It seems like an insurmountable task for people to find your site amongst hundreds of thousands of web sites out there. Especially when most of us are businesses with budgets and often very strict ones. With this article, I am going to let you know about some of most effective promotion methods I have found and they are absolutely FREE!

*Writing Articles - Writing articles is a power-packed way of promoting yourself and your business. Not only do people read about your business in your resource box, but because of your articles you will become known as someone who knows what they are talking about and can be trusted.

Writing articles is not as hard as it may seem. Write about what you know and just write as if you were instructing a friend or co-worker. Do not be afraid to let your personality shine through. That is what will make your articles unique. After you write your article, you will need to get them out to other ezine and ebook publishers. Article lists are a great way of doing this. Subscribe to list below and submit those freshly written articles. mailto:aabusiness-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:ArticlePublisher-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

*Discussion Lists and Message Boards - Those who know me or have read my articles before know that I am an avid believer of discussion lists and message boards. As with articles, you can establish your expertise and build your reputation which in turn will do wonders for promoting your business. Offer advice, help, ideas and post as often as possible! Make sure you have an effective sigline. I have made sales, business contacts and obtained subscribers just by welcoming new people to a group.

Be sure to follow guidelines for each group/board. You do not want to be accused of spamming! Get started with these groups & boards: mailto:Newbies911-subscribe@topica.com mailto:wahmhits-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://start-smartz.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi#post http://www.powerhomebiz.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard//ikonboard.cgi

Networking is when you come in contact with as many people you can to learn, share, promote, and form relationships with prospective customers. You want to talk about your business, but not blatantly advertise. Get to know others, learn from them, let them learn from you and get to know you. This is an excellent way of building a strong foundation for your business.

What you don't want to do is be a walking commercial. This will not get you very far in your networking. Do not spam when you are networking.

There are many effective and free ways of networking online. Message boards and discussion lists are two ways I have found to be most effective.

*Discussion Groups*

When you subscribe to discussion groups make sure you follow rules and guidelines for posting. You do not want to be accused of spam because you haven't read rules. Most lists will allow a sig tag, which is a great way of advertising without spamming!

Introduce yourself and become an active member of group. As you offer advice and help, people will begin to visit your business because of you and your willingness to help and your knowledge. This will help you build a respectful reputation.

You will also learn from other members. We can never do enough of that! I have found some lists to be invaluable in finding resources, and expanding my knowledge.

Listed below are a few of my favorite lists: mailto:entrepreneurs-network-exchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:WahmHits-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:digital-women-subscribe@yahoogroups.com