Think of your small business as if it were a local celebrity. The business has a place in the community, most people are aware of its presence and its activities and there is a certain image and reputation this business must uphold for the people of that community to continue to support that business. Public Relations (PR) is just as important to a small business as it is to a celebrity. How wonderful then, that the return on PR investments is among the best in the marketing business.

Many Kinds of Marketing

When owning or running a small business, there are many forms of marketing available. There is direct mail marketing, e-mail marketing, advertising campaigns; however, often times the least considered option is a simple Public Relations (PR) campaign. PR is too often considered a minor expense with little to no return on investment (ROI). This could not be farther from the truth.

When it comes time to decide how to reinvest in your business, consider PR first. Based on recent studies, it has been shown to be the most effective form of marketing per dollar spent. It is also among some of the least expensive marketing you can conduct, courtesy of many of today’s modern technologies. How then, as a small business, with limited resources, can a full-scale PR campaign be conducted? It’s easier than you might think.

PR On The Cheap

Advertising and marketing does not come cheap. Be it direct mail marketing, TV advertisements, even the hiring of a consultant; every expense related to marketing can be a crippling expenditure for a small business. PR, however, can be a welcome relief to many small businesses when the ROI is quite high and the cost to conduct a PR campaign can cost very little, or even just the cost of an Internet connection.

With the advent of seemingly ubiquitous Internet connectivity, a small business can literally always be connected to its community and its customers. Taking advantage of this is quite easy and can be done with any Smartphone or computer with an Internet connection. Creating a Facebook profile for a business is a fast, cheap and easy way to start to give your business an online image.

Be specific when describing your business on your Facebook page and be sure to include any links to the business’s website. With Facebook, you can also link together your profile with your business’s Twitter page. Twitter will allow you to constantly stay in contact with your customer and community base with short updates about sales, promotions, all the while conveying a tone that defines the kind of store you are. On the business website, consider a Blog where the business can comment on industry-related issues, news and even showcase sales there as well.

All of these tools – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs/Websites can be created for free or for very little investment, all the while not requiring additional workforce or consultancy be hired to complete. As far as Public Relations go, these are among the most effective ways of communicating with the public as many already use these tools on a daily basis.

In the end, PR is a perfect marketing solution for small business. It has a high return, is fast to complete and is very cheap. Small businesses are a part of the community and must present an image accordingly. Consider how wonderful it would be if a local business offered a promotion over its Twitter page based on the current score of a local high school football game. The possibilities are endless.

This article was written by William from Home Loan Finder. Visit the Home Loan Finder website for a range of articles to help you find the right home loan for your needs.

A problem that many new bloggers and website owners face is building up traffic and readership right from the start. So, what can one do to get traffic and gain readers early on? The simple answer is that there are numerous ways to drive traffic to a new site or blog, and there are many things you can and should be doing to gain exposure.

I’ve been talking lately about writing reviews to earn affiliate commissions or directly getting paid to write reviews. But, what if you simply reverse the idea and now think of yourself as the advertiser paying a blogger to write a review about your website, blog, etc?

You’re basically paying a blogger to write a review about your site. There are a lot of people that pay for reviews, whether it is for a new product, service, or a new website or blog to get exposure.

Is this method of advertising ideal? Is it worth spending that kind of money ($500 is a lot)?

Here are what some other bloggers have to say about paying for reviews:

Jason Pereira at TUK states that “You Are a Moron if You Pay for Reviews.”

Fabien at Small Fish Big Money reports that “Paid reviews are good for exposure and publicity…nothing more, I repeat, nothing more.” Check out Fabien’s Shocking Revelations post to read more.

Disadvantages of Paying for Review Posts

The most obvious disadvantage is actually forking over all of your hard-earned money for a review.  The amount differs depending on the blogger you plan to have write the review. For high authority blogs, you can expect to pay $300 and up, or if you want a review on John Chow’s website, you’ll have to hand out a whopping $500. For small to medium sized blogs, $50 is around normal.

The other disadvantage as pointed out by Fabien is that the amount of exposure is actually very dismal. Not only that, any exposure you do get will be gone within 24 to 48 hours. Buzz only lasts as long as the subject is still being talked about. Since the review is a one-time thing, as soon as the review is written and published, any buzz created will be gone soon after it’s read.

All in all, I think if done right (promoting the review yourself and building buzz about your new site/blog), and you choose the right blog, this can be beneficial to gain traffic and readers right from the start. You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons and see if the money you’re about to spend will justify the amount of exposure you think you’ll get.

Something else to consider is that there are sites out there that will review your site, blog, etc. for free. Anthony Dinh of Diaries Of A Blogger asked the question, “Why Pay for Reviews When You Can Get Them FREE? In his post he shares a list of sites that will write reviews about your blog for free.

I urge you to check it out these other blog posts before you pay for reviews. A better method, in my opinion, and something Jason touched on, was writing guest blog posts. I’ll talk about guest blog posting in an upcoming post and explain how you can get much better exposure than paying for reviews, all for free.

What do you think about paid reviews? Is it worth spending the money? Leave your comments below and let’s discuss it.

Did you know Google celebrates Valentine’s Day? I didn’t have a clue until I received a Valentine’s Day card in the mail. Yes, Google sent me a Valentine’s card!

I have no doubt I wasn’t the only one to get a card like this. Maybe you did, too?

As a Google Adsense Publisher, I usually get two or three mailings from Google each year promoting Google Adwords. Funny thing is that I’m also a Google Adwords user (or at least used to be). I haven’t ran any campaigns in over a year, so maybe that’s why they keep sending me these offers.

Basically, they send me promotions to give Adwords a try and offer a $100 coupon voucher. Now, since I already have an account which is several years old, none of the coupon codes they send me have ever worked for my account. Supposedly these offers are only for newer accounts.

However, the Valentine’s card I received a couple of weeks ago contained a coupon code that actually worked! I was literally stunned in amazement.

Google loves me!

LOL… at least that’s what I was thinking at the time. All other redemption codes had failed, but when I entered the this code into my account, it went through without a hitch.

I now have $100 in free Google Adwords advertising to play with.

I haven’t yet had a chance to test any campaigns, but you can bet your bottom I’ll be running at least one campaign.

I’ve made some money in the past with Adwords, but have sunk a lot of money as well. It’s a tough game if you’re not real good at it. Not to mention all of their new rules and regulations. It’ll be a while before I attempt it again, but I’ll keep you posted when I do.

Afterall, Google just gave me $100 in free, virtual money. I’d be stupid not to at least try.

Thank you, Google! It’s nice to know that you really do love me.

LOL…

Anyone else receive a Valentine’s card from Google? Did your redemption code work? What’s your experience with Adwords? Share your thoughts below…

Here’s the scoop. Garry Conn from GarryConn.com, one of the leading make money online blogs, is looking for people to advertise on his site.

Garry’s blog is one of the leading blogs to cover the topic of making money online. It has attracted advertisement business from leading companies such as MarketLeverage.com, HostGator.com, NetPartner.com, DirectAgents.com, and, PepperjamNetwork.com.

If you’re looking for affordable advertising that gets results, then Garry’s blog may be the perfect fit for you. Get targeted traffic that gets results. Isn’t that what you should get for your advertising dollars?

Advertising your work from home business is a must. If you don’t advertise and get the word out, you’re not going to attract potential prospects or customers. If you happen to be in the make money online/work from home niche, please help Garry out by advertising on his site. I know he’d appreciate it.

Your business will grow when you advertise and get targeted visitors to your site. Advertising is the life-blood of any business, whether online or off. Remember, sometimes it’s necessary to make money. Consider it an investment in your future.

Here’s a few stats about Garry’s blog:

Google Page Rank

Alexa Traffic Rank

As you can see, GarryConn.com has been as high as the 13,000th (roughly) most visited site on the entire internet. This means a lot of traffic is going to Garry’s site, and the potential for you to receive a portion of that traffic when you advertise with Garry today.

What are your thoughts on advertising on other websites? Do you like Garry’s blog? Leave your comments below…