Free Internet Marketing Lessons

by George McKenzie

How would you like to do the kind of web site promotion that brings thousands of visitors to your site--and maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line--with little or no cash investment on your part?

I'm talking about offline web site promotion that's more powerful, productive, and profitable than anything you can buy at any price.

Sounds like one of those 'Be A Millionaire In An Hour' get-rich-quick internet schemes, right? But it's not.

It's free publicity in the media.

It's too bad so many people neglect opportunities for GREAT web site promotion just because they don't know how the media works. Or they think, 'Why would anyone want to run a TV story or newspaper article about my business?'

Surprisingly, sometimes all you have to do is ask.

My friend Joe Gross is a tax consultant who appeals property tax assessments for a living. One day he told me he'd never seen assessments jump like they had in the previous year.

My 'news antenna' shot up. Then, when he showed me his new web site, which gave property owners a chance to look up appraisals of other homes in their neighborhood, I told him--'You've got to pitch this to the news media.'

I helped Joe put together a short release and then faxed it to local radio and TV stations. A few nights later, there was Joe, on the evening news, sitting next to a computer monitor in his office, describing to tens of thousands of viewers how his web site could help them pay less in property taxes. That kind of web site promotion would have cost thousands if he had paid for the same amount of advertising time.

Another friend, Darrin Schroeder, noticed an article about browsers in a San Antonio newspaper. Coincidentally, Schroeder's company was rolling out a new browser, so he called the reporter who wrote the story and persuaded him to do a 'follow-up' piece. When the article appeared, Schroeder emailed it to leading industry magazines. About a dozen reviews or articles resulted, including a blockbuster piece in PC World.

The day after the PC World article appeared, Schroeder's company, CrystalPort, took more than a thousand orders for downloads--TEN TIMES what they'd been averaging until then.

Tom Antion, is a Maryland-based seminar leader who's been extremely successful marketing his audio, video, and electronic products on the web. Antion is also an accomplished offline promoter who has worked hard at getting his name out through radio & TV interviews and the print media.

His name recently appeared in an article written by a Miami newspaper reporter--a simple one line quote. Someone representing CBS saw it and contacted Antion about their new project, CBS Switchboard.com. Result: a three month part-time consulting contract worth more than six figures. And his hit counter has been spinning even faster ever since.

Will your media marketing efforts result in such spectacular successes? It's possible, though not likely.

But getting free web site promotion in the media isn't nearly as hard as most people think. It takes some time and energy, but it doesn't have to cost cash. You WILL get results if you keep trying, and the rewards will far outweigh the effort. Just ask Joe Gross, Darrin Schroeder, and Tom Antion.

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George McKenzie has almost thirty years experience in radio and TV. His work has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN and CNN, and he currently hosts several radio talk shows in San Antonio, Texas.