Ways to promote your Website on a Shoestring

well, the good news is that you do not really have to have deep pockets to promote your web business
on the internet. In this particular respect the world wide web is a relatively level playing field,
at least compared with traditional media outlets. The reason is that if you just throw
money at the problem of advertising your website without at least some knowledge of how this unique medium truly functions, you could fall
into one of the many pitfalls that are waiting for you, unfortunately. Just the way it is you know. So you should begin small and spend more as your experience level starts to grow.
I certainly recommend that you read the book by Jay Conrad Levinson called 'Guerrila Marketing Techniques'. It goes into superb detail on this rather important topic. It is must read for online 'netpreneurs'.
He spends plenty of time on all of the steps and likewise makes many critical distinctions. I suggest that you begin with the those methods which take the longest and then proceed from there. That is why I generally prefer to begin my promotion efforts by submitting my website to the relevent
web directories. This is because and it can literally can take weeks or even months to be approved in some web directories, particularly the very prestigious ones
such as the DMOZ or Open Directory Project. Be absolutely certain that you choose the right category prior to submitting, naturally. A good one to start with is
The Keeb Database Directory
The wonderful thing about directories in my humble opinion is they can increase your inbound links and you will never have to submit your website to the search engines
if you are listed on several good directory sites. Next you will want to write an article pertaining to the content of your website, and then submit that article, along with your website URL
in the resource box, to the leading article directories such as Ezinearticles and Article City. Whoever uses your article as content on their website or
ezine must have a direct link back to your site. What is wonderful about this method is the viral marketing aspect of it. In other words, if you
write a good article it will continually used by webmaster for months and even years later, continually promoting your site on an ongoing basis long after you submitted the article.
Next you will want to join some discussion forums which feature subject matter that is similiar to your website's theme. So, for example if you run
a real estate and investing website you will want to join a forum or message board related to these topics or something similiar. These boards
will generally allow you to have a signature or 'sig line' in which you can put your website address as well as a catch phrase so people
will want to click on it. Then just be a part of the discussion normally and you will promote your online business as you do. The same goes for newsgroups or
the usenet. These are just different types of discussion forums. You may then proceed on to the free classified type websites.
I also recommend ezine advertisements because you can usually find your site's specific niche. There are ezines about real estate, computers, medicine, blogging, home & family and many more subjects as well.