Free advertising is not as abundant as it used to be. Especially on the Internet. When “Industry Portals” first came into popularity, almost every one had a “vendor directory” where you could list your company for free, and give details about what you do. The theory behind this was that it was content/deliverables to the sites visitors. However, the longer such sites are around, the less of them offer free listing in their directories. Why? Because their services are usually free to the user. Which means the company (Portal) has to make money somewhere, so they have to make it from the vendors that advertise, or list, with them.

Having said this, there are still a few portals out there where you can get listed. Try calling a trade association for the industry you are in and asking them if they can give you a list of portals.

There are also sites where you can trade links…if you list them on your site, they will list you on their site. This can be good depending on what their site is…as long as it is not competitive with yours.

Another way to get free advertising is online business directories and “yellow pages”. For instance, if you sell a consumer product in a local area, you can go on to the “city guide” type pages for your are (you can usually find such pages by starting at your Chamber of Commerce web site), and submit your company to be listed. Some of these are fee-based services, but you will find a few that you can list your company on for free.

One of the most popular ways to receive free advertising is to use word of mouth from people on the Internet. Include a tag line in all of your emails to your clients, have them promote your business with their friends and associates.