Free Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses

#1 Register the business website on free listing directories like DMOZ which would help increase the online traffic on the small business website.

#2 Utilize classified ad sites. Create ads to advertise a specific product or service. Make sure to create your ad like you would any other paid ad. Solve a problem. Create a compelling headline. Offer a call to action.

#3 Add your business to local search engines like Google Places, Local Yahoo, Local MSN and so on. Add reviews to your profile. Make sure the address and contact information is consistent with what you have published on your site. Also add a few local keywords to your website SEO strategy. For example, if you're located in Austin Texas and your website is about fitness training, then you might choose "Fitness training Austin Texas."

#4 Publish ads on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Don't go crazy with the advertising. Simply publish them on your profile page or include them occasionally in your posts.

#5 Swap advertisements with relevant websites. For example, if you're a fitness trainer and you know a nutritionist, you can each publish an ad for the other on your website. It's a simple advertising partnership. You can also publish ads in each other's newsletters.

#6 Participate in industry forums that allow you to promote your business. You can create advertisements specifically for your forum audience.

#7 Use free listing sites like Craigslist to advertise for your business. Create the advertisements like you would for any other medium. Have a captivating headline, copy that provides a solution to a problem and then a call to action.

You can also print flyers and brochures and leave them around town. And while it's not free, you can also print your website on stickers or magnets and place them on your car. These types of ads generally don't cost much and they can have a good return on investment - particularly for local businesses.

Free advertising opportunities are all around you. It just takes a bit of creativity to recognize and capitalize on them. To your success!

There are many elements of a successful website. Traffic is one of the primary components. As an element of traffic, search engines play an important role. Search engines pay attention to the content on a website. They recognize links, too. Incoming links can boost your page ranking and thus your traffic quite significantly.

Seven Ways to Attract Incoming Links

#1 Content - The first and most important way to attract incoming links is through great content. When you publish content that is entertaining, valuable and informative people will naturally link to your website or blog. Content can be video, audio, print or any combination. The essential element is that it is worthy of being linked to.

#2 Social networking - Once you have great content on your website you can use social networking to generate attention. Post links to your best content on your social networking site of choice. Interact. Generate awareness and attention for your website. People will notice your website and again they'll naturally link to it.

#3 Blog - Blog and guest blog. Blogging is another natural way of creating content. When you publish guest blog posts then you are reaching a new audience. The more attention you generate for your website, the more people will link to you. Additionally, you can create a blog to support your website. This blog can link to relevant content and web pages to help increase incoming links.

#4 Online directories - There are a number of online website directories. Simply register with the directories. They can provide a few powerful incoming links. For example, DMOZ is a notable directory. You can also list your business website with local search directories like Google Places. It's free. It's easy. And it'll generate a few quality incoming links.

#5 Social bookmarking - Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg can provide incoming links. Join a few bookmarking sites. Create a profile. Interact with others much like you would on a social networking website. Bookmark web pages that you like. Also, when appropriate and relevant, bookmark a few top-notch pages on your own site. This process boosts awareness for your website. Other people will bookmark your pages. And the pages you bookmarked will receive attention and incoming links.

#6 Content marketing - Publish articles on article directories and other people's websites. This actually generates a substantial amount of incoming links. Also consider creating syndicated content. You might publish a newsletter. In each newsletter you'll have an article or two. You can include a snippet that tells others they can publish the article if they don't change it and if they keep your links and bio. When your content is top level, people will publish your articles on their site with the links intact. Voila - incoming links!

#7 Press releases - Finally, consider publishing press releases when you have news to share. Use services like PRWeb to distribute them. It's another great way to generate incoming links.

Incoming links help you climb your way to the top of the search engine rankings. They boost traffic. Create a plan today to start increasing your links and grow your business.