Free advertising online for small business

1. Blogs

A company blog can help you provide customers with up-to-the-minute information about new products and services. In fact, a 2011 eMarketer report found that over 57 percent of small businesses surveyed said they used a blog to find new customers. Since most blogging formats include an RSS feature, users can subscribe and receive your new content right in their email accounts. Several free blogging services like Wordpress or Blogger are available with rich features and extensive how-to support.

If you don’t want to invest the time required to write your own blog, you can still take advantage of blog promotional opportunities by commenting on industry-related blogs. Blog comments will normally include your website address and will give you the opportunity to share your expertise.

2. Industry-specific Professional Websites

If you are a member of a professional organization, licensing institute or chamber of commerce, you can often create a free listing on the organizational websites that will offer users your contact information and a link to your site or company blog. In addition, many product manufacturers offer their dealers a free listing in online dealer locaters used by consumers to locate products.

3. Email Campaigns

Creating email campaigns can be a very effective way to provide ongoing small business marketing to existing customers. You can take advantage of the customer email addresses you've accumulated and create your own bulk emails through Microsoft Outlook or other email programs. Online services such as Constant Contact or Mail Chimp offer very user-friendly creation of campaigns, mailing, and database management. Although the services have very economical fees based on the number of subscribers in your mailing list, you can also take advantage of their no-cost options for free small business advertising.

4. Social Media