Big Crumbs: Non-Ebay Online Promotion

This is the second of three planned articles on how to build a BigCrumbs referral network. For a brief overview of how the program works, please see my first article or go to BigCrumbs directly. This article will focus on generating referrals over the internet, excluding Ebay.

Social networking sites certainly deserve a mention here, although I haven't had any success with it. My lack of success has nothing to do with this being an ineffective method; rather, it's my personal lack of any form of a "social network" in which to promote my network. Yuwie is one of the most touted social networking sites you'll hear of in BigCrumbs because Yuwie itself allows members to earn money based on views, clicks and shopping through BigCrumbs.

If you Google "Free Internet Classifieds", you'll find hundreds of sites that allow you to post a classified ad free of charge. Many of these have substantial followers, especially those site associated with a particular geographical region. Some of them already have many ads from your BigCrumbs colleagues, but many do not. It's quick and simple to create a template classified ad using your referral url and post your add at any site your find little BigCrumbs representation.

Safelists are another interesting way to promote your network. A safelist is a group of people with a product to promote who agree to accept promotional emails from one another. Some give you an account with "credits" that are spent sending emails and can be accumulated by either purchasing credits or by clicking through other safelist members' promotional items. The disadvantage is that a safelist is a group of people who are trying to sell something-not necessarily subscribe to something. Nevertheless, it's a terrific way to get the word out about your BigCrumbs network.

If you have a website or blog, that is a terrific way to generate referrals. Even if it's just family members viewing the latest pictures in your photo album, put the link out there! If you operate an e-commerce site, you can offer free shipping or some other incentive for someone to join your BigCrumbs network.

For the more internet savvy, you should purchase a domain name and have it redirected to your BigCrumbs referral link. Once your BigCrumbs has an official presence on the web, there is a world of opportunities: Ad Words, search engines and don't forget to include your url in the signature line of your favorite message boards. Having this domain registered also makes offline advertising much easier, which will be the subject of my next article.