Some of the most effective advertising techniques are free, especialy when your starting out and the money isn't flowing in yet.

Method 1:

Optimize your site for keywords relevant to your business. You can learn alot about the proper ways to do this at various sites, forums and blogs online for free. You can also learn almost anything you want to learn about SEO or anything else for that matter at your local library.

Method 2:

Write informative articles that would be of interest to your target market and submit them to article directories. Provide useful information that people will appreciate without trying to sell anything. Include a tagline at the end of each article describing your business with a link to your site. If you submit a couple of articles a week, before long you will have links pointing back to your site all over the internet. Keep your aticles brief and to the point, while offering the reader some valuable free information. Generaly around 500 words is standard.

Method 3:

Submit your site to search engines, directories, specialty listings sites, industrie organizations and yellow pages. This is another way to get noticed and get one way links back to your site and some free traffic. Use search engines to find all these places and submit your site.

Method 4:

Submit classified ads pointing people to your website to all the free classified sites you can manage. This is another way to get some bonus free traffic to your site. You can't just post to one or two sites and expect very much in the way of results though. You need to post to as many sites as possible and on a regular basis.

Post to blogs. forums and message boards that allow you to post with a tagline that has a link to your site. You should always try to post something of value though and not just in an attempt to market your site. Be helpful and respectful and this strategy will serve you well.

Method 5:

Start your own blog. One of the easiest, most effective ways to promote your business is with a blog. Update your blog with relevant information on a regular basis using targeted keywords in each post. When your first starting it's best to update once per day or so. This strategy can work wonders to get you listed at the top of the seach engines relatively quickly.

Method 6:

Implement an aggressive linking strategy. Find relevant sites targeting the same market that you are but that are not direct competitors and ask them to link to your site. If you use this technique you will need to offer something on your site (products or information) that will be of value to your prospective link partner's customers. You can also get reciprocal links which is when you place a link on your site to your link partner's site and they in turn place a link to your site on theirs.

Method 7:

Write an email newsletter (ezine) and submit it to ezine directories. This strategy is similar to the strategy used for writing articles. The articles you submitted to article directories can be used in your ezine and vice versa. You can also use appropriate articles from other authors that you find at the article directories that would be of interest to your ezine readers.

Method 8:

Use press releases to get the word out about your product or business. Contact publications and reporters with a direct interest in your industry or area of expertise. If you have something interesting or newsworthy to say then this can be an excellent strategy.

Method 9:

Join traffic exchange programs. Traffic exchanges are membership sites that you join and in return for visiting other members websites you will get visitors to your own site. These programs take some work but you can gain lots of visitors to your site for your efforts.

Method 10:

Make joint ventures with people in your industry that offer complimentary products and services to your business that your customers would find valuable. Then promote each other and both parties benefit without having to pay for advertising.

Method 11:

Engage your circle of influence. Some of the best free advertising in the world is called word of mouth. It's possible to make a fortune with this method alone. Just ask any successful network marketer. Make a list of all the people you know and then egage these people in some way whether it be by email, telephone or in person and let them know about what it is that you do. The people that are actualy interested might surprise you.

Method 12:

Be your business. If you have a good, honest business that your proud of and passionate about, then let people know about it. Engage everyone you come in contact with, whether it be in the line at the grocery store or your waitor at your favorite resturaunt. Don't just yell at strangers about how excited you are because that obviously will not work. Engage people in conversation ask them what they do or how they like what they are doing. Their natural reaction will be to ask you the same things in return. Tell them what you do and exchange business cards with them or at least give them one of yours.

Method 13:

Put your URL on everything. Place it on all your stationary such as letterhead and business cards. Also include your URL in your email signature in all your outgoing mail. Be creative and make sure your website address is seen by as many people as possible.

Method 14:

Create a unique, interesting video about your business or products and submit it to all the video sharring sites that you can find. If your creative with this technique you can drive tons of targeted traffic to your site for free.

Method 15:

Write a free ebook. You could use articles you have written for submission or for your ezine and piece them together to form your ebook. Or just start from scratch and write an ebook your target market will find useful. Include your links in your ebook and list it with the free ebook directories. If the information you give away is usefull then people will appreciate it, visit your site and hopefully become customers.

These are just some of the ways that a person can advertise their business for free. Maybe every one of these techniques applies to your particular business but this article should help you to at least get started in the right direction.