3. Reserve a dot-come domain name for your new brand. Less than $10 on Godaddy.com. If your domain name is not available as a.com, come up with another name. Seriously.
4. Hire a graphic designer to create a unique logo and use it to get business cards printed. Do not do this yourself unless you are a trained designer. Include your domain name on your business cards. Get a logo version you can use for letterhead.
5. Develop a website using your domain name. We recommend HostGator.com but there are other good website hosts. HostGator provides free software you can use to build your own website, including WordPress (also free and very popular). Plenty of how-to tutorials can be found on YouTube and HostGator.
6. Get a simple flyer or folder printed outlining what your business offers. Websites are essential but lots of prospects want something in their hands. Your handout can be as simple as a one-page Word document with your new logo at the top.
7. Begin Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to get ever higher rankings for your website. It does you little good to have a website if no one can find it. Hire an economical SEO firm or do it yourself. Google’s Guide to SEO is free, online, and a great starter.
8. Advertise with Google AdWords to get page-1 listings immediately. Go to AdWords.google.com to get started. Sign up for an account and use their online tools within AdWords to identify good search terms (keywords) and build effective ads. You can spend as little as $100 a month and get solid results from Google AdWords. (Contact us for a free coupon worth $100 in Google ads.) Later on, use Bing.com ads as well.
9. Use social media including a blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter several times a week. If possible use your own name, not your business name, because social media are personal. Constantly reach out to potential customers or referral sources by following them or asking them to connect. Twellow.com is a great way to locate Twitter users by city or area of interest. If your Twitter site already has 10 or more interesting tweets, when you follow someone else, there’s a good chance they will follow you back. Be interesting, not overtly selling, to pick up followers. A blog is an excellent core for publishing full articles which you link to via other shorter-form social media.
10. Put out press releases about your start-up and any news like new employees, guest speaking opportunities, new products etc. Use an inexpensive PR firm or do it yourself. Email copies in the email window to local newspaper and TV stations, and use free press release distribution services online to give them global distribution. This will also help raise your search rankings and brand dominance in the marketplace.
11. Use YouTube videos to connect with potential customers, help your search engine rankings, and embed on your website. Record with your smartphone or camcorder for 90 seconds or so. If you are too uncomfortable with your appearance, create an informative slide show and convert it to video (PowerPoint will do this with one click). Create your own YouTube channel using your brand name or other cool identifier. Upload your video, check it out, and once you’re satisfied, tell your social network about it and embed it in your website. Be sure to include tags (using your keywords) with your video when uploading to YouTube. Put your slide show on Slideshare.com for added free exposure.
12. Send email newsletters to potential customers, contacts and referral sources. This can include several recent blog posts. MailChimp.com lets you use its services for a small email list for free. Get in the habit of producing regular content for your blog and social media which you aggregate or elaborate for your email newsletter. In today’s online marketplace, content is king, and content creators rule.
