You can use classifieds as a means of advertising your services directly, or as a way to drive decent amounts of traffic directly to your blog and sites.

Because such sites are tailored to local areas, particularly some of the local community sites and portals (which you can find using search engines), you need to keep in mind the locality or region you are advertising your services to.

However, for those of you looking to advertise globally, it might be a case of choosing to place ads aimed at a few areas, or to place multiple ads covering many areas.

Some sites will charge you for placing an ad, whilst many will be free. Before posting an ad, it is worth writing out the ad in a text document to be copied first.

Writing the ad

Use a headline that highlights the main benefit of what you are advertising. For example: “Clean and contemporary website design”.

Write a section that explains exactly what you offer and provides explicitly and clearly what benefits you can provide.

Write a ‘call to action’, which is a line that specifically draws the reader to something, namely your base site. An example could be:

‘I would appreciate any feedback you might have on my portfolio, which can be found at http://…’

Pictures

If pictures are allowed, it is a good idea to use one that is relevant and will add to the depth of the advertisement.

Submit the ad

You then need to input this information into the form of the ‘new ad’ or ‘post’ on as many classified sites as you choose. Many sites will require you to register before submitting. Always keep your target audience, and (if it is necessary) your target geographical area in mind when submitting ads to classifieds sites.

You can use automated submission software for submitting ads at once, or hire someone to post several for you. The more ads you submit, the more exposure and traffic you will get in this way.

Delete ads that have been up for more than a few weeks, and re-submit them, to keep ads at the top of listings.

A large list of sites that accept classified advertisements for submission are available in the resources section of my online promotion ebook.

This might be all good and well, but if you have any interest in staying afloat in the industry over a substantial period of time, it is essential to understand a system that allows for winning new projects and selling products regularly over the long term.

Marketing expert Michael Port introduced to me the concept of the ‘sales cycle’, which takes the essential elements of self promotion, and places them within a system that you can use to set out a strategy of effective long term self promotion.

A sales cycle simply highlights the key stages that need to be incorporated into your campaign of promoting yourself and your work in order to secure bookings with new as well as previous and ongoing clients.

The crucial elements of a successful promotion strategy for not only service professionals but all businesses and corporations are:

Getting your product or service noticed.

Attracting potential customers or clients.

Becoming credible.

Building trust.

Developing a strong relationship with those contacts.

Bringing clients to take action in using your services.

I have used the concepts introduced by Michael Port and formulated a straight forward sales cycle that brings in all these important elements to allow you to attract great clients and regular work (as well as sales if you have a product).

The ten steps described in my new ebook address and put into action all of the stages of the cycle I will describe below.

These stages are what a client moves through when deciding whether to use your services or buy one of your products. A potential client or buyer can drop in and out of this cycle, and they don’t necessarily have to start from the beginning in order to hire you.

Addressing all the stages in your campaign is important in ensuring a steady stream of work and sales if you sell products.

You’ll need to keep this cycle in mind as you go about promoting yourself if you want to see optimum results in attracting new work from clients or in selling to customers.

The stages are as follows:

Stage 1. Get Seen

Perform tasks that will get your name in front of your target market.

This covers any activity that introduces new people to your work, or reminds people of it.

By itself, activity addressing this stage will potentially bring new fans, clients, advice givers, collaborators, buyers and more, to you and your work.

This can include social networking, bringing people to your website, setting up referrals, writing articles, sending out mail promos, leaving blog comments, guest blogging and so on.

Of course, there may be instances where others will do the work for you, such as featuring your work on their blog having seen your work, or someone sharing a link to your site on Twitter, for example.

It is possible for you to get work with clients or sell products through this stage alone. This is also possible at instances anywhere into the cycle. However, stopping at this stage in the cycle, will make it harder for you to secure long term work and/or sales at a consistent rate.

Stage 2. Link Up

Secure contacts that you can build a relationship with.

This is where you establish a secure link with a targeted contact that will enable you to communicate with them over time and build a relationship with them.

A secure link can be in the form of attracting a Twitter follower, adding a Facebook friend or fan, and ultimately and ideally, adding targeted people to your mailing list.

There are no risks for your contacts here. People are not expected to hand over their hard earned cash at this point.

Before securing a link with the right people, it helps to demonstrate a positive reputation, credibility and value as a creative worker. This includes things like being the author of a useful and original blog, having an accomplished portfolio of work, showing client testimonials and adding good, readable content through Twitter and Facebook.

These are the things that will provide an incentive for people to secure such a link with you.

Stage 3. Keep in touch

Work on developing a trusting relationship with your contacts.

This is the stage that cultivates trust, rapport and a long-term relationship between you and your target contacts that you have already created a secure link to.

This involves tasks that maintain visibility in front of contacts at the very least, but also tasks that build trust and familiarity, and allow positive interaction with your key contacts.

Such tasks include sending blog post updates to members of your Facebook fan page, ‘tweeting’ through Twitter, interacting with people on social media sites, sending out status updates on Facebook and broadcasting a newsletter containing tips and new updates to members of your mailing list.

Stage 4. Strike a Deal

Create an offering that will lead to work.

The next step is to move your potential clients or buyers into the next stage of the cycle, which is in hiring your services or buying from you. Although creating an offering in this way is an element of selling products, it is also an important step to take in selling your services.

For most creatives, an offering in this way would simply involve reminding your contacts that you are available for work, and that any referrals that can be sent your way would be appreciated. ‘Calls to action’ in the form of a link on your site that suggests prospects ask for a quote is another example of an offering.

What your offerings are is up to you here and will depend on your area of work.

An offering to attract work, such as a discounted service, or offering tickets for an exhibition, for example, as well as discounts on any products you sell are also options here. They are not essential, however, because the important thing is that people are simply aware of your work. This alone can lead to paid projects.

Prospects who would like to work with you will hire you if they want to, or they may act as vital referrers.

It is important to be aware of this cycle as you go about the steps discussed in my ebook, if you are interested in consistently and effectively selling your products or services.

Your thoughts as comments are always welcome!

’10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives’.

The book has received an incredible amount of praise amongst top creative industry people and others who enjoyed the book at the pre-launch last week.

I’m pleased to share the book with you at a special launch price that will last only three days until March 13th, so if you are keen on reading the book, now would be the time to get a copy at a greatly reduced price.

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You can read more about the book and purchase it here*.

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Some early reviews:

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“Alex Mathers has mastered the methods for effective self promotion in the creative world.”

Scott Belsky, Founder of Behance, The 99%, and Author of ‘Making Ideas Happen’

“’10 Steps’ boils down the complex topic of online self promotion into a simple and pragmatic process, giving creatives the needed knowledge and resources to be able to effectively market themselves online in a fun, engaging, and wholesome way.”

Jacob Gube, Founder and Chief Editor of Six Revisions, Co-Founder of Design Instruct

“Mathers’ book is all you’ll ever need to become an expert yourself. I’ve never encountered a more valuable or thorough guide to promotion.”

Jerelle Kraus, Former New York Times Art Director

“Most marketing books say the same thing as everyone else, so it was a happy surprise to find out that the book did not have the usual marketing tips. I literally couldn’t put the book down!”

Amber Weinberg, Established Blogger and Web Developer

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Buy the book!

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Become an affiliate and earn 50% on all sales you refer.

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*10% of all sales will be donated to the World Land Trust, a charity that protects rainforest and other habitats across the world.

Congratulations to all winners and thank you ALL for taking part, and for such excellent and sometimes very funny comments.

The winners of the book are as follows – please contact me, otherwise I will be contacting you all individually with the free book on Wednesday/Thursday…

Heidi Burton
Nadja Johansen
Jason Philip Smith
Steve Ward
Samantha Johnson
Zack Rock
Nate Watkins
Alex Sanso
Lisa Ellwood
Liz Sterry

Well done!

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In the run up to my new ebook’s launch on Wednesday March 10th, I’ll be giving away 10 books for free.

The offer is exclusive to fans of the Red Lemon Club Fan Page.

To have a chance of getting your hands on a free copy of the book: ’10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives’, which will also help people who want to make more sales, and bring greater exposure to their businesses, you need to do the following:

1. Make sure you are logged in to your Facebook account.

2. Go to the Red Lemon Club Fan Page, and become a fan if you aren’t already.

3. Write a wall post or comment stating why you want the book.

..And that’s it!

The ten winners will be announced through the fan page, as well as this site on Tuesday March 9th.

Good luck!

What is the #1 area you need help with, in terms of promoting your work online?

Many of you responded with some great questions. This post will take a selection of them, and I will do my best to answer them. If you have anything to add, don’t hesitate to contribute within the comments section of this post.

If you are interested in my recently completed guide on effective online self promotion, go here.

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Here we go…

Reader Question:

‘How much time should I be putting in each day/week/month into promoting myself?’

RLC Answer:

‘That’s a good question, and not an easy one to answer. I think we can safely say that for most creative professionals, the ratio of self promotion to working is very small, so must of us should think about upping the amount of weekly promotion we put in compared to the amount of creative work we do.

Levels of marketing vary according to the method used. For social networking promotion, I recommend spending a few minutes a day engaging with people, and for sending out newsletters to subscribers, once every two or three weeks.

Generally you will need to tailor your self promotion time to yourself but aim to spend a proportion of what you do, unless you have help or representation, on some self promotional activities every week. You will find out what suits you through taking action and getting feedback from what you do.’

Reader Question:

‘I guess for me, my troubled area is how to engage prospects, readers (etc) to take action, to send me an email to buy ads on my blog, or to give me a call to book my services.. Even to subscribe to my newsletter, or to respond to my tweets.

So is it a matter of words? Content? Price?’

What compels someone to take action?‘

RLC Answer:

‘My best piece of advice here is in making sure you place a ‘call to action’ at any opportunity you have that is appropriate. A call to action is something that leads your site visitors etc to taking action, such as you saying that you are available for hire, and then adding a link to your contact address.

You’ll be surprised how often people are swayed into taking action, when they are reminded and shown how to do so, and how many people forget to use one.’

Reader Question:

‘I’d like to find out more about adding subscribers to my currently tiny mailing list. How do I attract more new clients to my list?’

RLC Answer:

‘If you have a blog, nothing beats good, regular content that demonstrates your expertise and credibility on some topic, and having a mailing list that is tied to this great content, such as by having a newsletter that gives away exclusive information that relates to the content you provide on your blog or site.

Make sure your opt-in page or form is clearly linked to, or clearly shown on your various sites, including your blog. This means placing it ‘above the fold’ (within view when the web page is fully scrolled up) and perhaps giving something away for free to people who sign up as an incentive.

Take advantage of the various other channels on the net to promote your list, including leaving the link in forum signature boxes, social media, blog comments, leaving a link on articles and guest posts on other blogs you write, and so on.’

Reader Question:

‘I have noticed the highly increasing popularity of Tumblr and I was wondering if I should recreate my blog in blogger to a Tumblr one if that might increase followers and visits to my work?’

RLC Answer:

‘Tumblr’s system is very straight forward and a well designed one. If you don’t plan on being too in control of your blog’s design, it could be an option, but generally your blog popularity will come down to the quality of the content on your blog, you having a well-defined blog niche, and the extent of your efforts to bring targeted traffic to it.’

Reader Question:

‘What is the best method of putting together a portfolio these days, Html, WordPress, Flash, CSS3?’

RLC Answer:

‘There are so many ways, and by all means use any of these, although lay off the flash unless really necessary!

I personally recommend WordPress.org for your blog, but it can also be used as a portfolio site as it is quite straightforward and very efficient once set up, and the design is very customizable. I would emphasize simplicity in any portfolio site you set up.

My new ebook lists all kinds of ways and options you can choose from in creating a site that works for you.’

Reader Question:

‘Even though I’m very new to the industry, are there promotional tactics that can help me and my work to appear more professional? (A “fake it till you make it” sort of tactic)?’

RLC Answer:

‘If you stick to the very basics of professionalism in all that you do as a creative, you’re sure to impress and basically look good to potential clients.

This includes communicating positively and eloquently with readers and prospects, but also in concentrating on little details that make a big difference, such as spelling mistakes, and fuzzy, unprofessional design on your sites. Make sure you always focus on consistency as you transmit the brand you are representing.’

Reader Question:

‘I know that writing articles and social networking are good ways of bringing traffic to my sites. Do you have any other ideas?‘

RLC Answer:

‘There are several ways that creatives can use the web to bring targeted traffic to their work and their blogs if they have one. Article writing on topics that relate to your own work or blog is one good way. Social networking is a great way of bringing in traffic, if used effectively and you have substantially sized networks on them.

My 10 Steps book lists over twenty other ways of driving traffic, including writing for ezines, posting classifieds, podcasting and writing free press releases. Collaboration with others is an often overlooked way of getting traffic to each of your sites as well.’

Reader Question:

‘The number one area I could use help with is interconnecting my various accounts so that one post is distributed on multiple sites. What are the best ways to do this?’

RLC Answer:

‘This is a great way of saving time and multi-tasking, so that promotion doesn’t take up any more time than it needs to.

Ping.fm and Tweetdeck are two examples of platforms that allow you post to multiple online destinations, so that you spread the word of new posts etc quickly and efficiently. What ways work best for you will take a little experimentation, but the tools to do so are available.’

Reader Question:

‘I’m quite self-promotionally active online, but I need some suggestions on how to cut down on my time spent on the internet. What do you think I can do to cut down?’

RLC Answer:

‘Tackling time wasting is something I’m keen to address in all the self promotional methods I share and I think it is important to cut down as much time as possible spent on the computer as we go about promoting ourselves. This is why having at least a vague internet use schedule is important, as well as doing any work that doesn’t require a computer away from the computer!

I have written a post that discusses some ideas on saving time as we go about our daily business on the net.’

Reader Question:

‘The #1 question I have about promoting myself online, is what is the appropriate way to send your site to a targeted person, like a creative director at a company you are particularly interested in working at.

Is putting together a self-promotional mailer something that has gone by the wayside due to digital advancements or is it still considered a good idea?’

RLC Answer:

‘Marketing to specific people is something that is addressed in my various posts and in greater detail in my book. The key thing is to always build a relationship with someone before blatantly marketing to them.

This can happen in various ways, including in building rapport with them via email and engaging with people on social networks like Twitter. Once you have build rapport in this way, you can go ahead and share a little more about what you do.’

Reader Question:

‘I’m worried that my social media accounts on for example Facebook and LinkedIn aren’t properly optimized for promoting myself as best as they can so I was wondering where I can find out more about this?’

RLC Answer:

‘One of the things you need to be careful about is in the way you mix business with pleasure on any social media accounts you have. Make sure that any contacts you have on these platforms who are potential clients, for example, sees the professional brand side of you, as opposed to the party-animal side of you.

There are ways of making sites like Facebook an excellent self promotional platform, with security measures you can take to keep certain information from certain people, so that you maintain a professional image. I run through creating ideal social media accounts for self promotional purposes in the ebook.’

Reader Question:

‘The #1 area I need help with is finding the ‘best’ and most appropriate places online to promote my art/illustrations and my online store, in order to generate sales. And how can I avoid getting lost among the thousands of other new creatives trying to do the same thing?’

RLC Answer:

‘This will inevitably require a bit of research on your side, and it is best to always have your target market in mind when going out and promoting your sites/work on other sites. Always think about who exactly you want seeing your work, find them, and reveal your work to them (using non aggressive, relationship-building, marketing methods).

You can perhaps use online forums to not only market your work but in finding suggestions from others on which sites to use for promotion.’

Reader Question:

‘Should I work on getting my own website together before diving into promotion?’

RLC Answer:

‘I think it is crucial to have some sort of what I call a ‘base’ in place before promoting. A base is your personal site that showcases your work, that you will bring targeted people to. This does not need to be a complex site filled with loads of information, at least initially.

Stick to something professional-looking and contains at least a simple display of your work and your contact details before promoting it. Then you can add to it later. Ideally, your own site should have an element of uniqueness, including having its own domain name and of a style that reflects your brand in general, although this is not necessary to get started. As I said, something simple and professional is key before going out and marketing.’

Reader Question:

‘The area I need help with most with regards to online promotion would be my forthcoming book. My project is not entirely finished yet, but would need help in promoting it to as many people as possible. What’s the best way to promote a book?‘

RLC Answer:

‘The sales cycle that I address in the book applies to both marketing your services, but also in promoting your own products. Book promotion is something I am going through at this moment, and I can say that the internet has proven to be an extremely valuable tool in doing so.

The key thing is spend time adding contacts to your own network who are likely to buy the book or at least spread the word about it for you. You need to build relationships with these people and keep them interested. Once rapport and a solid relationship has been established with your target market you can start revealing the book to them.

This is where mailing lists and social networks can help, but there are also many other ways of building buzz. The other important aspect about promoting something like a book, especially if it requires your own expertise on something is in building your own credibility and respect amongst others before selling it. You can work on this through a blog and in sharing content and engaging through social media, forums, article writing, video-casting, and more.’

Thanks for the questions everyone!

Closer detail on all these issues are addressed in greater detail and clarity in my new ebook:

’10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives’.

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Join the weekly tip mailing list to be alerted of the book available at launch at a discounted price.

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Sign up here:

*Your information will never be shared or sold

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The 5 ‘tweeters’ who have won 60 day-long advertising spots on this site are as follows:

@rachillustrates

@McThrill

@SnarphBlat

@printtutorials

@imediacreatives

Congratulations guys – I will be contacting you all shortly.

Thanks to everyone who tweeted!

—–

I hope the beginning of March is providing everyone with a sense of a fresh start and a healthy optimism for what 2010 has in store for us.

I’ve got some good news.

I am giving away 5 free 60-day advertising spots right here on Red Lemon Club to anyone who can help me promote my new ebook with a simple Retweet.

The majority of ad spots will replace the ones you see on the right, so will be placed above the fold of this site, for optimum exposure. I can also personally help with the banner design for you.

Simply enter the following tweet into your Twitter ‘What’s Happening’ box to be in with a chance to win:

Promote the NEW ebook from @redlemonclub and earn 50% for every book you refer! http://su.pr/9rHAxa #affiliate #promote #earn

Winners of the ad spots will be announced here on Thursday March 4th.

Good luck!

Whenever someone hears about you and the work you do, whether that be through a referral from someone else or seeing a mention of you on a website, there is a chance that they will want to find out more about you or want to contact you by Googling your name. It is a huge benefit to you if sites containing your name appear high up in the search results page, so that these people can find you, learn more about you and ultimately hire you.

One of the most important elements of self-promotion that I talk a lot about is your credibility. This means that people associate you, your name and your brand with professionalism, likability, trustworthiness and being knowledgeable on your niche. As such, having your name appear prominently and in multiple places in search engine results (for the right reasons!) will have a positive effect on your credibility as a freelancer.

Whenever your name appears on something like Google search results, you will want that link, when clicked, to lead to pages that put you in a positive light, and, wherever possible, showcase the work that you do. This list will address this too.

Here are some ways you can increase the visibility of your name on search engine results pages for self-promotional goodness!

1. Add your name to your site’s meta tags. Meta tags are the information inserted into the ‘head’ area of your web pages (it helps if you know HTML) to help get categorized and indexed on the web. If you use wordpress, you’ll find this in the header.php file in the ‘appearance’ section. Adding your name within the code here, will hopefully get picked up by web spiders and help get your site ranked highly when your name is run through a search engine.

2. Work your name as a keyword into your site and blog. Google and others will pick up these keywords as it indexes your site, but don’t over do it, as it will affect the quality of your writing.

3. Where possible, include your name in your site’s hyperlinks. This is the link text, not necessarily the link url itself. So, for example, instead of writing ‘contact me’ on your personal site, you can say ‘contact *your name*’. Again, this will get picked up by the search engines.

4. Add your name to the image alt tags you put on your site or blog. Whenever you place images on your site, there will be an option to incorporate ‘alt tags‘ into the image code. Keywords placed here should benefit your sites getting listed in results that match your name as a search term.

5. Contribute any new updates you might have to news portal sites that are suited to your industry (such as the Little Chimp Society), as well as on the growing number of sites that serve to promote the work of creatives, like Society6 for art or Last.fm for music. Make sure you incorporate your name into the posts or updates you provide, and use your name as your username if you are required to register to any site.

6. Sign up to social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. By simply setting up an account with these sites, your profile and name will get indexed well in search engines. The next step would be in uploading work to the social media platform, such as illustrations through Facebook photo albums, or providing a link to your portfolio through the site.

7. Send out a press release on something fairly major you have worked on or updated, such as a site re-design, and put your name in as a keyword (for example in the subject, main body and link at the end). You can submit your press release to multiple sites, which you can speed up through press release submission sites. When people click the link in the search results, having seen your name, they will be taken to the press release, which demonstrates your writing skills, adds credibility to you and provides solid information. This is also a very good way of driving traffic to your sites.

8. Use your name when you comment on blogs. As well as incorporating it into the comment text, you can use your name for the link that you provide to your site.

9. Write and submit an article and drop your name in. Submit an article that relates to your work for example and link it back to your site. Incorporate your name in the copy and make sure you submit to several of the popular article submission sites.

10. Incorporate your name into the text on forum message boards and discussions. Again, you can use your name as your user name, and it will tend to be indexed well in the search engines. Someone clicking on the link with your name highlighted in the search results will be taken to your discussions on these forums and hopefully see how and what you write (and hopefully it’s half good!).

11. Use your name as the author on blog posts. When writing blog posts, make sure that the author tag (usually under the post title) is active, and that your name is listed as the author. This will get picked up by search engines and take people straight to the blog post.

What are some other ways to get your name on the first page of Google people have come across?

Alex

If, for example, you specialise in logo design, you’ll want your site to come up high on the search rankings for whenever potential clients type in ‘logo designers’. The single most effective way to get ranked higher on somewhere like Google, is to have a large number of sites (with high Google page ranks themselves) linking to yours. Google loves this.

One way of attracting several links to your site or blog is by submitting it to a range of web directories. These are online databases that classify websites that have been submitted according to their content. Once a site has been added to the directory, it will attract links from category pages full of sites that are relevant to the niche of that site.

Here’s how you can submit your site to online directories:

• Create a word or text file containing two descriptions of your site. These will be one longer paragraph (70-80 words) and one short paragraph (30-40 words) containing a range of relevant keywords to the content of your site (keywords you want people who search with them, to find your site with). Use of either the long and short descriptions is determined by what is required by the directory.
ANY_CHARACTER_HERE
• Save the text file to your desktop, so that you can copy and paste when needed.
ANY_CHARACTER_HERE
• Some directories require a list of keywords, so create a list that directly relates to the content on your site and the work you do (if your site is about your work) and keep it with your descriptions text file.
ANY_CHARACTER_HERE
• Make sure you follow the style and submission guidelines of each directory, and tailor your descriptions and other elements appropriately.
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• Sign up to the directory site (if you need to) and submit your site.
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There are various options available to you when submitting your site to directories. They can be paid, submitted through reciprocals, and free. It is worth looking into paid directories if you have some spare cash, as sites take much quicker to be accepted. However, for those of you looking for free incoming links, here is a list of 10 directories you can submit to for free:

1. Dmoz – dmoz.org

2. Web World Index – webworldindex.com

3. Librarian’s Internet Index – lii.org

4. Jayde – jayde.com

5. Little Web Directory – littlewebdirectory.com

6. Simple Directory – simple-directory.net

7. Intestyle – intestyle.com

8. I Web Info – iwebinfo.com

9. Web Directory – bizdirects.com

10. Turnpike Directory – turnpike.net

Please be patient with using the free directories, as some can take some time for site approval. You should notice more incoming links to your site and an improved search engine page ranking for the keywords you specify over time.

You can check what links are pointing to your site by typing:

‘link:www.yourdomain.com’ into search engine search boxes.

More suggestions and comments are encouraged!