Thinking of starting a simple business but have no budget for public relations and advertising?  Not a problem.  Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, to name a few, are becoming ever-so-popular among professionals in all different industries as PR outlets with little or no cost.  Contrary to popular belief Facebook is not only for college students and Myspace is not only for young singles or up-and-coming music artists.  In fact, just the other day I had a friend request from my father, a well-respected fifty-something attorney.  Whether you make your business a basic Facebook Profile or start a Myspace blog, sites like these could be the best advertising tactic and are so easy to use.

Also consider posting daily or weekly on different blogs in your specific industry.  Blogs like Fresh Business Inc., for example, allow you to post comments for free and link back to your site; inbound links like this generate publicity for your business and thus are something you want!

Social networking is not limited to Facebook and Myspace.  There are various sites like LinkedIn that also allow you to connect with other professionals for a variety of purposes.

Lastly, it can never hurt you to start your own blog.  It’s relatively simple, inexpensive and fun.  Need tips for starting your own blog?  Check out a recent post about Garry Conn:

Great blog tips about starting and promoting a blog