I recently used up at least part of my 15 minutes of fame. My friends and I were featured on the front page of the Personal Journal 
section in the Wall Street Journal. The article was about long distance friendship and the writer interviewed me about my online business TheTravelingJournal.com. Those few paragraphs in America's largest circulation newspaper boosted our web traffic by 124% and sent us scurrying to order more inventory. It was just about the best free publicity we could have asked for. According to the Census Bureau there are more than 3.6 million small business with fewer than four employees in the US and many of these are probably considered side businesses by their owners-- just like TheTravelingJournal.com is for my friends and I. So for those of you with side businesses I'm going to explain how I got my free publicity and offer up some other ideas for getting exposure without having to pay for it.
Subscribe to Help A Reporter Out
As a writer I use HelpAReporterOut.com (also known as HARO) to find sources and ideas for articles and blog posts. But I also started using it to promote TheTravelingJournal.com. I responded to a reporter's query about long distance friendship and received a reply. She asked to interview me for her article in The Wall Street Journal. Now I have to be honest about this-- it may sound simple but I've sent dozens of other reporters emails trying to be a part of their stories on friendship. And most of the time I never hear anything. But the important thing is to keep trying and keep reading the HARO emails in search of a story that fits your side business.
Set Up a Google Places Account
Google is full of free resources perfect for small businesses. One of those is Google Places. According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. When you sign up for Google Places you include your business information so that when someone searches for a business like yours in your area, your listing will come up at the top of Google search results.
Free News Release Submission
A news release is a great way to announce a new product, big changes or a connection to a timely event in the media. Once you've 
written your news release you can distribute it for free through various online services. One of these is Pitch Engine. They allow you to promote one news release at a time for free. This is another great way to boost your visibility in search engines which will hopefully translate into more sales for your side business.
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One Response to “3 Smart Ways to Get Free Publicity for Your Side Business”
Google places is number advertising source if you provide a localized service because it runs with names of service and cities. I have seen many low ranking websites obtain most for their traffic from Google Places because the listings appear at the very top of the search engine SERPS and many people do not recognize that they are not part of the organic results and resultantly click through to the reference website.