Having an online business is fruitful. It allows you to build a permanent income on a part time effort. Like any other business your online business also needs you to promote it. Like any other business, promoting your business may at times be costly and also provides some not so very expensive options. Listed here are some low cost methods to promote yourself and your online business

Article Marketing: Writing short articles about your niche topic and placing them in various article directories is a sure shot way to drive traffic to your site. You can write short 400 – 500 word articles with keywords related to your niche. Submit them to article directories like EzineArticles, amazine, goarticles etc. Each of these article directories allow you to add a link in the signature box. Make sure you add a link back to your website. Soon these back links will accumulate and because these directories rank high on Google, it gives Google an impression that if these are pointing to your website, your website would be important and is worth rating high. High rating on Google ensures straight surge in traffic.

Forum Marketing: Forums related to your niche are places to be seen and build your reputation. This is where all people having similar interested meet, share ideas, thoughts and opinions. Register at these forums, participate regularly. Remember the objective is for you to build your reputation. Make sure you are not spamming or slamming people. Communities are sacred and they take offence to these activities. Ensure that you are helpful and providing encouragement and suggestions. If you can’t do that it is better to stay off the topic. If you disagree, say only that. State reasons and logic. Don’t get personal. Be responsible for the listening you are generating for your self.

Social Media Marketing: Using Social Media is the in thing. Facebook, Twitter, My Space, LinkedIn are the sites to visit. This is where you can network with people, build relationships. Create awareness of your sites and it’s purpose. Generate leads who will visit your site, opt-in to your list and give you an opportunity to connect with them. Each of these sites have their own rules. Ensure you follow them. If you haven’t experienced any of these, hang around for a few days, make yourself familiar with these and then start working your magic.

Remember, these are low cost resources, but are very important part of any strategy to promote your business online. Take them seriously. Work on these consistently and you will see over a period of time, these can contribute to your sales and profits immensely. Like any effort, you may not see instant results, but of you are persistent and work on all of these consistently, there will come a time where you will see massive leads being generated from these mediums.