Which site is the most efficient for free online advertising?

First of all, don’t kid yourself in the business world, there is no such thing as free. Even when it says it’s free, the purpose is to make up your mind and get the purchase!

However, in the online advertising world, the notion of free can have multiple aspects.  For instance, there are free sites, where users can publish their information for free, hoping they will get some free publicity out of it.

Unfortunately most of these free sites have a very low impact on your actual business grow. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good idea to publish your information free of charge on the web, you never know who might be finding it, but don’t expect to get a tone of sales calls only because your contact info is on a free listing somewhere. It takes much more than that!

The Key is Building an Online Reputation

Along with Google, Yahoo, Bing, AmeroBiz, Citysearch, Merchant Circle, Super Pages, Yelp, etc. and tons of Business Directories where you can create a free listing, there are thousands of other sites where you can publish comments, reviews, opinions and articles.

The more time you allow to online posting, the better will be. Why? Because you can build a reputation in your industry, attract visitors to your site and hopefully get a considerable higher number of business leads.

If you can afford it, consider hiring an internet marketing consultant, since a professional knows where and how to post and what to write to get better feedback.  Depending on consultant’s experience and expertise, this could cost you between $55 and $95 dollars per hour.  In some case, it could cost more. But anywhere in that price range is a fairly decent value for internet marketing. College graduates usually charge less, but than again, experience is very important.

If you’re planning to contract a Consultant from another Country, first verify if

He (she) masters English language for Business and

He (she) has relevant Experience

Is aware of your Marketing Goals

Has knowledge on how to reach your Target Market

For instance, I had a client who needed link building services, and because it was cheaper, he paid an overseas company to do the job. After he paid upfront he didn’t hear back from them. 6 weeks later, the client called to see what happen. When they finally answer and the job was done, the client was very disappointed.

His site was linked mostly to no ranking or low ranking foreign websites and blogs. Most important: the client was offering services to its local market, not international, not even national, but locally.  In this case one would expect to attract local and eventually regional traffic, corresponding to his target markets, not some visitors from the other corner of the world.