10 Ways Contractors can Advertise for FREE on the Internet
Posted by Dan Phelan on Wed, Jan 06, 2010 @ 11:04 AM
1. Have one of the tech savvy youngsters at your firm set up a facebook fanpage for your company.
2. Get 25 fans of your company on facebook, and then get a customized URL for that page and use it in all of your marketing. Easy way to get 25 fans: have every employee you have, become “fans” and that way, you will be able to make your custom URL, but also expose your company to all of their natural network (cough prospects cough). Check out our new page for an example: Construction Risk Advisors on Facebook
3. Post every picture of any jobsite or project you have on that page (as long as those pictures do not show any high risk activity or OSHA offenses)
4. Have every member of your staff that has face to face interactions with prospects and clients get a LinkedIn account and have them fill it out as fully as they can. My LinkedIn Page
4a. Make sure to add a profile picture. Headshots work best. Studies have shown that if you have a picture, people are more willing to trust and interact with you.
5. Once they have made an account, allow them several hours of company time to make connections with other people in their natural network. (friends, vendors, salespeople, consultants, local family members)
6. Google yourself and your company, then Google your 5 biggest competitors and see how your online reach compares to theirs. After you have made your facebook account, search for them in that space as well.
7. Set aside 30 minutes every morning to scour the internet for information that pertains to your industry. Local news is better, but don’t dismiss national trends. You probably already read a lot of trade journals about your industry, so why not see if they have an online version? Print magazines and newspapers are going away. Quickly. Learn how to find this information electronically so that when paper goes away, you can effectively find the information you are seeking.
8. Read this and then get a Google Reader account. This will allow you to quickly scan all new articles that your favorite sites have written and published. Personally, I subscribe to a lot of emails about information that interests me. Anything that I want to read eventually, or for sites that rarely update I go the RSS route.
9. Setup a twitter account. I follow a lot of contractors and safety professionals, so if you need some suggestions on whom to follow, “follow” either of my accounts and cherry pick my followers and followees. @dphelan @fixyourrisk Don’t tweet about your kids, your pet, or what you had for lunch. No one cares. If you want to be taken seriously, post information that can help your industry and add value to the people that read what you post.
10. Setup a gmail account. Google has a treasure trove of free applications and services that can streamline the time you spend/waste on the internet.
Please add your comments and recommendations.
These are my ideas, but let me know if you have any others that might help your fellow contractor navigate the web or spread his or her marketing dollars further.