How to Place a Free Business Ad

Businesses welcome free advertising.

Free business ads are invaluable for marketing and promotion. Paid advertising is often a huge part of a company's marketing budget and free ads may allow shifting some marketing dollars to other areas. Free advertisements often create great word-of-mouth advertising, especially on the Internet as people using social networks tell their friends and relatives about exciting offers. Free advertisements are not always as effective as targeted paid ads, but the value can be outstanding because there's no cost.

Instructions

1. Publish advertisements on free online classified sites. Find sites through referrals from people in your social networking circles or call your public library to ask a research assistant for a list of the most popular free online classified sites. Place free business ads on the sites by navigating to the sites to sign up and publish ads.

2. Place free business ads as posts on social networking sites. Join several social networking sites and use your profile page to place the posts. Avoid annoying your readers by using this tactic sparingly. Ideally, post your free business ad with related editorial content the reader can link to. For example, if you're in the mobile car wash business, create a free business ad about your service and then link out to a news story about the mobile car wash industry.

3. Place business cards and messages on bulletin boards at coffee shops and grocery stores. These old-fashioned sales techniques still work despite the dominance of the Internet.

4. Create a blog or newsletter using free software widely available on the Internet and place free business ads in the publications. Also barter with other bloggers and websites for free ads.