When you start a new business, there are a couple of things that will help you promote your website and maximize your chances for early success. They include having a consistent brand and voice, and running great advertising to reach as many customers as possible.
While advertising is undoubtedly important and the internet is the best place to start for most businesses, you might be worried about how much it’s going to cost, and unsure about where to advertise in the first place.
These are reasonable concerns, but we’ve got your back. In this article, I’ll go through 12 of the best websites to advertise on for free, and help you decide between free or paid advertising for your business.
Types of Free Advertising Websites
#1. Business profile platforms
Business profile platforms like Yelp work by introducing customers to your business by presenting you as a trusted recommendation, whether on the site in question or through social media or Google. Businesses have the power to control how they are perceived on these sites by creating their own business profile, but customer reviews and photos will also be uploaded by customers and attached to your business profile.
#2. Social media platforms
Sites like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn hold great opportunities within the free advertising space. By creating a social media profile for your brand and posting your news and promotions while following the specific algorithms, you’ll be able to grow your online presence and reach a huge amount of potential customers within your target audience.
#3. Classified ad sites
Classified ads are effectively media space that can be claimed by a business for advertising purposes. They’re sometimes seen on the side of a YouTube video or an article. A classified ad website is a whole site dedicated to these promotions, like Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace.
Business Profile Platforms
Business profiles are a great way to showcase customer reviews, boost your SERP position, and provide your most up to date business information. Here are four free business profile platforms you can take advantage of:
Yelp
Best for local hospitality businesses such as restaurants and bars
Yelp’s free advertising attracts many small businesses because it pushes your ads to secondary sites that are partnered with Yelp. According to Yelp, over 80 million people use its platform to find business information each month, and 83% make a purchase. Yelp-friendly businesses are local, such as:
- Bars and restaurants
- Professionals like doctors and lawyers
- Home/auto services and maintenance
- Beauty salons and technicians
- Health and fitness services and centers
When you register your profile on Yelp, you should fill out as much of your business’ information as possible, and you can ask your network to add honest reviews on your profile too. On the free plan, you can respond to messages and reviews.
Yelp’s upgrades are very affordable – for a dollar a day you can keep competitors’ ads from popping up on your page, and add a call to action button.
Google Business Profile
Best for local businesses
Creating a Google Business Profile (GBP) gives you control over how your business appears on SERPs (search engine results pages), Google Maps, and other Google services. It’s a successful free advertising method – 75% of top three SERP businesses have GBP, and verified GBPs average around 200 clicks per month.
It favors businesses with a physical location, but if you’re strictly online, it’s still worth filling out a profile. You can also create all kinds of content – posts, DMs, offers, promotions, and more. Plus, user reviews and photos can be added to your GBP, which help potential customers decide whether to choose your business.
It’s easy to set up a Google business account and create your profile. Fill out all the details, link it up to your website, and continue to add posts. It’s totally free – there are no hidden fees.
Ambition Digital
“Google Business Profile is by far one of the most effective free advertising platforms out there. If you own a local business with a physical location, it’s absolutely essential that you get your profile set up. There are a lot of people searching for local places like yours each day, so by not showing up on Google you’re missing out on a lot of potential customers.
Another great thing is that Google Business Profiles get priority placement in search results, meaning that they appear right at the top.”
Facebook Business Page
Best for local service businesses that prioritize customer interaction, such as nail and hair salons
A public Facebook business page differs from Facebook Marketplace, which is for classified ads. A business page will be what customers see when they search for your business; you can even link it to your GBP so it appears at the top of local search results.
With a Facebook business profile, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience and engage with existing customers. To your profile, you can add your business address, website, and opening hours, and share any important updates or information with your followers. You can also display customer reviews.
Page Insights provide business owners with information on page visitor demographics, performance metrics, and individual post engagement, which will help you to steer your business in the right direction. Plus, Meta’s Business Help Centre provides loads of guidance on making the most of your Facebook page.
Good To Know: Some platforms I mention will fall into multiple advertising categories. For example, Facebook is a social media platform with a classified ad site —Facebook Marketplace — inbuilt, and it also works as a business platform for those who set up a Facebook business page.
Nextdoor
Best for local, community-focused businesses like bakeries and coffee shops
Nextdoor is a unique social media app for neighborhoods. With a tight-knit, trusting community of nearby posters, you can quickly see the potential this app has for local businesses! Nextdoor claims that a huge one in three households are on the app.
Nextdoor’s recommendations section is its standout feature. You can gather word-of-mouth testimonials to appear on your profile, and because of its small, localized hubs, the chance of potential customers seeing a trusted friend or relation’s name under your post is much higher than on Google Business Profiles.
Vancouver Home Search
“For me, Nextdoor has been an interesting platform for connecting with specific neighborhoods, especially in a city like Vancouver where community relationships are so valuable. What I enjoy most about it is the hyper-local focus—you’re engaging with people who are right in your target market.”
“The downside is that it’s less widely used than other platforms, so it may not generate as much traffic. However, I’ve found it useful for building long-term relationships within smaller communities.”
Social Media Websites
TikTok
Best for ecommerce and hospitality businesses with a wide target demographic
TikTok is one of the most popular social media sites today, known for its ability to make dedicated individuals and brands go viral overnight. You can advertise your products or services for free on TikTok by creating video posts and sharing user generated content.
If you want to create actual ads, TikTok for Business has a suite of paid advertising tools such as the TikTok Ads Manager, where you can create and monitor ad campaigns.
TikTok advertising is effective for a range of ecommerce and hospitality businesses because it has such a wide demographic. This said, things move very quickly and its users have a constant stream of new content, so reacting to current trends and creating unique, entertaining content is how you’ll stand out.
TikTok’s algorithm pushes content to a lot of audiences, so it’s best suited to businesses wanting to reach a wide demographic. Also, businesses that have a range of products or services will find it easier to create versatile and fresh content.
Best for B2B and job advertising
LinkedIn is an effective place to advertise for free because it provides different ways to control the audiences you target with your content. You can create a company page to share your business news in various formats, from long-form written posts to infographics and videos. You can then go further by using LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Events which will allow you to effectively target relevant audiences and promote both in-person and online events to them.
It’s also great for job listings; you can have one active job posting open at a time for free. After that, you’ll pay on a cost-per-click basis.
Classified Ad Sites
Classified ad sites may look like they all do the same thing at first glance, but each has its own strengths and limitations, and works best for different businesses. Here are my recommendations below:
Craigslist
Best for businesses seeking customers in one localized area, such as handyman services
Craigslist is highly categorized, first by location and then further by the products or services being advertised. The location pages make Craigslist useful for local businesses targeting one area. Claigslists’ posting support page is super helpful and covers important aspects of the listing process.
Without paying, you’re entitled to post in one location and one category every 48 hours. If you post in multiple categories, your listings will be deleted and you could face account deletion. Your posts will have a lifespan of up to 45 days.
Because of these limits, I wouldn’t recommend Craigslist for ecommerce businesses or stores with multiple locations; eBay caters much better to businesses wanting a wider audience. Instead, it’s best for businesses looking for local customers, like handymen or babysitters.
Top Offshore Sports Books
“Craigslist is easy to use, reasonably priced, and a great way to immediately reach a local audience. We’ve had success selling goods and services there without paying any fees, and it has a devoted user base.”
“The biggest obstacle is low-quality leads and con artists. Time is wasted when you have to sort through a lot of useless or spammy questions.”
“Craigslist is nevertheless useful for local services or temporary sales despite its flaws, especially for companies on a tight budget.”
Locanto
Best for large local businesses that run workshops, events, or festivals
Businesses can use Locanto for local trading in a wide variety of categories. Notably, ads for classes, ticketed events, entertainment, talks, and other local events are heavily promoted, so it’s a great choice for local businesses that run workshops, events, or festivals.
Locanto stands out among other free classified ad sites with its Ad Quality Score feature, which helps advertisers boost their reach through category suggestions and SEO guidance.
While posting both private and commercial ads is free on Locanto, there are certain premium features that you’ll need to purchase extensions for, such as adding more than one location, or posting commercial ads within non-service categories.
eBay
Best for ecommerce businesses
eBay’s an extremely popular free advertising site, with buyers and sellers spanning 190 markets globally. It has over 132 million global buyers, which makes this website perfect for ecommerce businesses looking to expand their reach.
You can sell on eBay either through auction or at a set price. When you create your listing, remember that targeted keywords are vital. You can use the listing page as blank space for your brand – introducing your brand colors and even a paragraph about or link to your business.
Although eBay allows its users to create free classified ads, you’ll have to pay a final value fee of up to 13.25% depending on the category of your listing, as well as an order fee of either $0.30, or, if your item is worth over $10.00, $0.40. You’ll also be limited to 250 free ads per month.
For ecommerce stores wanting to sell more than 250 items per month, a store subscription will remove listing limits, reduce fees, and offer sales tools. They start at as little as $4.95 per month!
ClassifiedAds
Best for businesses wanting to create separate ads for different services
ClassifiedAds runs similarly to Craigslist – a simple sign-up and post system. Customers will search for your product, and ads as well as listings will come up. You’ll also get to add a link to your website and provide contact forms so customers can communicate with you.
It’s free to post ads, browse the site, and get in touch with sellers (which your buyers will love). Unlike other ad sites, ClassifiedAds lets you choose your ad expiration date, anywhere up to nine months from its creation. You’ll also be able to post as many ads as you want. The only limits are that you don’t duplicate the same ad in 48 hours, or post the same ad in multiple cities or categories.
But note that, because there aren’t photos on the search results page, keywords and an eye-catching title will be essential. Businesses with several services or specialties, like tutors and beauty salons, will benefit the most from ClassifiedAds because you’ll be able to showcase your services over multiple ads.
Oodle
Best for local ads wanting to reach a wide ranging audience
At first glance, Oodle is a great place for simple, locally-based classified listings, but it brings a lot more than that. You know that person in your life who introduces you to lots of different types of people? That’s Oodle – it’s a connector. It works by not accepting ads directly, but by aggregating listings from both national and global sites and showing them to any buyer searching within that category.
Like many of the other sites it favors local transactions, but you can still sell internationally within the US, Canada, UK, India, and Australia. Because of this, local companies wanting their ads to reach a broad demographic – like car, pet, and service businesses – will benefit the most from using Oodle.
Facebook Marketplace
Best for casual local sellers of second hand goods
Facebook Marketplace is easy to use, and attracts an audience of one billion people per month. It’s not for businesses that sell luxury or high-priced goods and services – Marketplace is seen like a thrift shop and there’s a huge amount of competition, but it is truly free to sell on.
But if you sell one-off items and prefer to sell locally, this is a good option for you. To set up, click on the Marketplace icon at either the top or bottom of the screen, and have a look through the categories. Once you’re ready, click on the profile option, and fill out your details and the requested information about you and your products. Like Craigslist, it works best locally.
Tekrevol
“Facebook Marketplace has an enormous user base, allowing me to reach a broad, diverse audience. It’s easy to use, integrates seamlessly with the Facebook platform, and facilitates direct communication with potential customers.”
“It has fewer targeting options; for instance, it isn’t near comparable [with] feature[s] offered by Facebook Ads. It can also attract non-serious queries.”
AdLandPro
Best for ecommerce businesses
AdLandPro is another classified ad site. It’s easy to use and has a broad reach, so it’s a great starting point. Not only is it versatile, but it works for a huge variety of businesses such as ecommerce stores and freelance service providers.
AdLandPro is free to use and there’s no cap on the number of ads you can post. You’ll be able to make use of its networking community and affiliate programme, through which you can earn credits to spend on premium ad space. However, if you don’t fancy collaborating to earn credits, you can receive these by upgrading to its paid plans.
Because there are so many ads, you’ll need to stand out – so I’d only recommend this site if you’re going to earn or buy credits to secure banner ad space.
Tips for Maximizing Advertising Results
Maximizing advertising results on free advertising sites requires a strategic approach. Here are some tips for creating effective ads and optimizing their placement and targeting.
- Create effective, eye-catching ads: Firstly, keep your ads concise and clear. Use compelling headlines and include the most important information upfront to grab attention. High-quality images or graphics can make your ad more visually appealing and engaging. Be sure to include a strong call-to-action that motivates viewers to take the desired action, such as visiting your website or contacting you directly.
- Optimize your ad placement: Free advertising sites often have categories or sections where you can place your ads. Choose the most relevant categories for your business to increase the chances of reaching your target audience. Experiment with different ad placements and monitor which ones generate the best results.
- Utilize demographic targeting: Some free sites also offer demographic targeting options, so take advantage of these to reach the people most likely to be interested in your product or service.
- Add your business details: You can increase the effectiveness of free advertising massively by sharing as much information about your business as possible, especially on your business profiles. Building up your profiles will provide transparency and build trust, especially if you encourage online reviews!
- Track and measuring performance: It’s crucial to monitor the performance of your ads to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Use tracking tools like Google Analytics to measure click-through rates, engagement metrics, and conversion rates. If the site doesn’t offer built-in analytics, you can use UTM parameters to track how your ads are performing.
Free vs. Paid Advertising Sites
Free online advertising can be a good way to start building your online presence and customer base. This said, free platforms are often restrictive and have limitations that even small businesses will outgrow quickly.
If you run an ecommerce business, you’ll eventually need to commit to a form of paid advertising or digital marketing – such as PPC and CPM – to promote your website the most effectively.
Many of the free advertising websites I’ve listed above include purchasable ad-ons or monthly subscriptions that will help you to stand out from the highly saturated crowds, and they also tend to offer extra business analysis tools.
I’ve spoken to experts in various fields who have used free advertising websites. Here’s what they think about the question of whether to use a free or paid advertising site:
“free advertising platforms have been crucial in our marketing strategy, providing supplemental traffic and cost-effective advertising for local reach. However, success requires manual effort to maintain listings, manage inquiries, and ensure visibility in a competitive space, as they are not a complete solution for business growth.”
– Areej Shaikh, Content Writer at Top Offshore Sports Books
“My recommendation is to always start with free and organic advertising websites because it comes at no cost to you. You may also see what posts can be effective based on engagement received on your facebook or reddit posts. Afterwards, you can then recycle that content and use it as paid advertising since you already validated the interest in your content.”
– Alan Li, Founder of FotoLab Studio
“In my opinion, free advertising platforms are an excellent way to get started and maintain a presence, but they do come with limitations. You have to be proactive and constantly engage with each platform to see significant results. The key is consistency and understanding that while these sites can help grow your business, they’re often more effective when paired with paid strategies or when you have a strong organic presence. For me, combining multiple free advertising platforms has been essential for increasing visibility in such a competitive market like real estate in Vancouver.”
– Alan Li, Founder of FotoLab Studio
Summary
Free advertising sites certainly provide a lot of opportunity for business owners. Written well and for the right target audience, they can attract new customers, let people know about your brand, bring your customers value, and help you sell more.
Once you figure out which sites work best for you and get in the habit of following their best practices, you’ll be able to reap the rewards of something that takes very little time and resources. It’s all about finding the right place for you and your business to thrive.
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