You would never open a brick and mortar store and expect it to succeed without spending advertising dollars, so there is no reason why you should expect an internet business to be any different. Without proper marketing, the only person that will know that your website exists is you and your webmaster.
Just because you may have built a high quality and highly attractive website does not mean that you are guaranteed visitors. Many people do not consider that in order to succeed, a proper advertising budget needs to be created. They get caught. They have no money for marketing until they can make some sales only they can't make any sales because they aren't advertising. It is at this point that most internet marketers fail.
If you are looking for cheaper alternatives to advertising, consider having t-shirts made up with your business name on it. This can be done for as little as $5 or $10 each. You could also hand out flyers at public events. If you are looking for free ways to advertise online, you could create your own blog or write articles and have them published all over the internet.
Most people just starting out do not spend a lot of money on advertising, and they shouldn't. Spending money may bring in short term people, but once the cash is spent, the crowd usually disappears as well. However, if you want to be stingy on your marketing budget, you will have to be prepared to do more work.
If you can afford it, you should consider sponsoring a local sports team. Include your business name on the back of the shirt. This may be more expensive, but perhaps you could work with the supplier of the uniform and exchange some of the service for the cost of the uniforms.
By: Katie Ford -