Before I start, this isn't really a post of what advertising and marketing techniques have worked for me in the past. It is more a warning against using certain methods of advertising when attempting to succeed on the internet!


No matter what walk of life, many people in this world seek out things that will make them well-known or successful in their chosen field, only for these sought after items to turn out to be either elusive or entirely fictitious.

To name but two, archaeologists search for the Holy Grail, (which may or may-not be fictional), and NASA scientists and other interested parties are searching for signs of Extra-Terrestrial life, (which again, may not exist).

In relation to the business world however, this elusive item that is sought after by all attempting to make a living for themselves online is the concept of ‘Free Advertising’!

Does it exist? The short answer is ‘Yes’. The long answer however is more complex. A quick summary of the long answer would be; ‘Free advertising does exist, but in most cases it fails to build success for those that utilise it’.

Allow me to explain this further.

Many of you with a website to promote (be it your own or an affiliate link to a product you will earn a commission from) may have undertaken Viral Marketing in some form or another. I have personally used this fabled advertising method for many of my own promotions. None of the Viral Marketing sites that I have used have led to much success for me.

I feel that there are many reasons for this, the first and foremost being that the majority of people that visit these Viral Marketing sites that your business advertisements’ are placed upon aren’t looking for what you are selling. They are instead looking for ways in which they too can advertise their business at no cost. Because of this, the only promotions that will generate interest from the viewers of these Viral Marketing sites are those relating to, and offering, free advertising itself. Your business promotions will more than likely end up trapped in obscurity if you pursue nothing but Viral Marketing methods as a means of promoting your business.

Those that achieve success from Viral Marketing advertising are those that are promoting other Viral Marketing sites instead of their own business promotions. It may seem that I am stating that Viral Marketing does work, due to me referring to the success that can be had from it, but before you come to that conclusion, consider what you have just read, being that;

In order to gain success from Viral Marketing, you will need to advertise other Viral Marketing (or free advertising) sites. Advertising your own business won’t gain you much success at all, (if any)! Let us now consider what will happen when someone does click on one of your links that advertises another Viral Marketing or free advertising site.

Will you place your business advertisement on this site?

If you did, would it be successful? The chances are that it wouldn’t, simply because it would, in effect, still be the same as if you were to advertise it on the first Viral Marketing site instead of the Viral Marketing sites you advertised for!

Those people that take an interest in your adverts for free advertising or Viral Marketing are only interested for one reason; to advertise their own promotions at no cost! This is the case for the vast majority of people that view Viral Marketing sites. They aren’t interested at all in your, (or anyone else’s), business promotions. They are only there to advertise their own promotions. If they just took some time to think about their own reasons for visiting the site, (to advertise their own product, NOT to look at other people’s promotions), they might decide against undertaking this task due to it being a futile one!

If everyone had the same motives when they visit these Viral Marketing sites, (and the majority of people do), no-one will ever pay attention to the business promotions advertised. They will instead just look for those advertisements that pertain to free advertising and other Viral Marketing sites that they could themselves use to promote their business ventures on. Viral Marketing is, in actuality, a Merry-Go-Round. In order to gain success from your Viral Marketing campaigns, you must advertise other Viral Marketing sites that you also advertise on. The advertisements that you place on these other Viral Marketing sites must then also be about other Viral Marketing sites if they are to be successful. At no stage in this non-stop, Viral Marketing cycle can you advertise your own business venture as this would just be glanced over unless it offers free advertising in some form or another!

The cycle never stops!

There are however other free advertising methods out there.

One of these would be to advertise on Free Classified advertising sites. This can lead to success for your business, and has done for me in the past. This method does come with its’ own problems however!

There are so many Free Classified advertising sites out there, to advertise on them all would take too long, more time than you actually put aside to advertise for your business anyway! There is a way around this though. You could pay money to one of the many submitters out there and they will then submit your advertisement to the vast majority of these Free Classified advertising sites for a small fee each month. Using this method is how I have gained success from advertising on Free Classified sites, but it isn’t technically free advertising anymore if you pay someone to do it for you, is it?!?

What I am trying to say here is that, while it is possible for you to advertise your business on these Free Classified advertising sites, and make a success out of these advertisements, it does become extremely time-consuming if you wish to do it all absolutely free!


There is one other free advertising method I would like to discuss; posting to subject-relevant forums. Perform a Google search of the name of the field your online business venture operates in with the word ‘forum’ added to it. For example; if you were promoting products relating to the world of golf, simply input “golf+forums” into the Google search box. You should be able to find a few quality forums in whatever market your online business operates in. Just make sure not to ‘abuse’ the forum by continuously posting nothing but advertisments. You must make sure that what you are posting is relevant to the original post. Make sure you read each forums ‘Terms of Service’ before you sign up to them as well. The majority of them allow you to use a ’signature file’ at the end of all of your posts. This is how you are able to use forums as a means of free advertising. Simply post an article or reply to a post that you know something about and can add to the discussion without making yourself sound foolish (if you sound like you know nothing about the subject do you think people will want to buy from you? - Of course not).

Forum advertising takes time, as does all free advertising and marketing methods, however, if done correctly, forum advertising in particular can greatly improve your business’ chance of success. Of course, those of you reading this will already know of the benefits of posting advice and responses on forums.

In conclusion, free advertising methods do exist, however, in most cases they fail to make your business any more successful than it was before you undertook these free advertising methods. Sadly, it appears that in order to achieve any sort of quick-success with your online business ventures, whatever they may be, you should concentrate the majority of your time, effort and budget on proven and effective advertising methods such as Pay-Per-Click advertising or, in some cases, ad submission software. Some free advertising methods do work (as mentioned above). You just have to have patience when you first start using them.

I urge you all to treat your online business as any regular business venture. You should be developing it for long-term benefits, not a quick buck!

Please note that if you intend to make use of any ad submission software, find someone that has gained success from a particular one in the past and use the same one. There are many scams out there that will just take your money and never submit your ad to sites that get searched by people. They will only be searched by automated machines so as to give you the impression that people are viewing them.

I hope this article has helped to clear up some issues that some of you may have had regarding methods of advertising online, and I wish you the best of luck with your future business endeavours.

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Viral marketing sites do have the potential to be great; however someone out there just needs to play around with and tweak the formula in order to get it to work properly. Maybe you have an idea and can do something revolutionary in the viral marketing world!

Have any ideas?

Post them here. I'm sure someone using the Internet Marketing Forum must be able to make a good suggestion a reality!?!

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A well written post and I agree with you on the free advertising issue. I would also like to point out is that no matter what business you are into, whether online or off, takes time, dedication and work. This is where the big misconceptions come in. People sign up for programs expecting to automatically start rolling in the money. There is no business that works that way. Trust me, I've searched for it. It just doesn't exist.

Another thing I would like to add to your post is that there is another form of advertising and that is article writing. Which this type of advertising has been a big success for me. Not only does it drive traffic to my site, but it drives buyers to my sites. People who read my articles are looking for something very specific and there in lies your customers...the hungry crowd.

A site I would recommend to all internet marketers, whether they are just starting out or have been doing internet marketing for a while, would be located in my signature link. There you will find all the tools, tutorials, courses, one on one coaching and several other resources. There is a membership fee, but everything you get is free. Its well worth being a part of a professional community that has a goal of helping other internet marketers get their share of the pie.

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