We’ve put together a list of 20 sites where a company can promote itself at no cost. While these options are free, they require time and effort from you. You may get more for your efforts by focusing on the most relevant sites for your business rather than all. It requires a great deal of time to promote properly, so you want to pick the sites that your customers are likely to use. Take the time to think about how best to engage your potential market.
To get started, look at the following sites, and you’ll find at least a few that can bring powerful results to your site.
Social Media
Social media sites represent the most obvious first step in website promotion. They work most effectively when you have a large platform of followers, but you can also connect with influential users to get the word out.
Currently, Twitter has the most influence among media circles, college students, and other groups. If the right user mentions your website, it could gain a significant following quickly.
Facebook works best with those above age 30 who want to connect with family and friends or argue about politics. It does provide several tools for promoting sites and posts, though. Here’s a guide on how to get more followers too!
Instagram provides a platform where people can share images, music, and videos. Its business arm seeks to connect companies with millions of potential customers and clients.
Snapchat
This platform has the most influence among those in their teens and 20s. It allows people to exchange messages, images, and videos. The story function represents an effective way to gain followers and promote your site.
Tumblr
Tumblr has committed to reinventing itself as a social forum. It allows members to create blogs based on shared images.
Small businesses thrive while promoting products on Pinterest. Most know it as a great place to share recipes and crafts, but the right approach could boost small business exposure. Pinterest’s analytics can help track your impact.
LinkedIn has utilized its massive base of members to create several tools that help businesses. It’s helpful in establishing your business as an industry thought leader and is ideal for those in the service sector or B2B brands.
TikTok
TikTok is a booming social media site launched in 2014, originally named “musical.ly.” In the last two years, it has become one of the largest social media platforms, making it a great place to promote your website online. TikTok centers around short, funny video clips and interacting with other users. This makes it ideal for businesses with a younger audience and a fun brand image.
Directories
Angi (formerly Angie's List)
This directory provides names and reviews of businesses involved in contracting. Angi is nationally promoted and a powerful platform to well-reviewed firms.
Apple Maps
For those who don’t know, Apple Maps is Apple’s addition to the GPS marketplace and a direct competitor with Google Maps. Apple Maps is preinstalled on every mobile Apple device and computer and receives over five billion user requests weekly. In other words, if your business isn’t on Apple Maps, you’re missing out on a lot of potential traffic.
Google My Business
Google My Business is one of the important places to promote your website online in 2022. It improves your SEO, tells prospective customers more about your business, creates rich search results when people search for your business, allows customers to review and contact your business through Google, and much more. You're missing out if you don’t have a GMB account yet.
Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau has been a standard location for well-reputed businesses to promote themselves. They were being listed on the BBB used to be standard fare for those seeking to establish a positive reputation. The BBB was a resource before the common use of computers.
Yelp
This represents an easy way to get the name of a business, especially a food or retail establishment, out into the public eye. The Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses.
Bing Places for Business
Bing Places for Business is Bing’s alternative to Google My Business. It functions almost the same way, providing you with the same features and tools for promoting your website. The benefit of Bing Places is that it opens you up to another portion of the internet-based market, and best of all, because Bing isn’t as widely used as Google, it’s easier for businesses to stand out on the lesser-used search engine.
TripAdvisor
Travelers know that TripAdvisor can be a virtual lifesaver. Users will often search TripAdvisor religiously when visiting a new place. It can help find the best deals and quality service from hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, and more.
Others
YouTube
YouTube might serve as the most powerful promotional platform in the world. It can take a five-minute family-made film and turn its owner into a successful person almost overnight if users enjoy it. YouTube provides great tools to help develop and grow businesses online.
Vimeo
Like YouTube and Dailymotion, Vimeo is a platform for video content creation and sharing. The main difference in Vimeo is that it places more focus and influence on monetizing video products. While it has a free service, using the monetization tools costs money.
Free Press Release
Free Press Release offers a distribution service that shares your press releases with the FPR network and also works to place them high on search engines’ radars.
24-7 Press Release
Like other press release distribution services, 24-7 Press Release will take your announcement and spread it among various news and media services. It also boasts of a connection to the Associated Press.
Trustpilot
Speaking of trusted and informational websites, let’s talk about Trustpilot. Trustpilot is an online platform dedicated to giving consumers a voice. It allows people to review and promote businesses they like and share negative experiences with other users on the platform. You can use Trustpilot to your advantage by requesting that your customers review you on the site. You can then share positive reviews directly on your website, boosting your reputation and credibility.
To learn more about promoting your small business or startup online, check out the rest of Upsway Marketing's Blog. If you’d like to launch a new website or social media campaign fast and affordably try the Upsway today!