The first place to look for referrals is from happy customers. When someone is satisfied with your product or service, mention how much you would love for them to tell friends and co-workers. Most people feel a bit proud you would ask.

The principle is pretty simple. Firstly, you open an account with search engine. Once you have an account you can bid on relevant keywords to get a high ranking in results when those keywords are searched for. You only pay when your listing is clicked.

The advantages of pay-per-click search engines are that you get highly targeted traffic AND you get to decide how much you're willing to pay for that traffic.

Now, pay-per-click search engines are great when your business is up and running. You know which keywords bring best prospects. You can predict how many of those prospects are going to turn into customers.

However if you're just starting out you may not be sure if investing in pay-per-click search engine ranking is worth it and you may not be sure which keywords you should invest in.

Well, good news is that you can find out for free.

There are quite a few pay-per-clicks out there that will let you open an account for free AND they'll give you an opening balance to get started.

That means you've got opportunity to try out pay-per-clicks and test your keywords without spending a dime.

Here are some of sites that will give you a free opening balance (the amount on offer is in brackets):