by Jennifer L. Thompson

Created on: June 23, 2008   Last Updated: April 22, 2010

Free website promotion is an effective way to promote a website without having to spend some extra cash. Technically, it could be more aptly thought of as how to promote your website with no cash output. The reality is, though these things may not take much actual cost per se (in dollars and cents), they can be time consuming... and, as you likely already know, time is money. This being the case, the other reality is, there are times when it may be necessary to keep the cash flow going elsewhere, and you will want to spend some time on promotion. So, here are some near effortless ways to spend a little free time promoting your website.

One way to do this is through signature links to your website. Put your web address in your signature on your email, so every email you send is an advertisement for your site. Forums of other websites are another good place to link signatures, and many cell phones will also allow a signature in your text messages. When entering a response through someone's blog, the place where your screen name goes will generally also allow this to be a link to your homepage, so this is another good way to get some exposure.

Writing online content can also be a great way to promote your website. Though the content you write can be related to your website, this isn't necessary. Any subject of interest will still promote your site and send more traffic your way. Content sites will often allow you to promote your site either from a bio page, or sometimes through a link on the article page itself. Though the articles themselves are meant to share someone's expertise and not to be self-promos, there will still be those readers who wish to explore more of your work, and will also follow through to your website. The great part is, some content sites will have various ways for you to earn with what you've learned, so, in essence, it pays in two ways.

For offline promotion, create simple flyers (either by hand or on your computer) to hang on bulletin boards at gas stations, grocery stores, your local post office, and the like. These will promote your site within the local community, which can bring in a surprising amount of web traffic. Word of mouth also does wonders, so also take a few moments to tell others about your website.

As with any business, it will also take some time to grow your online business. However, in using some free time to promote it with a variety of methods, you will still continually increase your web traffic. The best part is, once you do it, it keeps working for you without any further effort.

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