Now, wasn’t that easy? In one small paragraph, I have shamelessly self-promoted my business and it’s success.

I’ll admit it, I am addicted to shameless self-promotion, and why not? Who better to promote myself and my business than me? And, opportunity to talk about your business should be root behind every marketing effort you undertake.

Networking utilizes shameless self-promotion almost constantly. After all, when you visit a networking event, why are you there? To promote your business of course! And, when you are at a designated networking event, it is not time when you should hold back. Be shameless yet professional, and also be considerate of your fellow networkers. They are there for same reason you are. So, give them opportunity to shamelessly self-promote themselves.

Networking is “right time” to shamelessly self-promote. But, there are times when it is not appropriate. There is a time and a place for everything, including promoting your business.

For instance, if you are a member of a news or discussion group, there are generally rules against promoting your business, unless that is what list is for. So, don’t take advantage of captive audience or break rules. That can actually be bad for business.

However, some lists have designated days of week or month when you can shamelessly tell world about what you do and what you have to offer. This is time to show them what you’ve got.

What is goal of site? Many companies have ineffective websites because there were no predefined goals in place when site was made. What do you want site to do? Sometimes goal is easy to define. If your site sells items online, you most likely want your visitors to make a purchase. For many other companies that sell services (or high end products that can't reasonably be sold online), goal is to have visitor initiate a contact so that sales staff can attempt to convert them into a customer. The important point is that your website should be more than a static billboard that proclaims that your company is open for business- it should be designed to help achieve predefined goals (and unless site is strictly informational, this usually means encouraging visitor to take a desired action). Simply "having a website" does nothing to help your business or your customers.