How do you promote your web business without spending thousands or millions of dollars on pay per click or banner advertising? There are challenges in marketing your program if you do not have a big budget to spend on advertising, or are a student with a start-up.

I remember the first time I made a website back in 1996 before pay per click advertising. What was most important and what is still most important today is content. The Internet is another advertising medium; it is not the panacea as suggested in the late 1990’s. But the Internet is a tool that can be very valuable in promoting your business. It is a tool just for providing people with information and entertainment like television. However, the Internet started out with more word and less general graphic and software capabilities in the beginning. Now these programs abound.

One thing I learned is you want to create a balance, yes you want your site to be appealing, but beyond the appeal it has to have function. People have to want to use your site or find valuable information or access to such information.

How you present this information is key. It must be easily identifiable or recognizable from the homepage. You can find information organized by category or by alphabetical order. The information must have a flow and a direction, perhaps an offer of product or service in the end once you have proved the valuable. Having asked questions and recognized what sites were gaining the most exposure is one thing. Another is publicity. There are ways you can gain marketing dollars without having to pay for advertising. If you have a genuine story that is of valuable to people, publicity will serve you well. Publicity is one of the best ways to promote your business without spending large dollars on advertising. Publicity is essential for any new business opening. It can also be effective when changes take place in your business; the public needs to hear. Publicity helps you get known in your local community or association.

Important points to consider when writing a publicity article are to include your full business contact info; have a title that speaks of change or news of interest; keep your story to the point; and try to build suspense till the end. Convey how your story affects the local market or community; include information readers of the particular newspaper etc. would be interested in. There are free services in your local business association or through http://newswire.ca.

Once you have spread the word about your business and are making progress you can start to spend some of your money on advertising. If you have capital to spend on advertising up front or have a short window of opportunity then pay per click is the way to go. Before starting a pay per click campaign you must determine what key words you are going to use. But you might want to see what keywords your competition is using first. You can do this by entering the keywords in the search engine you want to get listed in, and see who ranks in the top 25.