4 Lead Generation Ideas to Put You In Front of Prospects

There are so many ways of lead generation beyond article marketing and pay per click to make you visible to prospects in your niche.

Advertising.  There are a number of web sites where you can advertise without breaking your bank.  A number of blogs offer advertising at a variety of rates, and there are likely to be several in your niche.

Joint ventures.  This is something you can do whether you’re running your own business or are in the marketing department of a larger business (although in the latter case, you’ll possibly want to check with somebody first).

Find people who have lists and/or websites in similar or complimentary niches.  Ask if they want to advertise your stuff in exchange for you advertising theirs.  Keep in mind that if they’re much bigger time than you are, you might need to add extra incentive–a special high affiliate commission on your products is a common incentive.

If you want to contact an individual marketer, then it’s best to do it by phone.  Even the most successful Internet marketer is still made of flesh and blood, so start out by asking how their latest project is going.

Blogs.  If you can, blog two or three times a week–or hire someone to do it for you.  Register your site at Technorati.  Have informative, interesting, information-giving posts, and people will become interested in what you can offer them.  Not only that, but blogging gives good credibility in today’s Web 2.0 world.

Forums.  This can be powerful.  Visit forums in your niche.  Most forums let you put in a signature line.  Not every forum is ultra-friendly to business, however, in some forums you may want to prove you’re a quality contributor with a few helpful posts, before you advertise your site in your signature line.

Just be careful not to spend too much time in the forums–they’ll easily eat up your time if you let them!  Find a couple of ones that you like, and post there.  If you have good results with them, you may want to consider paid advertising in those or similar forums as well.