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9. Join a webring. Link to other sites like yours and build an online 'community.'
10. Offer coupons or gift certificates to entice visitors to make a purchase *now*.
11. Make good use of referral marketing. Ask happy customers to refer prospects to you. Many people are so busy these days that they're willing to rely on a trusted friend or contact's advice -- it saves them 
time necessary to do all research themselves.
12. Write and distribute articles in your area of expertise. This is a great credibility-builder! People who appreciate what you have to say are much more likely to check out your business. Another 'bonus' is that articles are often archived on websites for visitors to refer to time and time again.
13. Become an 'expert'. If you like to write and have time to do so, consider partnering with a high-traffic site within your niche market and offer to write a regular column or article. You establish credibility and get exposure; your partner site and their readers get great content.
14. Use a 'Recommend-It' or 'Refer-A-Friend' script. These scripts let visitors send your URL to friends.
15. Make it easy for others to link to your site. Consider adding a 'Link to Us' section where you provide HTML that visitors can simply cut and paste to their own web pages. Again, this helps to build your link popularity (see point #4).
16. Hold contests. For example, every month you could give away one of your products to a lucky subscriber or customer.
17. Use a signature. Also known as 'sig files', a signature is a brief blurb about your business along with your URL and/or contact information. Put a signature on every piece of email you send out, as well as on any message board posts (if appropriate).
18. Give away a quality free eBook or report. eBooks and reports can be excellent viral marketing tools. You can even offer them as a 'premium' to other businesses within your niche, so that they can give it away to their own customers or subscribers. This is an effective way to build a network that will willingly promote your business for you! More on promoting free eBooks and how they can help you can be found in article, '10 Quick Tips on How to Create, Distribute, and Profit from Free eBooks': http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/articles/ebooktips.html
Hopefully this has given you a few helpful ideas on how to market your online business. In next installment of this series, you'll read about several marketing techniques that may cost you money, but that can be worth investment many times over. The final installment is all about marketing your online business in 'offline' world! Stay tuned.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide to building a business on a beginner's budget. It's a proven hit with beginners, for the down-to-earth style and loads of instantly useable tips! For details, visit http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html OR request a series of 10 free reports to get you started: mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com
