Free And Cheap Web Ads For Your Small Business

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 1:43 pm

Every business advertises in some way or another. The best advertising is free advertising and can be as simple as word of mouth. My goal in this article is to share free (or cheap) advertising method. I will focus on methods that can at least be initiated online or by email.

Online Classified Ads
There are tons of sites on the internet that allow you to place classified ads for free. The question that needs to be answered is whether anybody actually sees the ads and what kind of competition your ad will have.

A site that has 25,000+ classified ads probably gets some results, but you will have some stiff competition. If a site doesn’t have a lot of advertisers, it can mean your ad really stands out, but if there aren’t many advertisers, there probably aren’t that many shoppers either. You just have to find a happy medium.

Here are some of the online classified ads sites you may want to consider. Whether you are advertising for acia berry drinks, hemroid treatment or Ambit Energy, there are people looking for what you are selling.

* I have to start with the big one, Craigslist.org. I don’t know if they are the original, but they are currently the best. Many, many people look here when they want to buy. Your ad is set up for 1 specific area so you can really focus in on your intended targeted market.
* Have you ever heard of Ebay? Of course you have, but did you know that you can put classified ads on Ebay? For around $10, you can put up your classified ad for 30 days and it will show in the searches just the same as auctions. The best part is that the rules about linking out to other sites don’t apply. In fact the transaction won’t take place on Ebay and you don’t have to worry about negative feedback.
* www.usfreeads.com is a free classified ads site that has been on the internet since 1999. There is quite a bit of traffic, around 12 million page views per day, and it is all looking at classified ads. You can select to show to local markets or everybody. You can advertise for free, but are limited on what you can do. You can upgrade to Gold for $10 a year or Platinum for $9.99 per month. The more you pay, the more services you have access to.
* www.Topix.net is an online newspaper that has local ads for almost any area in the US. It gets a lot of traffic, around 12 million page views per day, but most of that focuses on the news stories. The ads are free so you really have nothing to lose.

Traditional Papers

Free classified or weekly newspapers are available in almost every city in the US. I have seen these papers be treated like the release of a Harry Potter book as people scramble to find the great bargains that will be offered up this week. Many times personal ads are free, but business ads have a cost. Even when you have to pay, the cost is usually much cheaper than the normal circulation newspaper.

If you do some searching or know people in other cities, all you have to do is log onto the website and you can place classified ads in cities you don’t live in.

Good luck with your business advertising. If you are looking for a business to advertise, check out the video below. I would love to help you get started if you are interested.