Ultimately, your secret marketing weapon is going to be your blog. It will set you apart from everyone else in your economic niche, simply because you are unique (note: there's no such thing as "very unique").
And a blog is a great way to tell people about exactly what you do, or exactly what you sell, and exactly what the experience will involve, because it just is.
And besides, it's My Favorite Price! It's FREE! Or close enough for government work.
BUT it will take you a while to generate a blog that has enough "blog juice" to rise to the tops of the search engines for nifty search terms so that it is useful for bringing you business (don't worry about what I just said; just let the words wash over you, and you'll understand them soon enough).
You also need something that works as quickly as a light switch, so that there's still a business in existence when your baby blog starts to walk in a year or two.
If only there were some sort of free, instant-on Internet advertising that's simple enough that a geriatric could do it, and that will send you much, much more business than you get today!
And, as it happens, there is such a thing.
Actually, there are hundreds of them.
Free Online Business Directories!
See, there are these things called business directories on the Internet. If you think of them as sort of easy-to-search online yellow pages, you have the idea.
And most of them are free.
So your assignment, if you chose to accept it, is to put as much information about your business in every single free online business directory as you possibly can.
I have a smart friend who has an office full of professionals. I suggested that she do this homework assignment.
She emailed me later and said, "I've plugged my business information into thirty-five of 'em. How many should I use?"
I wrote back, "How rich do you want to be?"
She got it.
Important note; some of the free directories will contact you to upgrade your listing with a paid advertisement, or an improved placement on their directory.
DO NOT DO IT.
You are not yet smart enough to figure out which paid upgrades are priceless, and which are garbage.
How do I know?
Well, I paid fifty grand in tuition for a worthless upgrade over a period of two years.
How do you like my teaching credentials?
Do you want to take the same class, with the same tuition?
Repeat after me: I will put my business contact information and business description in every single free online business directory on the Internet. And if the directory demands money in order to take my information into the directory, I will move to the next directory on my five thousand directory list! I will not pay them.
There will be exceptions, but don't even think about them until you have ALL of the free directory sites on the Internet fully populated with your information.
All is a lot. A real, real lot. A buncha lot.
And that's very, very good.
For you and your small business.
p.s. so where do you get a list of the top five hundred free online business directories?
How about typing a search term into Google? Something like "Free Online Business Directory"? The order of importance will reveal itself instantly: the important ones are listed first, and the less important ones are next in line, forever.
Into how many should you put your information?
Well, you've already figured that out, right?
Remember, some sites (including Google Places) permit you to submit photos and videos into your listings; do so, because people respond better to eyes and noses and ears than to letters.
Git 'er done!
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