Ampli-Gistics

Here is an interesting post on one of my favorite list blogs, Dumb Little Man. If you are embarking on your own business, and are confounded by all the e-marketing information out there, this article contains a nicely-condensed list of free options available to you.

Summarizing the article, here are the 7 free ways to market your business online:

1. Twitter, Facebook, Social Sites;

2. Video - DLM recommends starting with You Tube;

3. Blogs and Forums - DLM recommends starting with a Google blog search for sites relevant to your business or industry. To that, I would add Blog Catalog. Of course, there are many others. I just happen to think that Blog Catalog is one of the best blog directories around.

4. Press Releases

5. Local Resources Sites & Classifieds - In my opinion, one of the best local resources available is Craigslist. Not everything on Craigslist is free, and the interface is sometimes a little pesky and boring in comparison to other sites. With a little creativity, however, you can actually post decent graphic ads for a wide variety of products and services. Moreover, Craigslist has space devoted to ads by potential customers for products and services they are seeking.

If you happen to be a Firefox user, I would also recommend a neat little add on called “CraigZilla” that allows you to filter search results on Craigslist. I’ve been trying out CraigZilla today for my own advertising and marketing efforts on Craigslist, and so far, I like it a lot.

If you are looking for a site other than Craigslist, Merchant Circle is a good, free service with a local emphasis. I don’t have personal experience with this service, however.

6. Email Newsletters - Here is a point where I am not in total agreement with Dumb Little Man. I don’t know about you, but I am deluged by material hitting my inbox. Sometimes I think one more newsletter is going to be the proverbial “newsletter that broke the camel’s back.”

These are not always free either. However, many services, such as Constant Contact, offer quite reasonable monthly rates.

7. Contests & Giveaways

The Dumb Little Man article also offers the “bonus tip” - “start a blog.” I would recommend this much more urgently than Dumb Little Man does, particularly if you are in a service-based industry similar to mine (law). Even without taking into consideration such matters as Ad Sense, blogging offers an excellent way to connect online with potential customers. In addition, it can establish you as knowledgeable in a given field.

Admittedly, blogging is more time-consuming than other forms of marketing. In my opinion, the best blogging advice on the Internet is from Problogger.

If this is a subject that interests you, check out the Dumb Little Man article. There is additional advice and links to other articles and information I did not include here.