I am glad you have all taken the time to post your question to our offer of help. As you may have read I have taken over the day-to-day operations of this Blog from Mike and with the transition almost all finished we can get back to great content and suggestions for my fellow bootstrappers.

Mike is working on the post that answers the questions that you have asked and I will add in my two cents as we go as well.

I just wanted to make sure you knew we had not forgot about everyone.

Cheers,
Derek Heck

I am Graphic Designer, venturing out on my own and so far had not much luck (mostly due to my own fault)… I have cubicle job with insurance company (as business consultant, not gd) and now I have decided it is time for me to take ownership of my dream and get into the job I LOVE!!!

I did little bit of marketing in my city as that is my targeted area, but since I am on shoe string budget need all the help I can get

Targeting small businesses in a need of affordable graphic design and couples for wedding web sites… Since I leave in wine region I would also like to reach out to many wine makers around…

Ta

Ivan

I’ve been doing web development for years, but just recently (jan 1st) launched my first blog and am worrying about marketing issues for the first time in my life

We’re covering classic and indie games, and next month plan to start interviews with game creators.

So far my marketing efforts have amounted to:

1. active blog posts (know that’s crucial)
2. active twitter activity – 40% of traffic so far is coming from there
3. slowly getting involved wtih blogCatalog and myBlogLog
4. have digg and stumbleupon accounts setup, but haven’t done much with them yet. 21 diggs on one story is the highlight of all that.
5. submitted to about 10 blog directories
6. I’m no SEO expert, but adding as much semantic code, tags, titles, etc to my entries

I guess that’s about it. I’ve got 50-60 unique viewers a day 2 weeks in. Any advice is welcome

Thanks!
Charlie

There are a lot of businesses who have websites that are really outdated, so I think one strong angle would be selling website redesigns. However, when I try and approach someone (through personal contact, phone or email) about this, they are often insulted that I think their website is out of date, even if it is really bad!

Another barrier to entry are the tough economic times, which have small business owners often telling me “I can’t afford it right now” (most of my websites are $1200 to $2500).

Any ideas as how I can get my name out in the town? Also would be appreciated any suggestions for a friendly way to approach clients by phone and email (since personal contact is very high effort and so far no return).

Thanks for your time and effort.
Sara

For a couple of years, I avoided social media because I didn’t want to expose too much of myself on the internet (aka personal privacy). However, in 2008 I changed my attitude into “I am my own brand” and jumped into the social soup and frankly, I need some help connecting the dots.

I’ve been running my own business for eight years and realize I need to make some changes in my marketing, PR, SM and more. As a designer, my target market is Investor Relations; niche public relations for publicly-traded companies. I work primarily with IR agencies designing presentations for senior management, fact sheets, annual reports, etc. This industry hasn’t changed much in 10-15 years despite that changes on the DJIA. I would like to reposition myself as THE creative go-to person that can bundle the projects with social media attribute. I’m currently looking at tools like Slideshare, Issuu Pro, SlideRocket and couple of others so that I can offer more services/benefits.

My website (being updated offline): http://creativeaces.com
My blog: http://www.outsidethemargin.biz
Twitter: jsondy

I’d appreciate any advise you can offer. Thank you.
Joann Sondy

I started a small business as a freelancer/virtual assistant and focus on helping out start ups, not only with their daily business but also with some advice on how to write a business plan and so on.

I am always intersted in some innovative ideas so I am looking forward for your suggestions.

All the best,
Jonathan

I dedicated 2008 to building great content on my blog and I did close to nothing to promote my blog. 2009 I plan on leveraging all the content that I created to start a revenue from my blog as well as to expand its readership.

Any ideas and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Usman Sheikh
http://www.twitter.com/usmansheikh