Free Website Advertising for Small Businesses

If you’re a new small business owner, you don’t have to dump money into your marketing strategy right away. There are plenty of free business advertising opportunities available online to get you started. 

9 Free Ways to Advertise Your Website

1. Optimize for Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the work you do on the website itself to get your website higher up on the google search results page. Though some keyword research tools cost money to make the most of their capabilities, it’s possible to follow SEO best practices for completely free. 

2. Start Email Marketing

Email may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of online advertising, but it’s an easy, low-cost way to reach potential customers and keep the  new customers you already reached coming back. Once your email list grows past a certain point it’s a good idea to use an email marketing automation tool, but when you’re just getting started you can simply use your business email account for it. 

3. Build a Social Media Presence

If you’re an online business and you’re not on social media, you might as well not exist. You can build brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, get conversions, and even sell products directly on social media without ever paying to place an ad. 

4. Create Business Profiles for Search and Maps

Local search results are a great free advertising opportunity for small local businesses. It’s easy to create a Google My Business, Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Bing Places listing so their respective services will recommend your business to people looking for options near them. 

5. Become a Guest Blogger

Blog posts not only increase your website’s SEO profile, they also establish your company as an authority to your target audience. If you’re not ready to start your own blog yet, you can get your feet wet by providing high quality content as a guest blogger and linking to your site somewhere in the post. 

6. Get Backlinks

Backlinks refer to other sites linking to yours. They signal to search engines that your website is legitimate. The easiest way to get started with backlinks is to exchange a link for a link with sites that are related to yours, but not competitors. Not only is this digital marketing tactic free, but paying for backlinks is frowned upon. 

7. Participate in Online Forums

Online forums are another chance to establish yourself as an expert in the field. Browse forums related to your industry, answer questions, and plug your website when appropriate, just try not to look thirsty about it. 

8. Link to it in Your Email Signature

Linking to your website in your business or personal email signature is an easy way to get traffic to your website from people you’re already talking to. 

9. Include it on All Printed Materials

Funny enough, online advertising isn’t the only way to promote your website. If you have any printed materials related to your business like flyers, business cards, and merchandise, be sure to print your website and phone number on them. The printed materials themselves may not be free, but including your website on them is a great way to leverage a marketing technique you already use. 

Places to Promote Your Business for

Free

These free advertising sites, business directories, social networks, and classified ads sites are all great free ad opportunities. 

Online Directories 

Online directories cover a range of audiences from high profile platforms to simple local listings. Listings typically display your business name, website, location, contact information and photos. These free advertising sites can drive traffic to your website and brick and mortar location alike. They can also improve your SEO.

• Google My Business
• Apple Maps
• Bing Places
• Yellow Pages
• Angi (formerly Angie's List)
• Yahoo! Local
• Better Business Bureau
• Manta
• Merchant Circle
• Superpages
• eLocal
• Submit Express
• EZ Local
• Local.com
• Thumbtack
• Hotfrog
• Brownbook.net
• Tupalo.com
• Insider Pages
• TripAdvisor

Social Media Platforms

Social media marketing is a powerful, low cost strategy. Choose social media platforms to use to promote your business based on your product and target audience.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• TikTok
• Pinterest
• YouTube
• Yelp
• Buzzfeed Community

Forums and Curating

Like social media platforms, forums and curating sites function as entertainment and sometimes education for users, but they’re also good online advertising opportunities for businesses. These sites are good for subtle promotions and improving your backlinks and SEO. 

• Reddit
• Quora
• Tumblr
• Mix (formerly StumbleUpon)
• Product Hunt
• Digg
• Scoop.it
• Juxtapost
• Akonter

Classified Ads Sites

Classified ads are small, often free ads placed in newspapers, magazines, or online boards. Dedicated classified ad platforms may seem old school, but posting on them can help generate backlinks. 

• Craigslist
• Facebook Marketplace
• Locanto
• Oodle
• OLX
• Classified Ads
• Hoobly
• Geebo
• AdPost
• Gumtree

How Sav Can Help

Promoting your small business shouldn’t be hard or expensive. That starts with a beautiful website at an affordable price. Start promoting with us today!