As more and more people launch virtual businesses, the competition increases for freelancers. The best approach to standing out from your competitors is to self-market and advertise. There are a variety of inexpensive ways how to advertise your online business to gain clients, visibility, make a profit, stand out from the competition. I’m going to share a few simple and effective virtual strategies on how to advertise your online business.
Social Media
Today, it seems like almost everyone and their businesses are on social media! Ensure that you too have a social media platform. Establish an engaging and trustworthy online presence that is not only professional but conversational enough that your content is easy to read, understand, and intriguing enough to prompt a comment or direct message.
Utilize affordable, user-friendly, and effective social media ads. This is an increasingly popular and useful strategy for advertising. Take advantage of the fact that the platform is designed to do a lot of the work for you. Based on your profile (especially for business accounts) and demography, you will find that it is easy to set your requirements to ensure that you reach your target audience.
As you consider what platforms are best for your business, bear in mind that platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Choose the one(s) that is/are more popular with your target audience and use it to its fullest potential.
Website
Having a website is beneficial for advertising is because it allows you to share useful information about yourself and your business, clients’ testimonials, work samples, post a blog, and provide a means for contacting your business.
Take it a step further and connect your freelancing profile or services on platforms like Fiverr, share via your Whatsapp Business Contact, and on your Instagram and Facebook business platforms to optimize your reach and traffic to your website.
Worried about the process it entails to build your website? Don’t be, creating a website is becoming increasingly simpler and inexpensive. Platforms like WordPress and Wix offer free options to build useful websites that look very professional without the need for graphic design or coding skills. However, please note that if you want advanced features, there will an upgrade fee for hosting and domain name for the website, but you can weigh your options and choose the best one for you.
Blogging
Despite the changes in online user behaviors, blogging never seems to go “ out of style”. Take advantage of this great way to self-promote and self-advertise. Firstly, you can connect with potential clients, by sharing content in a way that authentically reflects your personality
Secondly, sharing effective advice and samples of your work paints you as the expert in the freelancing business.
Thirdly, by ensuring that you provide regular updates, you can convert your readers into followers, and eventually, into loyal customers.
However, you must ensure that your blogs focus on search engine optimization (SEO) so that they can improve your search engine rankings for search engines like Google. Doing this increases the number of people who can find you online.
Don’t forget to also take advantage of the option to link your blog to your social media sites and website, and you’ll be amazed at how much more traffic you get for your blog.
Networking Events/Forums
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, face-to-face networking events have been less popular but some online forums and communities are available for networking. Through forums and conversations, you can attract potential clients by simply answering questions within your field of expertise and offering valuable advice. This strategy is effective because you intrigue people enough with your wisdom to research you and/or contact you to supply the service they need.
Word-of-Mouth Advertising
Word-of-mouth advertising will always be an effective means of marketing your business, especially for freelancers who are trying to get clients. This is because we all opt to trust our friend, loved one, or an influential individual who recommends a service or business to us.
So, share, share!. Share your flyers and details about your business. Before you know it, at least one person will contact you because of word-of-mouth advertising.
In a nutshell, there are many different ways for us to advertise our online businesses. It has even become a lot easier, cheaper and convenient with all of the digital and technological advancements. However, traditional strategies like word-of-mouth advertising, will never “go out of style”. Freelancing businesses, especially ones that are just starting up, can utilize these simple and effective suggestions to market themselves. Over time, these strategies will help your business to grow into a reputable brand as it has done for me.
Connect with me on:
Instagram Click Here
Facebook Page Click Here
Facebook Community Click Here
LinkedIn Click Here
Tune in on YouTube Click Here
Check out my Online Course Click Here
You can also click here to check out my previous blog post.
0 Comments