Ways to advertise?

Hi, I need to know some ways that i can advertise to get some business without spending money. As some of you might know, its hard to put money into advertising at the start. Once i get some money flow from my site, i will invest what i make the first few jobs, and put it torwards advertising (business cards, searches, banner spaces). Untill then tho i need a way to advertise, or find some jobs. This part is tough, ive been trying to get my foot in the door for about 2 weeks. I got 1 custom computer im gonna make this week, and possibly 1 more if the guy decides to buy. Id like to find a way to get more of those off my site, but i would also like to start doing web work off my site ( www.cuttingedgestudios.com ). Please help, sort of frustrated. :mad:

To be frank, you can't really advertise a business without a budget! You should have a reasonable amount to invest in promotion, this is one of the fundamental aspects to any businesses success on or offline.

I would suggest the best form of advertising you can do (without any budget) would be posting in large communities and include a link in your sig. Perhaps do some design work in exchange for advertising?

Target your friends/local market first. Phone up local companies, businesses and offer your services, perhaps even do door to door sales? I can't think of anything else other than "word of mouth", nothing else is free!

Ok, lemme do this then, what are some low cost advertising ways?

Low cost doesn't cut it. You need to invest a large amount to obtain a decent return, in your situation i would probably recommend google or partnerships with large forums/websites.

A partnership would get you a text link or small advert on their site, this will drive more traffic to your website and also help to increase brand awareness. Google on the other hand (adwords) is a very powerful marketing tool and could bring you a vast proportion of your business.

Have you thought about some seo on your website? It's free and can be worth it down the line!

'Low Cost Advertising' in many many cases is simply 'Waste Of Time'.

A lot of the time, the cheapest advertising is cheap because they're crap.

Try to link up relationships with other sites and get your link on their site. If you have friends with websites, see if you can put your link on their site.

Meta tags with keywords/description/etc is a good idea for search engine pick-up. Basically, submit to anything free you see, like all search engines, maybe nose around Adbrite.com and see if theres any big companies that aim towards visitors that may be interested in what you offer. Buy a link on there (some aren't that expensive, but some really are. Advertising in DeviantART for example, is about $250 for a week)

It's still difficult to actually have a successful site with a great amount of traffic without a decent budget for advertising. Ive been trying for ages, and it isnt easy.

Believe it or not...talkfreelance was created and advertised on a budget under $1k.

I believe it, as not many of the people I know have actually heard of you >.>;

Thanks guys, ill have to do some word of mouth at first, then whatever i make on my first couple jobs put it all torwards advertising on google adwords. I looked at it a few minuetes ago. Thanks for the idea of looking for partnerships. Thanks for all the help you guys.

That's what we're here for

You're welcome. Glad to be of help