10 Ways To Promote Yourself On The Internet!

You have a product, service, talent, or event you’d like to get noticed by the public but you don’t exactly know how to go about doing it. Here are 10 easy ways to get yourself started.

1. Identify yourself. Who are you? What do you do and why is it interesting to others? Come up with a tagline or punch phrase that accurately describes you in a nutshell. You’ll also want to extend that brief explanation into a more detailed explanation of one to two sentences or more.

2. Identify your audience. Identify from who you want attention. There must be some connection to what you are offering and what your audience wants. Be realistic about your audience. You can’t get a majority of your attention from moms when your product is a men’s magazine.

3. Research. What is your business? What are the top key words you’d used to describe your business? Search for those key words on line. Identify similar sites, brands, and people within your key word search. List them from the most popular to the least. List which sources you can actually make contact with, via twitter, email, Facebook, and more. This contact list will be your guide.

4. Internet tools. Use social networks to connect with your industry contacts. People in search of things in your genre will want to network with you as well, even customers / clients / fans / followers. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, & Linked In are perfect for this.

5. Events. Use events to meet the people. It’s especially useful to connect with on line contacts and their supporters. Use events to talk about yourself, mustering up some interest on a personal level.

6. Make friends. Never look at any similar brands or entities as your competition. They will be your teachers, guides, and inspiration. If you work together, it will only strengthen your position. The internet is a friendly place for just that. Never take things personally. If you approach an entity that is hostile to making friends or networking, find the next contact on your list and move forward.

7. Follow internet etiquette. Don’t be too anxious or pushy. Don’t promote yourself at the expense of others without their permission and be respectful of their internet space.

8. Be patient. Attention will not happen overnight. You will have to work on it over time. Never lose your internet presence. Applications like Tweet Deck and HootSuite are excellent for scheduling updates in advance. You will still need to interact with your contacts and stimulate conversations.

9. Continuously analyze your work and stay up to date with the trends. If twittering is what’s new, then twitter. Follow where your contacts are doing the most internet promotions and people are responding. Identify the status updates and gimmicks that are getting the most attention.

10. Be Yourself. It’s important to do the things that will make you successful, however, if it compromises who you are as a person or your morality you might want to go on and do something different. It is often the unusual that strikes a chord with an audience. Carve out your niche. Have fun with it.


Here is some recommendations for further reading:
o Shameless Self Promotion
o Book Promotion for the Shameless: 101 Marketing Tips That Really Work (Spilled Candy Books for Writers)
o Promote your Business or Cause using Social Media - A Beginner's Handbook