Today, every businessman or businesswoman is trying to put his or her products and services right in front of potential customers. And why not? After all, it is the demand of the hour to enhance your visibility for increasing sales. But, if you are sticking to those outdated traditional ways of doing so, then I request you to rethink your advertisement strategy.

Promoting your business online is a way better alternative.

Promoting your business online includes those methods and techniques which include email marketing, social media promotion, online display advertising, search engine optimization, use of Google AdWords, etc. 

It will be nothing new if I say that after the pandemic, the online presence of people is significantly more because of working from home rather than offices. When people are spending most of their time working online then shouldn't you advertise online for free rather than spending a huge sum of money on TV ads and other traditional ways?

Yes, you read right. You can advertise your business online for free. To prove my point, I am summarizing 6 ways telling how to promote business online for free in 2021. These ideas for promoting your business will turn out to be very effective without costing you a penny. Just a one-time investment of your time.

#1 Optimize your Website according to Search Engines:

Whenever someone plans to buy something, what do you think is the first thing he does before it? He approaches Google to search for that product or service. And, when they search it, what is the first thing that appears in the results? Websites offering this product or service. Now, if your website doesn't appear in the search results, how could you make your probable customers know about your existence? 

With a very easy to learn technique- Search engine Optimisation.

Search Engine Optimization is one of the foremost factors of virtual advertising that makes a specialty of rating a website’s presence withinside the seek consequences on search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc.  

Just by googling it, you will be able to find a lot of information about it. There are numerous certification courses as well that you might try. By consistently applying SEO strategies to your site, you can increase its rankings on Google and other search engines. A higher ranking of your website will play a primary role in helping you promote your business online.

 #2 Local Business Listing: Google My Business 

Google is on its way towards making search personal and is gradually displaying those results that are tailored according to the user's location. Taking a day-to-day example- if you search for McDonald's, then the results will show you the outlet which is in your city in the nearest location with a map. I hope this example lays the point I'm trying to make that it is mandatory for a business to get itself listed on Google's Local Business Listing.

With Google's help, it has become easy to add & manage your business's location on the map.

You will also be able to manage your Google Plus profile from the very same place. All you will have to do is go to Google My Business and claim your listing over there. In case you don’t work in a physical shop, still it is not an issue.

You can add your office location as well along with necessary details about your business.

#3 Social Media Marketing

We all can agree that social media plays a major role in all our lives. From shaping our choices to opinions, it has its influence deep-rooted in our decisions. Hence, it is a significant requirement for your business to be present on all the major social media platforms if you want to promote it online.

To get started, you can create your profile on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. These platforms are very effective in bringing customers by engaging them in posts related to your products and services. You can also receive quality feedback from them about your business post then and there along with valuable insights.  

Under Social Media Marketing, the frequency of posts maintained by you is the key. If your posts go live regularly, then you will be able to gain popularity and loyal followers who might get converted into your customers. You can also share the latest updates or news about your business and industry. 

In this way, by regular appearances, you will be able to ensure that your audience remembers your business and might become your potential customer in no time!

#4 – Approach Q&A Sites

When people get stuck somewhere, they approach Google and other search engines seeking solutions to their problems. Then, in the search results they would get a number of Q&A sites like Quora and Yahoo Answers with multiple answers to their questions. People also post their questions on Linkedin.

But, don't you think these sites that get heavy traffic could be used for promoting your business online? Of course, if you share your business on such popular platforms for finding new clients. 

The best part about approaching those sites is that they are indexed by Google. So, whichever answers you uploaded on either of the sites mentioned above will appear in Google search whenever anyone searches it. Isn’t it great?

All you need to do is create accounts on these sites and start searching for things similar to your products or services. As you do it, you will get a number of questions relating to your niche that you can answer. 

For example, if you own an Indian cafe then there might be a question on one of those platforms asking the best Indian Cafes in the city. You can surely answer it along with promoting your business at the end at the same time! Rest ensured that regular activities on such Q&A sites will definitely increase your website's traffic. 

Just make sure that you share answers with an intention to help. After all, nobody likes hard-selling :)

#5 Promote your product on YouTube

Youtube is one of the oldest and most famous video platforms. Around 4 billion videos are played on Youtube every day and the number only keeps on increasing with each passing day. So, I'm sure now it makes sense why have I included it as one of the ways for promoting your business online. Right? 

The best part of promoting on youtube is that, even when a person searches for something on Google, your video will appear in search results and make your product or service more visible on the Internet.

Now the question arises- How are you supposed to get started with it?

Here's how-

Firstly, decide what are you looking forward to creating. As far as products are concerned, a short video of around 2 minutes like a demo will be great. In the case of service, you could record a testimonial given by any of your clients- provided it should be authentic and upload. There are many useful tools on Youtube for editing and uploaded videos like adding narration or music, trimming of video, and a lot more.

Do not forget to use your product name or related keywords in the title of your Youtube video along with doing the same in the description. Once you are done with creating multiple videos, you could create a Youtube channel showcasing product tutorials with the help of those videos regularly.

Who knows you might come up with some interesting content that could go viral and you end up hitting a jackpot with leads flooding your inbox!

#6 Listing in Popular Business Directories

It has been observed that buyers tend to search for vendors in popular business directories. If your business has a B2B nature, then do not think twice before adding a free listing popular in your location.

If you are engaged in B2C business i.e. sell directly to customers, you can still get directories of your niche. They often offer their services through mobile apps thereby attracting huge traffic. 

If you are into Software related business then there are directories meant especially for serving this purpose. You can get listed in them and get increased traffic on our website.

Conclusion

Well, of course, there can be more than just 6 ways of promoting your business online for free. But the ways I have mentioned above have proven to be very effective as far as online promotion is concerned. Though some of them might give results later than the others, sometimes months rather than weeks, but the results are guaranteed if they are being followed promptly. All that is required for them is out-of-the-box thinking and a lot of creativity.