If you went into your online business with the belief that it would be cheap, easy, and amazingly profitable, you may now be realizing that online marketing for that business can get quite costly. If you have been looking into the cost of bids for pay per click marketing and other high-cost marketing strategies, it's time to back up and consider some of the more affordable marketing opportunities.

How does free sound? It doesn't get any cheaper than that, right?

Social Networking for Businesses

Twitter and Facebook can be used for a lot more today than keeping track of distant relatives and tracking down long lost friends. You can use these popular social networking websites to market your business without spending a dime! There are also some business-focused social networking sites such as LinkedIn which can be very valuable business tools.

Set up an account at each of these sites for your business (separate from your personal accounts). You want to start sending out tweets that are relevant to your business but which are not straight advertisements. Start giving other people valuable information and insights into subjects related to your business. Seek out other tweeters who catch your interest in a business sense and become a follower.

Your Facebook account should give vital information about your business in a fun, entertaining way. You want to grab the interest of others and prove that you are a professional in your field.

Use your LinkedIn account to network with other online entrepreneurs and make valuable business connections, such as link swapping for increased exposure.

Viral Marketing

Do you have a pretty good web cam or another means of getting a short video onto the web? If so, then you have all that is needed to start viral marketing for free! Viral marketing is simply a form of advertisement that gets passed around the internet from one person to another; much like a virus spreads in real life.

In order to get started you just make an entertaining video of yourself or something else related to your business, brand it with your business name in subtle ways, and then release it on your website or YouTube. Just note that entertaining doesn't mean disgusting or unprofessional. It simply needs to be something that others will gain value from or find highly entertaining.

Putting video on your website is also a great way to increase the sticking power so your visitors want to stay around longer.

Online Forums

Find online forums or message boards that are very active in subjects related to your business and become an active member. Once you have established that you are a valuable, knowledgeable member of their community you can actually use the forum for market research. Post questions that will help you get to know your target market (which should be those in the forum) and use their answers to guide your overall marketing strategy and the tone or subject of your article marketing campaigns.

You can also put a link to your business blog in the signature on forums, leading people who like your forum posts to check you out for more information.

There are many other ways to market your online business without spending a lot of money, but you should definitely be taking advantage of these free advertising opportunities!