Free Advertising Sources For Home-Based Businesses

• The Indiego Connection This is an advertising network that will rotate your ad on members' sites for free. All you have to do is insert a bit of HTML code on your website or blog that rotates others' ads on your sites. It's an up and coming site, but has been growing quickly and robustly.
• Silkfair This is an online marketplace with free listings! You only pay a 3% fee on the items that sell. Your items don't have to be handmade to be listed on Silkfair.
• Blogger I think there may be three people left on Earth who don't have a blog. If you're one of them, then it's time to get bloggin'! I promise it's easy and free to do it at Blogger.com. Just sign up and follow the directions on the site. It doesn't have to be fancy, just get on and get writing. What to write about? Anything you know or like. Book reviews, TV reviews, reviews of stores...Start with these and see if the ideas don't just get flowing!
• BlogCatalog Okay, now that you have your blog, and now that you've been writing, list it on BlogCatalog. It's free to register and list your blog. Once you list your blog, work on getting traffic to your blog by adding fellow bloggers to your "Friends" (from each blogger's profile page, which can be accessed by clicking on the user's avatar, click 'Add To Friends'). Now that you have friends, rate others' blogs and ask your friends to give you favorable reviews. You can also join and form groups that can be used as networking and opportunities to gain traffic for your blog.
• IndiePublic A great networking site for Indie-lovers. Join, make friends, and gain traffic for your blog.
• The Sampler This is a great little company that will send your samples out to people interested in Indie goodies. Right now they send out boxes to over 500 subscribers. They also have media contacts in their arsenal. All it costs is your samples.
• The Little Black Box Another great way to get your samples into the hands of potential buyers. As of this writing, they assemble 150-200 boxes a month.
• Lemming Central One more sample distributor. I'm not sure what their distribution is, but I'm giving them a try along with the other two above beginning in August. I'll make sure I either post my results here or in my blog. I'll put a link to the results once I see how things go. Check back in a few months (check the updated date at the top of the article).
• Project Wonderful Okay. Now, this is a site that sells advertising on blogs. However, the way they have their bidding model set up, there is plenty of free advertising to be had from bloggers that do not have a minimum bid set up. It's a bit more detailed than I can go into here, but if you head over to their site and set up your account you can dig around their help files and use their search feature to find blogs with ad space that's free! It's worth a little digging to figure it out. Trust me.
• Entrecard I can't say that I totally understand this one. I'm just learning about it. I have heard some good things about them, though. I can say that it's free advertising and that I've been seeing these ads in many places on the web. Pop over and check them out. They may just work for you! They have an ebook for you to download that lays everything out.
• PayPerPost I wrote a blog article about this site. Rather than repeat the info here, take a hop over to my blog and check it out. It's an interesting site that just may work for you!
• Host a contest or giveaway.  There are blogs that list contests and the details of them. Do a google search on blog contests or blog giveaways to find the current ones. As you're clicking around, make note of blogs that mention giveaways and bookmark them. This is a great way to get traffic to your blog as well as your website. Just make sure you have a great prize, and follow through with the giveaway!
• Submit products for review. I'm sure you've run across blogs reviewing products. From now on, bookmark those sites. When you're ready, read through all of the guidelines for submitting products to those blogs. Choose products that seem relevant to the blog's readers and submit those puppies! To make your item even more 'reviewable,' send additional items for the reviewer to give away as prizes. This way, you build even more buzz around your product.

• As you join networking sites such as BlogCatalog and IndiePublic, make sure you use the same user id and avatar (the little picture that appears beside your user name) on all of the sites. When users from one site spot you on another, they'll recognize you right away.
• I'm serious about blogging. I know that you may feel as if you're talking to yourself (and for a while you will be!), but you never know who may find you and become a loyal reader (or customer!). Not to mention, you want to have quality content in place already once your traffic begins to pick up.