about online marketing and now are well-established online entrepreneurs. All you need is the will and commitment to learn. From then on, the sky is the limit. Most businesses have online retail sites and they are constantly looking for online channels to promote their products and services. The online marketing industry has been experiencing an annual growth of 12% and even during the world economic meltdown it still experienced growth.

Abraham Lincoln once said “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.” Success is a paradox, it can easily be achieved but only with tremendous commitment from your side. The core to success is energy, focus, attention, care and daily practice. Starting an online business will also make you grow through personal life. You tend to become more responsible of your daily actions and analyze better how to spend your time.

The opportunities are out there waiting to be materialized. Now the choice is yours. Are you going to keep complaining that you are barely making ends meet with your current wage or are you going to take action to improve your life? It is never too late to start. Irrespective of your age, gender or educational background, you can make it happen. Be bold and make a choice. You are capable of more than you know.

I wish you a great day – you deserve it.

Joseph Cale