I haven't left the house in 4 working days. It's called #sitdownmarketing

EXAMPLES OF SIT DOWN MARKETING (today alone):

• Katie Millman just sent me on a referral today. 
• Neil Humphrey, Barry Hynd and Alex McCann have all agreed to link to me today (in return for a free keyword research document)
• Simon Mason has sent me on a referral today (well just received it today) - the client has signed up. 
• I've had someone get in touch as a result of the "SEO training" thread in the tech support forum (five pager) who looks like he's going to sign up. 
• Alison Wren spoke about me and combined with the user searching for me in Google, has effectively referred me £499 of business. 

^^ this is JUST through 4N alone (discounting e-mail marketing, organic rankings, resellers etc). 

There are hundreds, thousands, millions of potential customers out there, just waiting to buy from you - these customers are being snapped up by savvier internet marketers and not necessarily because these marketers offer a better standard of service, but because they have proactively put their brand out there. 

Are these "marketers" engaging in rocket science? Absolutely not - if you can use a computer then you can market your website online. 

I don't move very much, I don't need to - I wanted to share a bit of this with new 4Ners, or anyone new to marketing online, to give you a bit of a "how to" guide to getting your name out there and marketing your business while sitting down (it's really the way forward ;)). 

THE FORUM: 

You're using it but you could definitely be getting more out of it. REMEMBER, the vast majority of forum users "lurk", your content IS getting read, even if people don't respond directly. << REMEMBER THIS. 

• GET CREATIVE. I've done 4sights on this topic, but ultimately you need to be as creative as possible. Offer valuable free consultations, share lot's of knowledge, sit and work at just building relationships (sales will come as a result, I GUARANTEE it). 
• You've started with a sig, great - everyone else has one too. Get a special offer in there and make your offer stand out (not just visually) - give them something they can't say no to, even if it doesn't come with a direct monetary return (maybe you just want a link?). 
• Remember, you're not just "selling", you're marketing and networking. Contacts are useful for all sorts of purposes including link building (boosting the visibility of your website in Google), referrals (I get a lot of these through 4N), testimonials etc. 
• There's so much more you can do, and I'm sure others will add to the list below. 

RESELLER: 

• I get business by signing people up to resell services - again, I have about 3 resellers signed up directly through 4N (the majority come through search). My best performing reseller has contributed four clients in 3 months. 
• Can you resell services? If you are service based, most likely - let other people sell for you. 
• Are you using Wordpress? How about a Wordpress affiliate program? 

SEO:

Ok, needless to say I could be here all day with this one, but I will keep it as brief as possible. 

• Search accounts for the majority of business I generate - my rankings (built up over a year and a half e.g. no. 1 "SEO Courses"), amount to thousands of visits to my website each month. 
• Build links to your website - the more quality links you have pointing into your website, the higher you will rank in search. #simples
• You MUST do keyword research - you absolutely MUST. Use the Google Keyword Tool (it's free, just search for "keyword" in Google) and find out what people (YOUR potential customers) are searching for. 
• Create content around your main target terms. 
• Make your website accessible. 

At all lost? Try this thread: http://www.4networking.biz/Forum/ViewTopic/115151 Then try this thread: http://www.4networking.biz/Forum/ViewTopic/93466

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• I think a lot of people sign up for Twitter/Facebook/Linked In just because it's almost the "done thing to do" - you are wasting so much opportunity. 
• Run competitions through Twitter, get people to "RT your competition tweet to enter" << great way to expand the range of your brand. 
• Link forum activity to social media activity - engage (horrible term) with people you "meet" on forums and at networking meetings via Social Media; you're building the relationship which will tie into additional creative forms of marketing in the future e.g. offer free consultation for backlinks etc. 
• There is again so much to be said about social media, and there are a number of GREAT people on here including Alex McCann, Jenny Hinds, Pan Aveyard etc who can help out. 

That's the tip of the iceberg, however this thread has really been created to encourage everyone to contribute and share methods. 

Post away! 

Great post, Gareth.

And the reason your name came to mind when talking to the person I referred to you was the posts you have done on the 4N forum.

I've just written a blog post with some good online marketing examples - none are rocket science, just businesses doing things well, and letting people know about it:

http://paprikamarketing.co.uk/5-great-examples-of-online-marketing-by-small-businesses/

In the last week, I've had enquiries via LinkedIn, 4N, another online networking site and Google.

So, much as I love getting out there and meeting people, staying at your desk works too!

Thanks, Alison - don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of going out and actually meeting people face-to-face too, it creates far more solid relationships, however I would say the vast majority of clients I've signed up I haven't even met. 

It's a TOTAL cliche, but marketing online is 24/7 marketing - I would say a sizeable share of enquiries through my site come after 6pm or at weekends...

I'd echo Alison, great post Gareth, pretty much a micro master class in how to use the online world for boosting business.
 

Bookmarking this to refer to during the launch of my new web app. Thanks! :)

Awww wow - thanks Alison for the mention

Cheers Gareth and Richard - Gareth, when are you starting in social media training? :P