Building Your Business with FREE Tutorials
By Terri Seymour
Posted Thursday, August 26, 2004
If you have an online business, no matter what it pertains to, a great way to promote yourself and your business is by sharing your knowledge. One way of doing this is be preparing free tutorials for people to read and learn from. By doing this, people will come to think of you as an expert in your field. When they need advice, products or services, you will be the one they trust and believe.
Divide your tutorial into four or five (or however many it takes) steps; then set them up at an autoresponder. If you sell home decorating items, you could set up a tutorial to paint a piece of furniture in this manner:
Step 1 - Preparing the Piece
Step 2 - Choosing the Right Paint
Step 3 - Painting the Piece
Step 4 - Maintenance
After you divide these into steps, set it up at the autoresponder for the each step to be sent out two or three days apart. This works better than one complete mailing because it keeps your name and business in the mind of the prospective customer longer and he will be more likely to buy your products.
Free Autoresponders:
(http://www.getresponse.com/?34218)
(http://newbieclub.com/cgi-bin/sgx/d.cgi?ottofree-web_success)
(http://www.sendfree.com/)
(http://www.aweber.com/)
Have a look at these and decide which you prefer. If you don't like any of these, there are plenty more.
When you set up your tutorials at the autoresponder, don't forget to put a couple points of interest about your site/business. You also want to make sure you have a little thank you note preceding the tutorial. Introduce yourself, say thank you and encourage the prospect to ask questions or visit your site for more information. This will help to build a relationship with the customer and to build your reputation also.
After everything is set-up, the next step is promoting your tutorials. This you would do in the same way as promoting other things.
Email Signature:
FREE 4-day tutorial on painting furniture!
(http://whateveryoururliswouldgohere)
Announce it on message boards & discussion lists (if allowed) Make sure you read all rules before posting. If you cannot post it, then add it to your signature.
Announce it in your ezine and on your homepage.
Post it on the appropriate announcement lists.
Add it to your ad swaps and free classifieds.
Put it on your business cards.
Add it to your resource box, if you write articles.
Post it to newsgroups.
Use your imagination and see how many different ways you can come up with to get the word out about your tutorials. These tutorials will go a long way in building your reputation, your business and you!
About the Author
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com Complete list of her articles for reprint please email: mailto:myownezine-index@getresponse.com Earn 50% with the MOE Affiliate Program (http://www.myownezine.com/moesalespage.shtml)
