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Cross-Promoting Techniques That Work

by Glenn McDonald

Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet Marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertising space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs. There are many ways to use cross promotions in your Internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.

One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours. One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.

When customers or potential customers subscribe to your e-zine you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer subscribes to your e-zine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company's e-zine. You can even exchange ad space in e-zines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another's e-zines.

Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another's product.

If you have been considering writing an e-book, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through e-books are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner's business. The e-book should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader. A good example of using cross promotions through an e-book is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.

You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to "shop around". Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance.

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