ForumsStarting a Business

Visibility is everything when you're marketing a business. A sign, a website, even a business card can do it, but in very limited scope. Advertising can do it... at a high price that says to the reader that you've paid to toot your own horn.

Providing visibility with credibility is the role of PR. Best of all, it can do it at a fraction of the cost of advertising and with increased perception of your company as a valuable, newsworthy product or source of information. Carefully positioned, your business could be featured in newspapers, magazines, or even special events arranged to showcase your company.

So, when you're working on your marketing plan, don't forget PR. It is a great tool to increase sales and enhance employee relations... giving you the "best bang for your buck".

For more information on how PR can help you reach your sales goals, visit www.themediahog.com!

I'm pretty good at writing press releases...I wrote a few releases for a good friend of mine who's a dj...he got several jobs out of it...he said he wouldn't have gotten them except for my creativity...the last job he got was from a big exhibitor during the magic show just a few days ago...I was glad to be of help and I'm glad he appreciated my efforts...if you're interested in hiring me...check out my profile...when I was a kid i was an intern for the largest PR agency in NYC...I used to throw parties for the financial community and hold them at the WTC...after we sent out the press releases I'd have to compile the info regarding how much the stock price went up...I don't charge too much...and I sure could use the work

You mentioned you want "...ready to buy customers." That's the problem with flyers. Only a small percentage will even read them. An even smaller percentage will need carpet cleaning.

You should ask yourself. "When people have dirty carpets where do they look for a cleaning service?" I would think the most common answer would be the yellow pages, both print and online. I'm not normally a big fan of the yellow pages, but for your business it seems like the best place.

The second place they might look is online. If you haven't already, you should register your the yellow pages and any local directories for your area. You might also consider paying a search engine to be included at the top of the results for a search for carpet cleaning in your area. When I google "bay area carpet cleaning" your site is nowhere to be found.

Hi,

Before I begin, I would like to apologize for my English. I'm originally form Israel so try to keep up with my grammatical errors because I belive I can give you a good advice (:
My recommendations are.

1: Build a website
2: Promote it on the search engine for terms such as " carpet cleaners in ..."
3: Make sure to list your business (Not necessarily your site. you can start doing so now before you build your site) on as many local directories online as you can ( yahoo local, Google local etc..)

I believe that listing your companies phone number on google local and yahoo local will bring an initiate resound. If you type in the term carpet cleaners in modesto you can see the local results displaying first, that is where your company will be listed even if you have no site http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_en&q=carpet+cleaners+in+modesto+

I have a business myself and I get 90 percent of my clients from the internet. To learn about building your site and promoting it you can check the term search engine optimization (SEO) It will take some time but once you are on google you will see the results.

If you have any question you can send me a msg and I will be happy to assist you.

Good Luck,

Yosef Martin

Dear Amazing Carpets...want a web site...see my profile...I work cheap...fyi a web site will not bring you business...introducing yourself to directly to your potential customers is the first step...a great first impression is a lasting one...commercial accounts are a good source of income as they have high traffic areas that need to be cleaned to look inviting

Dear Cheeziepoo...there was a post recently by a young lady who had a beautiful web site and had spent $1,000 on google ad words with no bites....i believe that if you want a customer you have to get in front of them...i.e. years ago when i lived in New York...there a was a man who for a moment operated a chicken hot dog stand...you know who he was? He was bald headed and he knew how to gain customer loyalty...he wasn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and meet his customers personally...the man's name was the biggest chicken hot dog manuafacturer in the country...there weren't any web sites back then...

As I mentioned in my previous post, if it's used correctly. One doesn't have to spend $1000's to on AdWords either. You can do Market research for a much lower price (the advance of setting your own price limits, etc.) and move on from there.