>The following message was posted by Nicole on 8/4/2006:
>
>"As with any new business, looking to keep the costs down
>for marketing and advertising. Does anyone have ideas for free
>sites/places on which to advertise/market? I have a apparel
>company with tank tops, tshirts, swimwear, snowboard apparel.
>My target market is anywhere from teens to 20-somethings and
>even into the 30's.
>Thanks,
>Nicole"
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are still many sites that offer free webhosting. All you have to do is use one of the more popular search engines to find them. People are using these free sites to sell all sorts of things and that is why that although having your own domain name and site are things that are often and highly recommended a lot of people use free sites - at least to get started.

You can also use the search engines to find free places to advertise but there are some bad points here as well that you should consider. Basically speaking since these advertising sites are free that means that a lot of people advertise on them and when you place your ad and then someone comes along to place their ad, your ad will get bumped down the line - so that means that (if they let you) you will have to keep placing your ad so that it is on high of the list as possible.

Basically speaking are you saying that you want to be able to sell your products via your webpage? Do you have pictures of your products on your website? How are you going to take payments?

The basic theory is that potential customers will go to your webpage, see what you have to offer and then buy your products. So the first thing to do is to make your page "sell" as much as possible. The next thing is getting potential customers to your website - which means optimizing your website - which means you want your website to appear as high on the list as possible when people are searching for products relating to yours. Know who your competition is.

You have already identified your target market now you should go to where your target market "hangs" out. There is a certain "art" to doing this kind of thing because you don't want to turn people off to the point of them ignoring you or worse reporting you as spam. There are websites and other places where you can announce your new website - use a search engine to find those.

And you don't want to overlook your offline market as well. When starting any business it is a good idea to have a business plan regardless of how much money you have to work with. A business plan can be a simple piece of blank paper that you can add to as your business grows. Do you have a business identity? Do you have a catalog or any type of literature about your business that you can post both online and off? You can even do the "time-tested" methods such as simply making a flyer (make sure its a "selling" flyer) and just pass/post it around.

There must have been a reason why you chose this particular kind of business and you use that to make your business better and make it grow. For instance why should potential buyers buy your particular products? The answer you give to that will be the basis of your marketing and advertising campaign and it is going to be a campaign because remember you are just starting and you have to get your name out there and let people know that you are open and ready for business.