So you have no money but you're ready to launch

marthrock · 01-23-2007, 09:00 AM

Here's the scenario: The following assumptions are in place: You have not started a robust linking campaign yet.. But you're site is optimized. It's not a dynamic site. There's no flash to contend with and the page amount is average. You have a site map. The text has been geared as much towards the user as it is towards the SE's, so it has some power key words built in. You don't have much money for a ppc campaign but let's say its $50 this first month. You also have available to you perhaps $150 for the purchase of something, anything that might help you ramp this puppy up quicker. You're boss is looking for results FAST. You do not have the benefit of any Offline branding to help you either. So what are you going to do to drive traffic to your site? You have 3 months.

funguru · 01-23-2007, 09:32 AM

$50 of ppc won't get you far.. Depending on the kind of traffic you want for the website you can buy interstitial ads from adbrite for 3 cents a visit.. i have tried it and it works great.

marthrock · 01-23-2007, 10:21 AM

My sense, is the majority of us are on guerilla marketing type budgets, so that would definitely fit into the equation.

WillB · 01-23-2007, 11:26 AM

Ask your boss for a marketing budget? If he's serious about the site,
then he can afford to pay up.

It does all depend on the purpose of the site though. If you're looking
to use it as a sales machine, then invest.

Generally though, there are tons of free means of getting traffic. Start
with a search of this forum

salesmachine · 01-23-2007, 12:22 PM

Posting on free classifieds can help you.

directorysubmission · 01-23-2007, 11:42 PM

<SPAM>

marthrock · 01-24-2007, 07:36 AM

Will, what would you do with a marketing budget? and how much would you need?

TheBrain · 01-24-2007, 07:53 AM

Well, marthrock, a marketing budget will help you make your site known. With a marketing budget you could pay for a press release distribution service, for generating buzz in blogs, etc. It's hard to say how much you will need. But you should probably get an online public relations firm to help you. And try some online branding for a change.

**John Scott** · 01-24-2007, 09:50 AM

Budget is way too low. Find a new employer.

marthrock · 01-24-2007, 02:36 PM

Thanks John. It actually was a hypothetical situation and I wanted to see what creative ways or tactics some would use, given a set of extreme circumstances. If that were an actual employer, I would suspect we all would have been gone by the afternoon.

Thalasar · 01-24-2007, 02:50 PM

I have such tactics but I only pass them on to my apprentice, Darth SEO. So I guess you are SOL.

Sadu · 01-24-2007, 03:27 PM

At the end of the day, it depends how good and unique your idea is. If it's truly a good site / idea, then you can't go past Digg and the like to get it going. If it's an average idea, and you have a small budget - good luck.

AnaB · 01-24-2007, 04:28 PM

Get the press....if you have something new, phone every single newspaper/magazine and tell them...some might interview you and write about you..

I know it's easier said than done but...the budget is indeed a bit too tight...you'll have to get creative about it..

TheBrain · 01-27-2007, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnaB

Get the press....if you have something new, phone every single newspaper/magazine and tell them...some might interview you and write about you.

I know it's easier said than done but...the budget is indeed a bit too tight...you'll have to get creative about it..

Are you sure it is wise to piss off the journalists by making cold calls? Are you sure you need to "phone every single newspaper/magazine"???? Even the "non-related" ones?

Gannyaa · 01-27-2007, 07:52 AM

I have no money and yes I am launching .... and designing.
As an budding artist, and like many artists, we have little monies.
So I do the web design, web server hosting, email hosting and manual internet link building all by myself (within the last 4 months anyways). And you can't really get any faster with a zero budget.

How else can a starving artist promote himself?

NothingButNet · 01-27-2007, 08:25 AM

More money = less time.
Less money = more time. Pretty simple. With $50, it'll probably take a lot of VERY long hours link building etc. to get anywhere in 3 months.

Thalasar · 01-27-2007, 09:58 AM

An actual press release (electronic and physical) followed up by a phone call is the way to approach a journalist. Simply cold calling them will get then saying, "Send me press release." Make sure your release is well written and has an interesting newsworthy angle to it.

WillB · 01-27-2007, 01:53 PM

I would set up a viral system to build a large list of people, then launch
by promoting to them over a period of a week.

The money would probably be spent on an autoresponder and perhaps
outsourcing creation of some website widget (think MyBlogLog) or ebook,
then this would be tied in to the autoresponder.