Free advertising sites.
Couldn’t we all use them?
After all, we need to advertise our blogs and businesses so people learn about them.
Too often we don’t know about blog promotion sites or we don’t have the budget to promote content at those sites.
This post solves those obstacles by telling you where to promote your blog content for free and listing tools to help you with your social media promotion.
It’s been over three years since 79 of the Most Effective Ways to Get Free Blog Traffic, my 11th most popular post of all time, was published. Since then, many of the sites and tools listed in the post no longer exist.
Therefore, this post is a 2021 edition of the free advertising sites mentioned in that original post.
For your convenience, this post is divided into two lists Free Advertising Tools and Free Advertising Sites. Also for your convenience, the sites and tools listed are in alphabetical order.
By the time you’re done reading this post, you’ll know 63 free advertising sites and free tools.
What are Free Advertising Sites?
You don’t need to pay to advertise!
Free advertising sites are what they sound like, but advertise what?
You don’t need a budget to advertise your content, products, or services at these sites. Hence the name “free advertising sites.”
Use these free advertising sites to generate social traffic.
What is Social Traffic?
When a visitor arrives on your blog, where did he or she come from? How did the visitor get there?
Your types of traffic fall into various categories:
Organic Search – These are the visitors sent to you by search engines.
Direct – Someone goes directly to your site without clicking a third-party link to get there.
Referral – Someone clicks a link to get to your site. That link is considered the referrer.
Social – Social traffic goes to you from a social network or social media site.
This post is about how you can generate free social traffic.
Free Advertising Sites
Content Curation Sites
Promotion here is a time-saver for you. You don’t need to create content. Curate content that’s already created.
Linking to your blog from these sites give you a link from a site with a strong DA. You extend your reach to new audiences as well.
GrowthHackers
Medium
Mix (formerly StumbleUpon More information about Mix)
Wakelet
Zest
Social Media Sites
These are online places you can chat and share your content. All of these allow self-promotion.
However, there is a caveat. You can’t just assume promotion is enough. Promotion goes a long way in getting your content seen.
Social media promotion entails the gunshot effect: The more you promote, the more your content will be seen and the more success you’ll have. Social media promotion combined with networking will take you even farther than extensive promotion alone.
How extensive? How many of these sites should you use to promote your content? Bloggers understandably worry about the reality of time constraints.
It’s true. Our time is limited. Therefore, you should go slowly in trying these sites. Google Analytics will tell you which sites are bringing you the most social traffic.
Currently, Facebook, Twitter, and Quora are my top 3 traffic referrers. What are yours?
Promoting at these sites will generate social traffic to your blog or website:
BizSugar
Flipboard (See How to use Flipboard)
Instagram Stories (Read 89 Instagram Secrets.)
LinkedIn (More information about LinkedIn posts)
Livinvia
MeWe (See this MeWe review.)
Quora (Note: Quora is a question and answer site. Make sure the links you leave relate to your answers or you could be accused of spamming. For more information about Quora see this post about Quora answers.)
Reddit (Note: Some SubReddits allow self-promotion, but not all. Read about how to use Reddit.)
Snapchat (Also see this Snapchat article.)
Triberr
Tumblr (See this post about how to use Tumblr.)
YouTube
Social Media Sites That Pay You
These sites share their advertising revenue with you.
Steemit
Virily
WebTalk
(Related Reading: Read this post comparing Steemit and Virily, two revenue-sharing sites. Also, see this WebTalk review for more detailed information about this pay per lead site.)
Other Free Advertising Sites
These sites allow free self-promotion of your content without the ability to chat with the other members.
Scoop.it (How to use Scoop.it.)
Viral Content Bee
Free Advertising Tools
These tools help you with your social media promotion.
Buffer (Read 17 reasons I like Buffer.)
ClicktoTweet (Read more information about ClicktoTweet.)
CommentLuv (How to use CommentLuv)
Commun.it
DrumUp
Facebook Instant Messenger
Hashtags (Keep this list of 245 social media hashtags handy as a reference list.)
Hootsuite
IFTTT (How to use IFTTT)
LinkTr.ee
MissingLettr
Preview App
Telegram App
Tweepi
WhatsApp (See this information about WhatsApp)
When to Post
[Related Reading: These social media unfollow tools will help you keep your follower to following count in check.]Pinterest Schedulers
Are you looking for a free Pinterest board scheduler? Then, check these out.
Ahalogy
Viralwoot (Read this Viralwoot review.)
Graphic Tools
Research shows that social media content gets more engagement by far when accompanied by a graphic.
Use these free tools to make graphics to accompany your social media content. Text overlay with a graphic is the most effective since most people learn by looking at pictures.
BeFunky
Canva
FotoJet
Fotor (Read more information about Fotor.)
Pablo
Piktochart
PixTeller (See these PixTeller instructions.)
PosterMyWall (How to use PosterMyWall)
Snapseed (Snapseed instructions.)
Video Marketing Tools
Today, much of social media marketing entails using videos to promote your content. Use these free tools to make your videos and then post your videos on social media sites.
Facebook Live
Instagram Live
Instagram TV
Lumen5 (Read these Lumen5 instructions.)
Periscope
Renderforest (Renderforest instructions)
Spark Video
Storeo
Wrapping Up: Free Advertising Sites
In closing, this cursory list of tools is designed to give you exposure to free tools and free advertising sites that can help you better succeed with your social media promotion.
An expression goes, “You get what you pay for.” Happily, that doesn’t relate to blogging.
With these techniques, you get a great deal more than what you pay for. You pay nothing and save a great deal of time. You also extend your reach which results in a boost in traffic.
Use these tools and websites and improve your ROI (Return on Time Invested).
Readers, please share so bloggers and other content creators learn about these free advertising sites and tools for promoting their content and saving time.
I look forward to your views in the comments section. Did I leave any out? What free advertising sites and tools can you recommend?
