Writing and submitting articles is arguably most effective free way to achieve aforementioned, but there is another proven self promotion method that is often overlooked ...

Regular Online forum interaction.

Discussion forums, bulletin boards, Online communities, group chat, etc., in other words, a group of individuals with a common interest that share an interactive environment.

Every niche market has one or more of these high exposure, hot beds of interactivity available to them, and numbers continue to increase.

Reputable forums do NOT tolerate outright promotion, allowing (in most cases) only a signature file as identification.

This is actually a key benefit, as it helps maintain a controlled environment, setting stage for positive, content rich interaction.

Once you've established yourself through regular postings, level of trust, credibility, acknowledgement, and exposure you achieve will increase, commensurate to how well you're received by your fellow members.

Here is a list of Internet Marketing forums that I frequent:

Anthony Blake Online - Entrepreneurial Success Forum http://www.ablake.net/forum/

Bryan Hall's Success Network Forums http://www.bryanhall.net/members/forum/index.php

Neil Shearing's Internet Success Forum (member's only) http://www.scamfreezone.com/privatesite

Jim Daniel's BizWeb 2000 BB http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615

Klaus Dahl's Forum http://www.klausdahl.com/forum/index.php

They even told you that you will get a ton of traffic to your new site. And you will have 100's or even 1000's in your downline if you advertise your business this way. "Keep at it," they say, and within a couple of weeks you will see exponential results.

So you follow their advice. Night after night you come home from work and advertise your business to free classified ads and FFA pages. You just know that sooner or later your efforts will pay off.

And then reality hits like a ton of bricks! You've been advertising your business for two months now. To your dismay you find that you don't even have one lead or one referral.