I am a member of several marketing forums and I have seen several threads on this topic- which are about safelists. People have wondered if they are worth your marketing efforts. Some thought they were, but many others believed they were a waste of time.

Here are my thoughts on this. Ten years ago, before social media, using safelists were not a bad way to market. I remember using them and had some success with them back in the day. Obviously, some lists were better than others, and you always had the most response with credit based safelists. Even though those who use these safelists are there to recruit you into whatever they are doing, I found that other users were open to what you were offering. I even made a few friends by using safelists. However, nowadays, I feel they are a waste of time- even the credit based safelists.

I did try using some of the “best” ones (which some had told me about) recently and all it was, was a spam fest! I know what you are thinking which is “well safelists have always been spam fests, even ten years ago”. Okay yes, true. But I found because there were less ways to market and to find online businesses, people were more responsive and read through some of the spam to look at other opportunities that were offered. However it seems like nowadays, those who use it are not caring to look at other opportunities but to just spew their own and hoping other members will take the time to read it.

No, I seriously do not believe that those who are seriously looking for a way to earn an income from home will be reading spam from safelists. Safelists today are so old school- especially with the majority who are using facebook, twitter, youtube, and all sorts of other kinds of much more useful ways to market. Besides, people are busier than they ever were, so it seems anyway. Again, I believe if someone was wanting to look for a way to earn income online, he or she would search for an opportunity through work online forums, as well as methods that I had just mentioned- but not by sifting through spam in safelists. Who has the time, or patience with that since there are much better ways to market your business online?

I am sure many of you who are involved in heavy marketing understand the importance of getting your site and/or blog known as much as possible. That includes writing articles and submitting them to high ranked article directories; bookmarking; tweeting; submitting links to high ranking sites; blog commenting, and receiving lots of blog comments on your blogs. The more your site and/or blog is out there, the higher the page will rank on search engines. And the odds of your stuff being found becomes very high! And that would be great news for you but bad news for your competitors! However, unfortunately in order for your stuff to be out there and marketed properly, you need to really get your stuff out there! Meaning yes, you need to have articles written, you need to get your links out there and submitted to high ranking sites, and you need to bookmark, and even create videos, oh and the list goes on.

And you are probably wondering “how the heck am I gonna have time to do all of that?” and if you are looking to outsource your work, you are probably thinking “how can I possibly afford to do all of that?”. Well you are right, nothing comes for free! But I have great news for you! It IS cheap to outsource, that is if you find the right place to do it!

Go visit the following site: http://www.fiverr.com! And why is it called fiverr?? You guessed it! It is because there are plenty of people out there who are either not as busy as you are and want to make some cash- or have quick ways to do amazing things and want to make some cash– and they are there to outsource your stuff for $5/task! That is right! That means if you want one person to do a load of social bookmarking; and another to submit your links to tonnes of high ranking sites; and another to comment on your blogs; and another to write articles for you- that ALONE would only cost you $20!! You get the idea! And if you look for 20 different people to do 20 different tasks for you on fiverr, that would be $100- which is quite inexpensive when it comes to outsourcing! You CANNOT go wrong with that. And remember this, if you are unhappy with what they produce, you can get a refund (because they would rather give you your money back than to get a “thumbs down” rating)!

Set up an account on fiverr, and look towards the right side of the page which will show appropriate categories for your needs such as advertising, social marketing, etc. You will be impressed with what you find and you will not have to worry about time AND money when it comes to getting your stuff out there!!

In order to generate business you need to market it properly. Knowing good marketing strategies is your business lifeline. That is what will get your customers, and repeat customers. There are many ways you can market your business but here are 5 of those methods that I feel are extremely important.

1. Find as many places as possible to advertise: You need to find as many places to advertise your business as possible! But one way to advertise effectively is to advertise your business in places where your competition does not. You will surprisingly find more customers this way! And the best part about it is, they will not know about your competition!

2. Take business away from your competitors: The first thing to do is to watch your competitors’ marketing methods very carefully! Find out what makes them successful! THEN use those methods in your own program or business! And research new methods all the time that you can use, methods that your competitors may not even know about

3. Hand out freebies: It is worth the investment of notepads, pens, calendars, magnets, etc to give away to customers. However, don’t forget to put your business information and logo on it! They will remember that. But you can always be more innovative then only giving out pens and office supplies with your business info on there. You can give out small stuffed animals, fake plants, or you can create anything that is unique. You can take a trip to the dollar store to buy those items at the lowest price possible, and hire a company to add your logo to those items.

4. Conduct surveys and publish them to capture the attention of the media: If you want to find out about the trends of your industry, conduct a survey! People actually really like surveys ! And you never know, it could give you and your business free publicity… from the media!

5. Make good use of free advertising space: You are probably stuck on the idea of creating ads online, even free classifieds you likely take advantage of. However, people will frequently miss those. You need to advertise offline as well in “free” places, when it comes to advertising. How about putting a logo on your car? Or even on your shirt? When you send out mail, drop in a business card! Does not matter who you are sending mail to! If you are mailing a check to your gas company, the recipient who works there may actually be in need of your services or products

Those are just a few examples to advertise your business! The sky is the limit, get creative and keep advertising!