Free advertising online for my website

If you want to promote your blog, website or online business, there’s no need to have a large advertising budget. There are, in fact, many free or very low-cost ways to advertise. Let’s look at 25 free advertising ideas you can start using today!

1. Use a signature in your emails. Link to your website using anchor text. This makes every email you send out an advertisement for your site.
2. Submit your site to free online directories. There are many of these, and this can help your site rank better with the search engines.
3. Send out free press releases. There are many press release services that will submit your press release for free.
4. Advertise using free classifieds. Craigslist is now the most popular, but there are many others as well. Backpage and eBay classifieds are a couple of examples and there are thousands of others.
5. Join relevant discussion forums. Put your website in your forum signature. This can help you connect with people in your industry and get them to check out your site.
6. Publish articles on article directories such as Ezinearticles.com. This is free and can get you traffic and backlinks. Good articles may also be re-published by other blogs and websites, getting you even more publicity.
7. Create videos and upload them on YouTube and other video sharing sites. You can make videos for free using your webcam, with Powerpoint or using a free video editing program.
8. Get free business cards printed up using a service like VistaPrint. Put all your contact info there, including your website URL. Hand them out all over!
9. Get a free blog on a site like WordPress.com, Blogger.com, or Tumblr.com. This allows you to broadcast your message to a wide audience. Update your blog frequently.
10. Create a Facebook page. This is separate from your personal page, and gives you a chance to talk about your business and get people to follow you.
11. Join LinkedIn. This is a rapidly growing social network. They have a paid membership, but you can accomplish a great deal as a free member as well.
12. Tweet every day. Twitter is hugely popular right now. You can tweet links to your website, affiliate offers and anything else you want. Don’t just spam your followers, though. Be social and share helpful info too!
13. Hire people on Fiverr.com to perform various marketing tasks for you. They will do things like create videos, blast tweets or create backlinks for you. This isn’t totally free, but each gig only costs $5.
14. Create podcasts. This is an underused way to get your message out there. You can publish these on blogs, websites or social media pages.
15. Post flyers locally. Place them anywhere that has a public bulletin board.
16. Advertise your website URL on your car. You can paint it on or create a sticker.
17. Use image sharing sites like Flickr, Instagram and Pinterest. You can optimize your photos with links to your site.
18. Start an email list. To do this right you will need an autoresponder. Some companies offer free trial periods, while others such as MailChimp will let you send out a certain number of emails each month for free. As you get more subscribers, you can upgrade to a paid plan.
19. Comment on other blogs. Choose popular, high traffic blogs on a topic relevant to your business. Leave an intelligent comment and be sure to leave your URL in the provided space.
20. Use QR codes. These can be created for free and placed on business cards or flyers. When someone clicks on them with a smart phone, they will be taken to your website.
21. Give a talk. If you are an expert in a certain field, arrange to give a talk at your local library, community college or chamber of commerce.
22. Publish a book on Kindle. This allows you to make money and also publicize your business.
23. Exchange links with other website owners. This can help both of your sites rank better in the search engines.
24. Create a slideshow and upload it to slideshow sites such as SlideShare.com. This is another place where you can insert a link back to your website.
25. Network with local and regional business associations. Attend trade shows and conferences. These can be very effective for meeting valuable contacts.

The above are just some of the ways you can advertise your business for free or at a very low-cost. Use your imagination and you can think of even more!