If your business is not doing as well as you would like it to be doing, you probably need to spend more time promoting.

I know what you are thinking. How can I spend more time promoting and less time managing?

Simple. Learn this best kept business secret - Speed Reading.

Speed Reading is a technique widely used by offline business community. Large companies pay thousands of dollars each year to have their employees trained in Speed Reading techniques.

Why would large companies invest so much money in Speed Reading training for their employees? Productivity of course.

You see, learning Speed Reading techniques allows you to double or triple your reading speed. That means you accomplish more in less time.

Business owners know that they and their employees will be more productive so they don't mind spending money since ultimately increased productivity will lead to greater profits.

For some reason online community has failed to embrace this technique. But if any business owner ever needs to learn Speed Reading, online business owner does.

With constant flow of emails, ezines, and articles along with web copy that online business owners must read each day just to keep up, Speed Reading is a necessary skill in order to be productive.

If mastered, Speed Reading techniques can essentially increase productivity of online business owner. Increased productivity simply means spending less time managing and more time promoting. The increase in time spent promoting leads to greater profits.

Have you been spending more time managing your business rather than promoting your business? If so, now is time to make change. Start spending 80% of your time promoting your business and watch your profits soar.

Speed Reading is a valuable business tool. Master it. Then use it to your advantage!

For more information, visit:

bCentral Banner Network, http://www.bcentral.com/services/bn/default.asp

WEB RINGS

Depending on your market, a Web ring might be an excellent traffic generator. The one negative, in my opinion, is "ugly" ring code you will need to include on your Web page. If you can live with this, I think Web rings are a good way to attract traffic from related sites.

For more information, visit:

WebRing http://dir.webring.yahoo.com/rw

NEWS MEDIA

Press Releases--If you have something to say that is newsworthy, you may want to consider promoting your news with a press release. Dr. Kevin Nunley, http://www.drnunley.com/release.htm, provides a service where he will write your press release and submit it to 5,000 radio, TV, talk shows, news programs, daily and weekly newspapers, syndication services, and e-zines for under $300.

Radio Interviews--If you are a specialist in your field, why not call your local radio stations and give them your name as an expert. The radio is a particularly good forum for social workers, psychologists, politicians, professors, financial analysts, nonprofit organizations, etc.

The following options--as compared to ones above--are more expensive, but if your company has money to spend on marketing, they are highly effective methods for branding. Even companies like Coca Cola, General Motors and IBM--all household names--spend millions of dollars a year on advertising.

- Radio ads - Print ads - Television ads

PERMISSION MARKETING

If you haven't already done so, you need to start an opt-in e-mail campaign. This is an excellent way to get names and e-mail addresses of highly qualified prospects and leads. Furthermore, these people are giving you permission to contact them, so they want to hear from you. E-mail is a highly effective way to communicate--it's fast and it's cheap. Use e-mail to send your clients and prospects your newsletter; friendly reminder notices; information about upcoming sales and promotions, etc.

Managing a mail list is easy with automated listserve software. I use Majordomo and love it. Once I started using Majordomo to manage my e-mail lists, I noticed an increase in subscriptions. Majordomo makes it easy for people to subscribe/unsubscribe and makes my job easy, because it automates management of my e-mail lists.

There are free services that do same thing as Majordomo, but one word of caution: I used to use Listbot until a few months ago when they went from free to fee-based. I think it's only a matter of time before other free services follow Listbot's lead, so be careful, because it can be a pain to transfer your list once it's been established.

For more information, visit:

Majordomo http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/

Yahoo! Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/

Topica http://www.topica.com/

If you're new to E-zine publishing, request my article, "Publishing Your First E-Mail Newsletter," mailto:firstnewsletter@sendfree.com

SHARE INFORMATION

Sharing information with your clients, peers, and prospects is an excellent way to build relationships and credibility.

Articles--One of my articles was recently featured in WebProNews , and I was astounded by exposure. In two days, I had more than 100 new subscribers to my newsletter, 20 qualified leads and more than 1,800 visitors to my Web site. Those numbers prove power of words!

There are a number of excellent Web sites and E-zines that will help you promote your articles to publishers looking for fresh content.

For more information, visit:

Article Announce http://www.egroups.com/group/article_announce

Ideamarketers http://www.ideamarketers.com/

MakingProfit.com http://www.makingprofit.com/

White Papers--Promote white papers and other special reports on your Web site to encourage visitors to provide their e-mail address (this ties in to your opt-in e-mail campaign).

News Groups--News groups are great because you learn from expertise of others. They also provide an opportunity for you to share your knowledge and expertise. I have noticed an increase in traffic when I participate in online forums.

For a huge directory of Usenet groups, visit:

Google Groups (formerly Deja.com) http://groups.google.com/

If you are a Webmaster, I highly recommend:

SitePoint Community Forums http://www.sitepointforums.com/

Mail Lists--Similar to news groups, mail list messages are delivered directly to your in-box. Since some groups are pretty active, I highly recommend subscribing to digest version (if possible).

Here are two mail lists that I have found invaluable:

Adventive http://www.adventive.com/

Linkexchange Digest http://digest.bcentral.com/

Speaking Engagements--Offer to speak for free at conferences, meetings, or seminars. If you distribute handouts, be sure to add your URL.

NETWORKING

As in traditional business, your online business will benefit from networking. Some excellent venues to network include:

- Trade shows - Chamber of Commerce and other commerce-related organizations - Membership associations

As you can see, promoting a Web site is hard work. The myth "build it and they will come" is not true anymore. If you build it and then promote it, you will see your traffic steadily increase and that's good for business.