Probably one of the most frequently asked questions by Webmasters all over the world is "How can I promote my site or service free?" Do such opportunities really exist out there? Certainly there are many ways to promote your web site for free. From link (or banner) exchanges, to discussion board postings, to a simple signature with the site URL at the bottom of every email you send out, there are numerous options available for webmasters on a zero-dollar promotions budget.

It's important to remember that none of the suggestions below are a sure guarantee of traffic for any given situation or web site. As you will see, there are several different free promotion methods detailed, but the onus is on you as a Webmaster to see which ones (if any) work well for you. Try them out individually, combine them, stagger your implementation of them, but ultimately, there are no hard and fast rules. The best combination or option may differ greatly from site to site, so you must experiment.

Free promotion techniques for you to try:

Exchange Banners and/or Links With Other Webmasters

One of the best means of free promotion is to exchange links with others. A link exchange may bring your site: (a) Additional traffic in the form of Surfers who saw your link on another site; (b) Better rankings in the engines that use 'link popularity' to help determine a site's importance. Just about every Jamaican web site has a "favorite links" or "recommended links" page of some sort, and I've found that most Jamaican webmasters are pretty amicable about a link for link exchange. So, if you have the time for it, try to find sites that are along the same general theme as your own, contact as many of their webmasters as possible, and make some serious reciprocal banner or link exchange arrangements.

Issue a Press Release

If and only if you have something newsworthy on or about your web site, then it may be in your best interest to issue a press release about it. Don't be overawed by the words "press release", thinking that major newspapers (such as the Gleaner and Observer in Jamaica) wouldn't be in the least interested in your "little web site". A press release that is published by a community newspaper in a predominantly Jamaican neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York might be just as effective; so do your research and identify all magazines, newsletters, newspapers and e-zines that may be willing to publish your press release FOR FREE.

E-mail Signatures

An e-mail signature is basically a few lines of text placed at the bottom of an outgoing email. It can act as your online business card. A one or two line signature with your site's URL is an excellent way to subtly promote your web site. Almost daily, just about everyone gets the various jokes, pictures and other items that are forwarded from friend to friend to co-worker via e-mail. Adding your signature to an outgoing e-mail can reap unexpected rewards. It's likely that many persons will continue the chain of emails that includes your signature, thus increasing the chances of your web site URL being viewed by many, far and wide.

Discussion Board Postings

Jamaicans by nature love to discuss and chat about everything and anything. There are many discussion boards on the web dedicated to discussing Jamaica-related topics including music, politics and food. Subtly promoting your site, especially on boards and topics that it directly relates to, is a good easy way to get free promotion. I can't stress enough how important it is to be discreet with your site promotion on these boards. You can't just go blasting in, announcing your site. Do this and you're likely to be flamed (yelled at and ignored) by other board members who may not be so welcoming to such blatant site promotion techniques. Try responding to posts with your own posts, and include a signature file that has your site's URL at the bottom of the post.

Do Something Viral

The phrase "Viral Marketing" was coined a few years ago, and can be defined as any advertising that propagates itself in the same way as a virus; or in other words, an advertising method that once released, is quickly spread by others with little or no control from the originator. These days, really unique viral marketing ideas are pretty few and far between, but if you can come up with a good one, brand it with your URL and send it on its way, who to tell where it may end up and who might see it. Screensavers, executable files (EXE's), Flash files and creative surveys are some of the more popular viral marketing tools used in the past.

Hopefully these tips will help you to better promote your online business or increase the traffic to your site. Good luck with your promotions.

Sandor Panton ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is a Jamaican currently working as a Search Engine Optimizer for an Intenet Marketing Company in Ontario, Canada. He is also the owner of www.top5jamaica.com, a Jamaican search portal.