Anyone who has tried to promote an online business knows how competitive the Internet marketing world is. Trying to get traffic to your website can be time consuming, expensive and frustrating.

What if there was a different way to get visitors? And, what if that way was inexpensive and almost competition free? Fortunately, with a little creativity, there are ways that fit that description.

So, where is this place where almost no one is advertising Internet sites? Simple answer is - offline. I know what a lot of you are thinking right now: "but everyone knows online advertising is the fastest way to reach a lot of people". Exactly. And that's the problem - everyone knows.

Quite simply Internet advertising has become saturated. At the same time, in the huge rush to advertise online, almost everyone completely forgot about the pre-Internet advertising methods that had been working for decades. This left a huge advertising vacuum in the offline brick-and-mortar universe.

Without further delay: 4 ways to advertise your online business offline.

1. Business cards: Basic cards are very inexpensive to have made. Have them printed with your website url and a catchy advertisement the will interest people. Give them to people or leave them wherever they are likely to be found and read. Suggestions for place to leave them include: restaurant tables, public restrooms, car windshields.

2. Fliers: Fliers are great because it's so easy for most people to print them out themselves at a low cost. Better than business cards for leaving on car windshields because unlike cards they usually have to be removed before the car can be driven.

3. Lawn signs: Printed with your website address and advertisement copy, lawn signs can reach huge amounts of viewers when put in the right place. Position these near busy intersections or sections of the highway that get slow during rush hour. Imagine the same commuters, stuck in traffic day after day, seeing your sign over and over.

4. Postcards: These are great for sending to offline businesses if you have a service they can use. I advertised a successful roof cleaning business I used to own almost exclusively by sending post cards out to all the apartment complexes I could find within 50 miles. Does your website offer anything for; apartments, or hotels or antique shops or gyms or restaurants or any other business? Then you might give this a try. 

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to advertising your website offline. Use your imagination and the possibilities are near endless: pens, coffee mugs, door magnets, snow globes... Well, you get the idea. Good luck with your advertising and enjoy all the time it saves you from sitting at the computer.