1. List your business with True Local online

WHAT: A free online business directory
WHY: It is free and easy and helps make you easily found on the web, even if you don't have a website. It has 6.2 million searches a month!
HOW: Logon to www.truelocal.com.au and click on "list your business for free". Yes it's that easy!
 

2. List your business with Hot Frog

WHAT: It is also a free online business listing website which helps you be easily found on the web.
WHY: Particularly if you don't have a website, hotfrog gives you a listing as well as a free business Profile and start to tell your customers about yourself. It's easy and totally free.
HOW: Logon to www.hotfrog.com.au and click on "add your business now". Yes it's that easy!
 

3. Put your business on Google Maps

WHAT: A free online business directory map
WHY: This can help with google ranking as google maps often rank higher than individual sites, therefore bringing your listing up.
HOW: Logon to www.maps.google.com.au and click on "add your business now". Yes it's that easy!
 

4. Use Google Alert

WHAT:Google Alerts describes itself as "email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic".
WHY: Keep current on a competitior or on your industry through regular email updates. While it is tempting to focus only on what your are doing on the web, you also need to know what the rest of your industry and your competitors are doing.
HOW: It's very simple. You go to http://www.google.com/alerts and sign up for an alert! You will need to have a google account for any of the google applications but the site will direct you through that process.
 

5. Linkedin

WHAT: This is a network for businesses and proffessionals with over 50 million members in 200 countries.
WHY: It is free to join and helps with business-to-business relationships
HOW: Start by logging on to www.linkedin.com and signing up with your business name (like with twitter and facebook fan page). Then familarise yourself with the site and find any of your customers to invite to join your network!
 

6. Facebook Page and Fan Page

WHAT: Most people know about facebook, but did you know that one of the best free ways to market your business online is using a facebook page and fan page?
WHY: Everyone else is! Over 300 million other people use facebook, and that is not just the younger generation. That means that your potential customers are there so your business needs to be there too. By building a Fan Page your potential customers can become "fans" of your business and therefore be kept up to date with what your business is doing. You may also want to build a more personal page as well to provide a personal "face" of your business. All of this will increase your presence on the web and keep your busness in the forefront of your potential customer's minds.
HOW: You will want to register the Fan Page using your company name as these pages have stricter limits on user names and what you can do on them, but first you have to have a personal profile. So start by registering a personal page. You can make this a different version of your company name and use it for business too if you like. Once you have logged in to your new Facebook page, look in the footer for the Advertising tab . Then click the "pages" button and "create a page". Add as much info as you can because google loves it! To do this simply go to www.facebook.com and fill out your details. For more detailed info on how to use facebook for business go to http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/
 

7. Start a Twitter account for your business

WHAT: The best way to describe twitter is with it's own description: “a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”
WHY: This is a great way to stay at the front of people's minds. Twitter is an easy, quick way of keeping people up to date with you and vice versa. Because the "tweets" are limited to 140 characters, this is a fast to the point way of communicating.
HOW: This one is simple. Visit www.twitter.com and click on "sign up"! For more detailed info on twitter and how to use it to best advantage visit :http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
 

8. Blog

WHAT:  A blog is a sort of mini-website that allows you to put up regular posts, links to other blogs and more. Unlike facebook you can have your own domain name and style the blog to suit your personality or business.
WHY: While a lot of the social networking sites have taken over from regular blogs, there is still a definite place for them. Blogs are best used as a resource or "expert site" on a particular subject. A great example is http://funnnypictureblog.blogspot.com/. This blog is solely devoted to funny pictures, is updated daily and has such a following that it can charge for "sponsored link" advertising due to its high traffic. The secret here is to be specific about your blog subject.
HOW: You can build a blog in a number of ways. You can go to www.wordpress.com and click "sign up now" to create yourself a free blog, or go to www.blogspot.com. Alternately if you are a little more technical you can register your own domain name and get your host provider to load wordpress onto your hosting. You can then choose your own template so your site can be more personal. Alternatively you can Get a Quote from us and we can do it all for you!
 

9. Other People's Blogs

WHAT: Find other people's blogs that relate to your business or industry and start posting! Often people ask questions, perhaps you could be the one to answer them?
WHY: You can refer people to your business when they ask questions that you can help with. You can also become known on the forums and blogs in a particular industry as an expert, which gives your business more creditability and following. Also this is a great way to keep on top of what your competitors and customers are doing and thinking.
HOW: Start by googling your industry. You will usually find that once you identify one blog it will have links to others that are relevant and so on. The hard part is stopping!
 

10. You Tube

WHAT: Videos posted to You Tube for your potential customers to find.
WHY: You Tube is a little more complicated to use as you will need a bit more technical skill, but it is a great way to attract more of your target audience to your product or business.
HOW: You will first need to make a video and then go to www.youtube.com and create an account. Then you can upload your video and assign it tags to make it easily found by people looking for your video type or subject. This can help direct people to your website or business if you post videos that are useful to people. For example here at Sauced Out we post our tutorial videos to You Tube so that when someone looks for a video on "how to add images to Big Medium" they might find our video, then click on the link to our website. It also helps build your credibility.