Building A Business Without Advertising Your Product

Are you trying to sell your product online with little or no success? Are you spending lots of money advertising all over the web and getting very few sales? Well, maybe it's time you try something a little different. Try not selling your product! You read that right. People do not want to be sold to. They do like to buy things, however.

So what are you supposed to do? Well, I will try to keep this article short and to the point, without a lot of confusing jargon to make it longer. I have been reading everything I can get my eyes and hands on about online business. The one thing that sticks in my head is this - If you build it, will they come? Build what, you say? Build an online place where people will want to visit; an online community. And, if you do it right, they will come!

How do you do that? There have been many books written on this subject. You may want to check out some at your local library. Here's a really good article that sums up this idea remarkably well.

First, you must identify your target audience. Who are the people that will be interested in your product? What would bring these people together? What do you think their interests are? If you have to, do some research or take a survey.

A Message Board and a Chat Room are basically a must for any online community. Also, lots of free information about their interests. A Links page where you can list links to other sites that may be of interest to them. You should include a form for them to submit their input. See what they like or dislike about your community. Ask them what else they would like to see at your community. Members like to be involved in their community, either online or offline.

Also, you should have a "Tell a Friend" link. This way they can tell others that they know who would be interested in joining your community. A "Tell a Friend" link could be a prewritten letter about your online community that sounds like one friend telling another friend how great it is! All your current members have to do is copy and paste this letter into the body of an email. Or, they could write their own letter of recommendation. There's nothing better than free advertising!

After you have your online community established, you need to let people know it's there. There are many ways to do this. One good way is to find an e-zine that accepts articles from subscribers. Make sure it fits in with the topic of your community and/or products. Then you write an article to submit to the e-zine. Make sure it is professionally written. Mistakes reflect poorly on your professional image.

At the end of the article, you can include a link to your community. Remember, do not try to sell them anything in the article. You just want them to visit your community. First, get visitors, then turn visitors into customers through valuable relationships.

Another way would be to form a partnership with another website owner. One that, again, fits in with the subject matter of your community and/or product. Here, you would exchange links or advertising space with your new partner. Just send a letter to the webmaster of the site you're interested in exchanging links with and ask them if they would be interested too. Some will, some won't. Some might not even write back. DO NOT get discourage, forget about them and move on to the next one.

There are websites that focus mainly on this kind of partnership. Some people call it a Joint Venture (JV). These websites have members who are interested in finding a JV partner. All you need to do is find one or more that interests you. Most of these websites will take care of all the detail work of setting up the partnership, keeping track of who is partnered with who, if anyone is trying to cheat, etc.

There are many other ways of gaining attention for your website. Some are free, some are low cost and some are high cost. There's more information about this topic than can be written in one article. There's entire books dedicated to each of them.

John Layton has been publishing websites since 1998. His latest website, The Rebel Computer Guy (http://www.geocities.com/jlaytonjr1), has many resources and learning tools for the online business newbie. You may use this article for your own e-zine, newsletter, website, or whatever purpose you need. All I require is that you use the entire article, including the resource box giving me the credit. I would appreciate, but do not require, an email letting me know that you are using it and where I can find it. The Rebel Computer Guy website has lots of information about working on the Internet. Topics include; Guide To Working On The Web, Learn How To Write HTML, Ebooks and Reports, Classified Ads, Articles, and lots of Tips. There's also a Links section and a What's New section. Perfect for beginners. For more articles visit my articles page at http://www.geocities.com/jlaytonjr1 /Articles/Articles.htm

---

10 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Ever since the time websites became new to the World... Read More

Ways to Get Traffic to Your Website

In the real world when you buy real estate the... Read More

Traffic Genereation: The Number One Skill That Will Generate Cash Flow (Part 2 of 3)

If you're feeling a bit of confusion and frustration about... Read More

Optimizing Your Dead Links!

I have been reading, with great interest, all the online... Read More

Expand your Website to Improve Traffic

One problem with websites is that they often go neglected... Read More

The Old But Reliable Ways of Attracting Free Online Traffics

Every home business owner should know that your WEBSITE TRAFFICS... Read More

How To Fire Up Your Link Popularity

When I first started out in Internet marketing, reciprocal linking... Read More

To Create a Perpetual Traffic Generator

What runs through your mind when you hear that ezine... Read More

What Your Competition Knows About Traffic

Need more traffic? There's a lot you can learn from... Read More

Free Traffic Course - Day 3

This is the 3rd day of "Free Traffic Course".This day... Read More

Viral Marketing Technique Creates a Chain Reaction with One-Time Action!

Suddenly your site's traffic multiplies. You get "Money Waiting" emails... Read More

How To Get Free Traffic To Your Website

There are many ways to get free traffic to your... Read More

Sources for Targeted Web Site Traffic

Qualified traffic is the lifeblood of any web site today,... Read More

How To Start A Linking Campaign

Getting links to a new website, without Google page rank,... Read More

Links Exchange ? a Hazardous Business?

So we gather in all the relevant information we can... Read More

How To Turning Your Online Visitors Traffic Into Buyers/Customers Traffic?

Overview:Many leading search engines and b2b web sites offering online... Read More

What Can Lots Of Content Do For Your Site?

Today there are so many web sites on the web,... Read More

7 Simple Ways Of Driving Traffic To Your Site Using One E-Published Tips Booklet

I am not a web designer or search engine optimizer,... Read More

Its Not The Opt-In List That Brings Success, Its Peoples Desire For Your Product

Let me ask you a question. What is the most... Read More

Publicity Tips to Get More Traffic to Your Web Site

Web sites are on my mind, since I just updated... Read More

Top 10 Traffic Building Mistakes To Avoid

When people look to submit their sites to the major... Read More

Website Visitors - Building Strong Website Traffic

It is worth looking at some values and strengths of... Read More

7 Ways to Drive Traffic to your Website

If you sell products or services, chances are you have... Read More

Submitting To Directories: A Comprehensive Guide

Why submit to a Directory?Every webmaster is looking for ways... Read More

How to Increase Targeted Traffic that Boost Your Income?

To increase targeted traffic is one of the foremost wish... Read More

Webmasters and Publishers: A Match Made in Heaven!

It's pretty well-known that one of the best ways to... Read More

Traffic Tips To Get People To Your Website

Let's talk traffic and how to get it. Your website... Read More

Quick, Easy & FREE Ways to Kickstart Your Website Traffic in 4 Simple Steps

Just launched your website? Now what?You are finally ready with... Read More

The Link Factor

There are many different approaches and techniques required when optimising... Read More

Guerilla Marketing: 4 Ways To Generate More Traffic Next Week

You can create more traffic for you and your business... Read More

Increasing Site Traffic

Alright, so you have a website but are lacking visitors?... Read More

Costly Link Exchange Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When you are trying to promote your website, you want... Read More

Link To Get Traffic - Not Search Engine Rankings!

There have been a lot of changes on the web... Read More