A few years back a number of experts were predicting the end of free website promotion. The thinking went since the major conglomerates were starting to utilize the internet more and more, it would eventually drive up the price on just about every aspect of online business including advertising. This would put a lot of pressure on small and home based online businesses that had benefited from the early days of website promotion when costs were free or very affordable and competition was not as widespread.

The good news is free website promotion never went anywhere. It has continued to grow and evolve just like the internet. Maybe the boom years of website promotion don't exist anymore due to the number of websites online but in some ways its better than before. Constant growth means more people online to view your information or product.

Here are a few tips to getting the most out of free website promotion:

1. The Directories

This could be the easiest way to generate free website promotion. Just create a profile of your website including a good description along with the right targeted keywords and begin submitting your site to the many online web directories. This as you may have gathered will not generate traffic to your site overnight. However over time it will lay the groundwork for more backlinks to your site which can greatly improve your website's search engine ranking and link popularity. Start out by submitting your site to at least five directories per day.

2. The Forums

It's almost as if forums were built for free website promotion. Just register with the forum of your choosing, create a signature file (also known as a resource box) and start advertising. One important element to remember: To make forum advertising truly work, you must become an active participant in that community. Do not just post your latest product or service. Instead make a deliberate and constant effort to provide good information, opinion and discussion to the forum. Once people in the forum become more familiar with you, your website promotion becomes easier.

3. Courtesy

This applies not only to the forums but anywhere else you do business online. No doubt you've witnessed how aggressive and insulting people can be in cyberspace. There is something about posting anonymously or at least from an "undisclosed" location that brings out the antagonism in some people. A little bit of politeness and respect can greatly assist you in establishing contacts with other webmasters. This will make them more open to exchanging links with you. They may also check out your website and promote your product or service to their readers and subscribers without requesting anything in return. That's the power of common courtesy.

4. Video

About three years ago, internet marketing pioneer and businessman Kevin McCarthy predicted that video would transform the internet. Today we are looking at the dawning of the video online revolution. What this means is free website promotion has gone to the next level. Just use a web cam or any other recording equipment to make your video and then easily upload it to the hundreds (and growing) of video sharing sites like of course YouTube and BlipTV. Video can place your website promotion in front of new customers who normally would not be interested in your product or service.

The internet continues to grow and change rapidly. The predicted collapse of small businesses online due to the demise of free website promotion never happened. Instead not only are the free tools that were available still around (and very effective) but new website promotion tools have been added. Take advantage of the directories, video, forums and just good old fashion common courtesy to boost your free website promotion campaigns