There are two ways in which you can promote your internet business - either through advertising or publicity. Generating good, positive publicity for your website can fetch you customers who already have formed a favorable opinion about you. This is very different from advertising. Advertising is something you pay for and create specifically to sell your product. It is usually taken with a pinch of salt by most people. They wonder if you can really deliver all that you have promised in your message. Publicity, on the other hand, gives your product or website a degree of credibility with the audience. People naturally assume that if someone has said something good about it, maybe there is something to it!

Think about it. If a friend gives you a rave review of a product he bought, you are more likely to take a look at it than if you had heard about it on a radio commercial or TV advertisement. In this scenario, the friend is creating publicity for the product while the radio commercial is simply touting the benefits of the same. As a small business owner, you should harness the power of publicity to your advantage. We’ve listed 3 surefire ways to generate good publicity for your website or internet business:

Search engine listing: Most people tend to trust a website if they find it through a search engine query. This usually works better than a sponsored listing. Securing a good position on search engine listings generates great publicity for your website. In order to improve your site’s ranking on the search engines, you need to use search engine optimization techniques, something we’ve talked about earlier.

Testimonials: Knowing that others have tried and liked a particular product or service always offers a degree of confidence to a new user. If you have a bunch of satisfied customers, ask their permission to post their comments and their contact information as testimonials. Remember to include the names and email addresses of the people giving the testimonials to ensure trustworthiness.

Writing Articles: One of the best ways to generate publicity for your website is by writing articles and posting them on e-zines and other sites. By writing relevant, unbiased articles, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and, over time, develop a strong customer base. At the end of the article, include a short bio with your name, the name of your business, a short tagline, and the link to your website. By creating a name for yourself as an expert in your field, you are encouraging people to trust you and buy from you.

While advertising might still be your top choice, do not ignore these simple steps to build publicity for your website. Not only does it work, but costs very little too!