There are so many options for bringing in business. What have you found to be the most effective/cost efficient form of marketing for your business?

As far as hosting goes there is nothing more cost efficient then word-of-mouth and the utilization of social networks and the like.

When first starting, options like those can keep you alive during the first lean months

Strongly agree with Chris on this - word of mouth is your biggest asset. Depending on your niche, get in with a local group through meetup or something and see if you can do some social networking (real social - face to face).

Just talking to people in general can generate business for you, but more importantly if you can find someone that's interested in your business, you can get fired up about it and work that much harder. Every now and then you need an outside person to pump you up.

Charity sponsors have also worked very well with us in brand exposure. Can't say we've seen a bunch of signup from it, but it's helping the community, so that's good too!

It's old fashioned but always having business cards at the ready helps too. Ya never know when you might meet someone at your local coffee shop or bar or zoo or whatever! Be ready with easy advertising.

I like the idea of charity sponsors too. Have never heard of that before.

When you're out and about meeting prospects face-to-face, don't lead with your 30 second commercial. Start by asking about their business and show genuine interest. Ask lots of questions and listen for clues that may lead to opportunities. A networking tip - ask them this, "When I'm outing talking to people, what should I be looking for that would be indicators that they may need your services?" And let them give you their 30 second commercial. Follow by asking for 5 or 10 of their business cards. This separates you from every other sales rep they've ever met. It makes you rememberable - for the right reasons.

Word of mouth always speaks for itself and oddly today I logged into Facebook (yes, during a slow work morning) and I saw that a friend (who really is a friend and a hosting client) updated that we fixed her issue before she even knew it was an issue, so we just got a plug for hosting on FB, and of course this gal has over 1k "friends".

For me it's 'word of mouth'.

So now you've reached her sphere of influence, who you would have never reached otherwise - kudos for great customer service.

World of mouth is important to our business indeedly,but how to make 'the world of mouth' better that is our problem.We must try our best to provide the best customer service,Only in that way will we get better world of mouth.Our business will be more effective.

I am amazed how effective it is.
do you use company name or personal name in face book?

thank you!

I assume there is nothing more effective then google adwords. That is important to have separated ad for the each keyword

After word of mouth, i guess customer reviews, and then Online advertising, The better is your visuality, the more your business is

Successful online branding.

When your first starting out generating word of mouth is everything. Giving out several demo sites worked well for us when we started out. Each of the original demo sites that we had has helped to drive more business back to us because they were recommending our services. Also always keep some business cards handy. You never know when an opportunity might present itself.

John

SEO technique is the effective way to promote your website.